E^p^'ste.} LIFE HISTORY OF THE KANGAROO EAT, 27 



It will be seen from Table 3 that while a large number oi 

 species of plants are represented in the totals from so many dens. 

 a majority of them are of very minor importance, and that the 

 seeds of grasses are the principal storage and probably therefore 

 the principal food material. Six of the most important species 

 of grasses (disregarding species furnishing less than 5 grams) com- 

 prise 85.6 per cent of the total weight of storage from 22 dens. 

 Crowfoot grama (BouteJoua rothrocMi) stands first in quantity in 

 the total, forming 39.4 per cent of all stored material, 46 per cent 

 of the six important grasses, and 45 per cent of all grasses. The 

 largest amount of storage of any one species of grass in any one 

 den on the Range Reserve also is of this species, 2,205 grams ^ 

 (Table 1, den 1, p. 20, and PI. VII, Fig. 2). This is exceeded by 

 a dropseed grass, Sporoholus cryptandrus strictus^ which amounted to 

 5,455 grams in a lot from Albuquerque, N. Mex. (Table 1, den 24. and 

 PI. VIII. Fig. 1). 



Of the species other than grasses found stored in these dens, 

 mesquite beans {Prosopis velutina) are most important both by 

 weight and number of dens containing them. The total for the 22 

 Range Reserve dens is 1.5T0 grams, or 35.9 per cent of the seeds 

 other than grasses, but only 5.1 per cent of the total storage. In 

 bulk mesquite beans do not loom up large, as they are probably 

 the heaviest material stored. Sections of pods which must have 

 been dragged into the burrows are found, some of them certainly 

 being much too long for carriage in the pouches. The species of 

 plant other than grass found in the largest quantity in any one 

 den, however, was Aplopappiis gracilis^ not recorded in quantity 

 from any den until the excavation of the twenty-second, and then 

 found in a very large bulk of soft, fluify material, w^ith most of the 

 seeds separated from the heads, and weighing 1,030 grams (Table 1, 

 den 22). 



Any of the food materials above listed are likely to be found in 

 the cheek pouches, while in addition such extraneous matter as 

 stones and feces have also been found. All species of plants stored 

 are accessible in the immediate vicinity of the mound, and when any 

 particular plant is found seeding in abundance in the vicinity of the 

 den it is likely to be represented in the storage. Usually the animals 

 can be readilj' trapped with almost any kind of grain bait, as oats, 

 rolled oats, rolled barley, and wheat ; and nut meats also are attrac- 

 tive, though we have no record of the storing of any true nut in 

 the dens, such not being available in the range of the animal on the 

 Range Reserve. 



"This amouut of dry grama grass seed (heads) amounts to approximately a bushel. 



