143 



Aevicola (Pedomys) AUSTEEU3 LeConte. 

 Prairie Mbadow-Mousb. 

 1853. Arvicola austerus, LeConte, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci., Phila., vi, 1853, 

 405 (Racine, Wis ; type, No. 2249, Mus. Smiths.).— Aud. & 

 Bach., Q. N. A., iii, 1854, 289 (based on LeConte's description). 

 Kennicott, Agric. Rep. U. S. Pat Office for 1856 (1857), 97, pi. 

 xii, upper fig. (Illinois). — Jordan, Man. Vert., 1878, 2d ed. 

 1857. Arvicola (Pedomys) austerus, Baird, Mamm. N. A., 1857, 539. — Coues, 

 Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci., Phila., 1874, 190; Mon, N. A. Rodentia, 

 1877, 210.— Coues and Yarrow, Rep. Expl. and Surv., West 100th 

 Merid., 1876, 108. 

 Arvicola (Pedomys) cinnamomea, Baird, op. cit., 541 (Pembina Da- 

 kota) . 

 Arvicola (Pedomys) haydeni, Baird, op. cit., 643 (Fort Pierre, Da- 

 kota). 



Specific Characters. — Total length 4 inches; tail 1 26; feet seven-tenths 

 of an inch. " Above, the hairs are deep black at the base, then ringed 

 with cinnamon-brown, and tipped with blackish ; a few long hairs, en- 

 tirely black, are interspersed; on the head and along the back, the color 

 is darker. Low on thw sides and cheeks, the hairs are all tipped with 

 cinnamon- brown, without rings; belly bluish-gray, tinted with cinna- 

 mon." Tail bicolor, showing the colors of the upper and under parts of 

 the body respectively ; the young are darker above. The pelage is rather 

 coarse, thick, and stout, not lying smooth- enough to be very glossy, and 

 so suggesting the fit name " austerus." Seemingly stouter and clumsier 

 than riparins; tail shorter, head apparently broader, with obtuse muzzle 

 and rather short and spare whisTiers. 



Habitat. — Western States and adjoining territories, Kansas and Louis- 

 iana, especially Illinois, Missouri, and Michigan In northern Illinois 

 and southern Wisconsin, this is the most abundant native mammal, pre- 

 ferring wet prairies, according to Mr. Kennicott, and never observed by 

 him in the woods. The species is reported by Mr. Langdon, from Madi- 

 sonville, Ohio, and from Brookville, Indiana. Mr. Langdon reports thia 

 species as found in woods, under logs, so it is plainly common to both 

 woods and prairies. 



Habits. — A. austerus is a prolific species, commonly producing five young 

 at a birth, from April to October. The males do not live with the females 

 and young in summer. 



The writer has unearthed many of this species in prairie meadows, 

 when leveling hills, in order that the grass might be cut with the 



