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SPERMOPHILES OF THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. 



The following measurements of a specimen selected from eleven adults represent 

 the average size: Total length, from end of nose to end of tail vertebrae, 311 milli- 

 meters (12£ inches); length of tail vertebraB from angle at base to tip, 82 millimeters 

 (3J inches); length of hind foot, from heel to tip of longest claw, 46 millimeters (2 

 inches). 



Range. — Like Franklin's Spermophile this species was first described 

 by Sabine from specimens collected at Carlton House on the Saskatch- 

 ewan River more than 70 years ago, and this locality is still the north- 

 ernmost known point of its distribution. Fortunately it ranges over a 

 comparatively small area in the United States, being restricted to 

 North Dakota and Montana; but in Canada it covers the great plains 

 of Assiniboia and Saskatchewan. The eastern limit of its range may 

 be marked by a line passing in a southeasterly direction from Carlton 

 House through Petrel and Carberry, Manitoba, to the United States 

 boundary, some distance east of Turtle Mountain. In the Red River 

 Valley it occurs from Mayville south to Harlem, N. Dak. Aber- 

 deen, S. Dak., in the James River Valley, is the southernmost pomt at 

 which it is known. In North Dakota and Montana we have no records 

 of its occurrence south of the Missouri River though the species is 

 more or less common at Bismarck, N. Dak., and at the mouth of Milk 

 River and Fort Benton, Mont. In the latter State it is found as far 

 west as the Rocky Mountains, at Chief Mountain, Birch Creek, and 

 Choteau. 



Its southern subspecies, the Wyoming Spermophile {Spermophilus r. 

 elegans), extends over the sage plains of Wyoming from Cheyenne and 

 the Laramie Mountains westward to Idaho. It is also found in north- 

 ern Utah and at Fish Creek in the extreme northern part of Colorado. 

 In Idaho it is chiefly a harmless occupant of uncultivated lands; but in 

 Wyoming it does immense damage to crops.* Richardson's Spermophile 

 is extremely abundant about the little town of Bottineau, where it is 

 found only on high prairies, and seems to avoid brushy or low weedy 

 land. It is generally distributed over the prairies, but in some places 

 has collected about grain fields and does considerable damage by 

 eating, carrying away, and destroying grain. 



Habits. — Like every species of spermophile that I have observed, 

 these animals are strictly diurnal. From sunrise till about 9 o'clock 

 they are very active, and may be seen running or sitting up all over 

 the prairies, even at the very edges of towns. After 9 a. m. they retire 

 to their burrows and are rarely seen during the rest of the day; but as 



* Prof. F. J. Niswander, entomologist of the Wyoming Experiment Station, gives 

 the following account of its depredations : "On the Laramie experiment farm the 

 acre plat, containing several varieties of harley, was so badly injured that, in some 

 instames, the yield was less than the amount of seed sown. The plats containing 

 the different varieties of oats were also badly damaged. Our acre plat was not har- 

 vested owing to the ravages of these squirrels. Of several varieties harvested only 

 enough seed w as obtained to repeat the experiment during the present season. 



"Mr. .J. S. Meyer, superintendent of the experiment farm at Lander, Wyoming, 

 says: 'We are bothered a great deal with gophers; they are death on carrots and 

 alfalfa.'" (Wyoming Experiment Station Bull. No. 12, April, 1893, p. 25.) 



