INTRODUCTION. 



11 



Continuing this same line of investigation, Mr. J. M. Aldrich, of the 

 South Dakota Agricultural College and Experiment Station, published 

 a paper on the Food Habits of the Striped Gopher, in March, 1892.* 

 Mr. Aldrich, after referring to Prof. Gillette's previous examinations, 

 also gives the results of an examination of fifteen stomachs made by 

 himself, and says: "As far as our observations go they did not give the 

 gopher as favorable showing as Prof. Gillette's did." (See pp. 40-42.) 



One of the bulletins of the Oregon Experiment Station contains an 

 important paper by Prof. F. L. Washburn on 1 Gophers and Moles.' t 

 It is devoted mainly to methods of destroying the pocket gopher (Tho- 

 momys) and mole (Scapanus), and gives several illustrations of traps 

 said to be specially adapted for the capture of these animals. A few 

 suggestions for destroying the i Digger Squirrel' f are added, and bi- 

 sulphide of carbon and strychnine recommended for this purpose. 



Eecently Prof. F. J. Mswander, entomologist of the Wyoming Experi- 

 ment Station, has published a bulletin on 4 Ground Squirrels.' § After 

 giving evidence from several correspondents as to the injuries caused 

 by spermophiles in the vicinity of the station at Laramie, Wyo., he 

 recommends the use of bisulphide of carbon for destroying the animals. 

 Unfortunately the author has mistaken the southern form of Eichard- 

 son's Spermophile (Spermophilus richardsoni elegans), found in this lo- 

 cality, for Franklin's (S. franklini), which latter is a widely different 

 animal and one that does not reach Wyoming at all. This bulletin con- 

 tains two full-length illustrations, one of the California Ground Squirrel 

 (Spermophilus beecheyi), the other of the southern Bocky Mountain 

 Spermophile (Spermophilus grammurus), neither of which species occurs 

 in Wyoming. 



PLAN OF THE INVESTIGATIONS. 



The work of bringing together the facts upon which the present bul- 

 letin is based may be arranged under three heads, namely, correspond- 

 ence, field work, and laboratory ^ork. 



Correspondence. — In 1886 a circular was widely distributed in which 

 information was asked for respecting the habits, ranges, and distribu- 

 tion of pocket gophers and spermophiles (Circular No. 3, Division of 

 Ornithology and Mammalogy). 



In response hundreds of letters were received, and while many of 

 them contained matter of little value or statements that were evidently 



* South Dakota Agricultural College and Experiment Station, Bulletin No. 30, 

 March, 1892, pp. 8-11. 



t Oregon Agricultural Experiment Station, Bulletin No. 25, April, 1893, pp. 14-23, 

 pi. ill ; 10 figs, in text. 



t The species which occurs in Oregon is not Spermophilus beecheyi, as here given, 

 but the closely related form douglasii. 



$ Wyoming Experiment Station Bulletin, No. 12, April, 1893, pp. 25-35. Figs. 1-3. 



