250 Fietp Museum or Naturat History — Zoé.oey, Vou. XI. 
and a half in an easterly direction from Vincennes. While digging in 
a mound in search of relics that might throw light upon its origin and 
history, we came to a nest about two feet below the surface of the 
ground, carefully made of bits of grass, and in this nest was a Jumping 
Mouse (Jaculus Hudsonius Baird) apparently dead. It was coiled 
up as tightly as it could be, the nose being placed upon the belly, and 
the long tail coiled around the ball-like form which the animal had 
assumed. I took the little mouse in my hand. It exhibited no motion 
or sign of life. Its eyes and mouth were shut tight, and its little fore 
feet or hands were shut and placed close together. Everything in- 
dicated that the mouse was perfectly dead, except the fact that it was 
not as rigid as perhaps a dead mouse would bein the winter. I tied 
the mouse and nest in my handkerchief and carried them to Vincennes. 
Arriving at Dr. Patton’s office I untied my treasures, and took out 
the mouse and held it for some time in my hand; it still exhibited no 
sign of life; but at length I thought I saw a slight movement in one of 
the hind legs. Presently there was a very slight movement of the 
head, yet so feeble that one could hardly be sure it was real. Then there 
came to be some evidence of breathing, and a slight pressure of my 
fingers upon the tail near the body was followed by an immediate but 
feeble movement of one of the hind legs. At length there was unmistak- 
able evidence that the animal was breathing, but the breathing was 
a labored action, and seemingly performed with great difficulty. As 
the mouse became warmer the signs of life became more and more 
marked; and in the course of the same afternoon on which I brought it 
into the warm room it became perfectly active, and was as ready to 
jump about as any other number of its species. 
“T put this mouse into a little tin box with holes in the cover, and 
took him with me in my journeyings, taking care to put in the box a 
portion of an ear of corn and pieces of paper. It ate the corn by 
gnawing from the outside of the kernel, and it gnawed the paper into 
bits with which it made a nest. On the fourth day after its capture 
I gave it water which it seemed to relish. On the 23d of January I 
took it with me to Elgin, Illinois, nearly three hundred miles farther 
north than the region where I found the specimen. The weather was 
intensely cold. Taking the mouse from the box, I placed it on a news- 
paper on a table, and covered it with a large glass bell, lifting the edge 
of the glass so as to admit a supply of air. Under this glass was placed 
a good supply of waste cotton. Soon after it was fairly established in 
its new and more commodious quarters, it began to clean every part 
of its body in the most thorough manner, washing itself very much 
in the same manner as a cat washes. On coming to the tail it passed 
