242 The Mesquite Bean. 



year, especially on those isolated and much branched trees which 

 are found away from thick timber, and in which I believe it to be 

 most abundant. 



This conclusion is further verified by the relation of the teeth in 

 the genus Phenacomys to the genus Hesperomys, which are rooted 

 in both genera. The latter usually prefers grain to other food, and 

 the teeth are more adapted for masticating hard food than the 

 Arvicolas, whose teeth are not rooted and which feed on grass. 

 From the tracks in the snow which I have seen at different times 

 around the foot of the trees which it inhabits, and which tracks I 

 think were made by this animal, I judge that it does not hibernate, 

 and that it may to some extent feed on grass ; but I have not been 

 able to trace these tracks to any distance from the tree greater 

 than two or three yards, neither am I positive that they were made 

 by this animal. 



Any information leading to a further knowledge of this inter- 

 esting creature will be thankfully received, and we will be very 

 grateful to anyone who will be kind enough to send us specimens or 

 measurements. Alcoholic specimens or specimens in the flesh much 

 preferred. Aurelius Todd. 



THE MESQUITE BEAN. 



(From the Pacific Rural Press, June 7, 1890.) 



One of the most useful and characteristic of the trees indigenous 

 to the southern — Mexican — borders of the United States is the mes- 

 quite tree, also known vernacularly in some localities as the 

 Cashaw, or Algeroba tree. 



According to Dr. V. Havard of the United States army, this tree 

 constitutes the principal growth of the wooded tablelands and high 

 valleys throughout South and Southwestern Texas. It extends 

 westward through New Mexico and Arizona to San Diego, Califor- 

 nia, and is found to the southward through Mexico, Central and 

 South America to the southern parts of the Argentine Republic 

 (exclusive of Patagonia). 



Prosopis dulcis (Kunth) is probably the correct botanical name 

 of our tree, though it is usually called Prosopis juliflora D. C, by 

 American botanists. Algarobia glandulosa, Prosopis horrida, P. 

 juliflora, P. siliquastrum and P. glandulosa are either synonyms or 

 mere varieties, according to Bentham. 



The mesquite is frequently nothing but a thorny, straggling 

 shrub, growing in large impenetrable thickets near the coast or over 

 the sandhills of the Colorado desert. Elsewhere in less exposed sit- 



