NOTES ON THE MEADOW JUMPING MOUSE 

 (ZAPUS HUDSONIUS) ESPECIALLY RE- 

 GARDING HIBERNATION 



H. L. BABCOCK, M.D. 

 Dedham, Mass. 



The jumping mouse is the only one of the wild mice of 

 this region (Massachusetts) which exhibits the habit of 

 regular hibernation. Regarding this habit there are a 

 number of references in the literature on the subject. 

 Barton 1 was one of the first to refer to the fact that this 

 mouse became dormant in winter. He says, in describing 

 the actions of one he had in captivity : 



On or about the 22d of November it passed into the torpid state. It 

 is curious to observe that at the time it became torpid the weather was 

 unusually mild for the season of the year, and moreover the animal was 

 kept in a warm room, in which there was a large Are the greater part 

 of the day and night ... It was frequently most active while the 

 weather was extremely cold in December. 



This was in Philadelphia, Pa. 



Audubon and Bachman* regret that they live in a region 

 where the species does not exist and can not speak from 

 personal observation on the subject. 



Godman, 3 Thompson 4 and Kennicott 5 speak of its habit 

 of hibernation. 



Tenney gives an account of a specimen of this species 

 taken alive on January 18, 1872, near Vincennes, Ind. It 

 was dormant, coiled up tightly, "the nose being placed 

 upon the belly, and the long tail coiled around the ball-like 



1 "Some Account of an American Species of Dipus or Jerboa," by Ben- 

 jamin Smith Barton, M.D., Translations of the Am. Philosophical Society, 

 Vol. IV, No. XII, 1799. 



2 Viviparous Quadrupeds of No. America," Vol. II, 1851, p. 255. 

 a Godman, "Am. Nat. Hist.," Vol. I, 1842. 



♦Rev. Zadoc Thompson, "Nat. and Civil Hist, of Vermont," 3842. 

 s Kennicott, Patent Office Report for 1857. 



8 Tenney, ' ' Hibernation of the Jumping Mouse, ' ' Am. Naturalist, June, 

 3 872, Vol. VI, No. 6, pp. 330-332. 



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