10 



Pocket gophers of the united states. 



into two groups, those with grooved front teeth and those with smooth 

 front teeth (see figs. 1 and 2). 



The harinfulness of these animals is perhaps best shown by the fact 

 that single counties have paid for their destruction in one year as much 

 as $14,000.* That animals living below the surface of the soil, rarely 

 seen and to most people unknown, can be the cause of enough mis- 

 chief to bring such a price upon their 

 heads may surprise many people. A 

 careless observer might travel for 

 weeks over the western prairies and 

 not be aware of their presence, and 

 yet the buffalo and antelope in their 

 past abundance were not one-tenth 

 as numerous. Unlike larger animals, 

 Gox^hers do not disappear before man 

 unless as the result of his direct and 

 continuous efforts toward their de- 

 struction. They remain in his fields 

 working havoc among crops, killing 

 his choicest trees, eating the roots 

 from garden vegetables^ and destroy- 

 ing meadows and fields of grain. They 

 breed and multiply beneath his* very 

 feet, and work as silently and unob- 

 servedly as the frost, while the result 

 of their work is shown above their tun- 

 nels by lines of whithering and dying 

 plants. 



There is another side to the ques- 

 tion, and the Gophers should be given 

 full credit for the important part they have played in mixing and 

 enriching soils. Still, the verdict must go against them. We must 

 protect our crops. 



There is no demand for legislation or for any concerted action. The 

 bounty system has been repeatedly tried and has always proved a 

 failure and a waste of the funds of county or State, as shown beyond. 

 There is little difficulty in destroying the Gophers on a farm, and once 

 reduced their numbers may be easily controlled. 



Fig-. 1. — Face of Geomysbursarius, show- 

 ing grooved upper incisors and opening of 

 cheek pouches. 



Fig. 2. — Pace of Thomomys talpoides, 

 showing plane upper incisors and'openings 

 of cheek pouches. 



GENERAL HABITS. 



Underground life.— Even where Gophers are so numerous as to be 

 exceedingly troublesome, few people are familiar with them in life ; they 

 keep so close to their underground tunnels as to be rarely observed 

 unless caught in traps. By patient watching a little brown head may 



* Poweshiek County, Iowa, paid $14,000 in bounties, at the rate of 10 cents a 

 scalp, in 1890. 



