mammalia: marmota monax. 21 



Family SCIURIDAE. 

 Tamias strlatus (Linnaeus). Ground Squirrel. 



One was seen inside the cave at "4. " It was picking up seeds which 

 had entered through sink-holes and drifted toward the mouth of the 

 cave. Signs of these squirrels were noticed several times, but not 

 farther in than "4." The occurrence of this mammal in the cave is 

 incidental, but is in no way surprising. No doubt other species, as well 

 as this one, occasionally wander in for short distances. 



I*Iarmota monax (Linnaeus). Ground-hog. 



The occurrence of this mammal in the cave is doubtful. A hole at 

 ' '24' ' at the side of the cave runs upward and possibly connects with a 

 sink-hole. At one time, when woodcutters were at work in the edge of 

 the valley near which the cave runs, I heard through this hole a sound like 

 that of an ax. The sound probably came through the hole, which appar- 

 ently communicates with the surface. This hole was probably made by a 

 ground-hog or fox. The hole within the passage to the right at "6" 

 may have been made by a ground-hog, and possibly, too, the animal 

 whose calls I heard in the cave was a ground-hog. 



Vulpes fulviis (Desmarest) (red fox), Putorius vison (Schreber) 

 (mink), and Putorius noveboracensis Emmons (weasel) are doubtless 

 occasional visitants to the cave. Holes of considerable size in open cracks 

 in the rock at several places in the cave may have been made by foxes, and 

 the mammal mentioned above, which followed me in the cave and was 

 heard several times, may have been a fox. Mink tracks were recognized 

 in the mud at "41," and other tracks, probably made by a weasel, were 

 seen at the same place. 



The large "wallov/s"at "21," at "34," and at the beginning of the 

 passage at "27" are too large to have been made by anjrthing smaller 

 than a bear, so Ursus americanus Pallas must have formerly frequented 

 the cave. At "21" and "34" there are claw marks, probably of the 

 same animal. It is a well-known fact that bears formerly frequented 

 caves in this region. Blatchley (1896, p. 177) mentions finding bear 

 wallows and claw-marks in Eller's and Saltpeter caves, Monroe County, 

 and in Conneley's Cave, Lawrence County. He quotes an interesting 

 letter from an old resident of Greencastle, who tells of the experiences 

 of his father and three companions with bears in a cave near Bloom- 

 ington, probably Eller's Cave. 



