140 Frerp Museum or Natura History — Zoéxoey, Vot. XI. 
stripe of black, the ends of the hairs forming the fringe buffy white; 
a pale ring around the eye. 
Measurements — Total length, 10.75 in. (273 mm.); tail vertebrae, 4 in. 
(ror mm.); hind foot, 2137 in. (35 mm.). 
The Striped Prairie Squirrel, Striped Gopher, or Thirteen-lined 
Spermophile, as it has been variously called, is common in the prairie 
regions, and large open fields nearly throughout Illinois and in southern 
Wisconsin, and scattered colonies are occasionally found further north. 
Jackson records it from the vicinity of Iron River, Bayfield County, in 
the extreme northern part of the state. It is diurnal and gregarious, 
and during the summer months its tremulous whistle is often to be 
heard and the little animal seen sitting upright or running rapidly 
through the grass, but rarely far from its burrow. 
It has a bad reputation among farmers, which is not altogether 
undeserved, on account of the habit of pulling up and eating newly 
planted corn and other grains and seeds; but, on the other hand, it must 
be given credit for destroying great quantities of beetles, caterpillars, 
grasshoppers and other injurious insects. It must be admitted, how- 
ever, that it cannot be considered of benefit to the agriculturist. Mr. 
Vernon Bailey says, ‘‘Undoubtedly the good which the Striped Sper- 
mophiles do by destroying insects and seeds of noxious weeds is of no 
small importance; but it is doubtful if it is sufficient to offset the damage 
perpetrated by them in the grain fields. In many localities it is im- 
possible to raise a full field of corn without first killing the spermophiles. 
As soon as the corn is planted they begin to dig up the seed, but do most 
mischief after the corn begins to come up and until a week or ten days 
old, or until all the nutriment is drawn from the grain. They dig 
down by the side of the stalk and eat the swollen, starchy grain, of 
which they seem very fond, leaving the stalks to die. As a single 
spermophile will dig up many hills of corn in a day and continue digging 
for nearly two weeks, it is not difficult to see that serious damage is 
done where they are numerous, averaging as they often do four or five 
to an acre. Large fields of corn are sometimes entirely destroyed by 
them and have to be planted over several times. A great deal of 
wheat, oats, barley and rye is taken in the same way, making it neces- 
sary to sow an extra amount of seed. Even this means is not effectual 
and frequently fields of sowed grain suffer materially from their attacks. 
As the small grains begin to fill, soon after blossoming, the spermophiles 
cut down the stalks and eat the ovules, and in order to find the best 
heads they cut down a great deal more than they can eat. As the 
grain becomes hard they carry large stores of it into their burrows to 
be eaten at leisure, probably when they awake from their winter’s sleep. 
