PRAIRIE GOPHER. 



33 



mounds are found. By sweeping to one side the heaps of dirt, traces of the hole 

 through which the earth was brought and its direction can be easily found. A min- 

 ute's work with the spade will usually expose the tunnel lying to one side of the hill. 

 Place a steel trap in the tunnel, and cover up the breach with a piece of pine bark or 

 some palmetto 'fans.' If the breach is left open, the animals will carry dirt to shut 

 out the light, and thus clog the trap, whereas if the opening is closed they will step in 

 the trap and be caught. A break is often repaired within half an hour, or it may 

 be left for nearly a day. In mending an opening it is astonishing how compactly 

 the earth is packed ; in one case an animal closed an opening so securely that the 

 tunnel could not be found at all until another shaft was sunk in search of it. 



A ' salamander.' caught m a trap is a picture of fury and spite, biting at every- 

 thing within reach of its jaws, and sometimes breaking its front teeth in venting 

 its rage on the trap. 



In the cheek pouches of one were some pieces of pine roots, and some grasses were 

 found in the tunnels. The animals do serious injury to orange and pear trees by 

 gnawing the roots. Sometimes the roots a re gnawed off so completely that the tree 

 can be pushed over with one hand. They also feed on sweet potatoes. But when 

 an animal enters a garden or an orchard, and betrays itself by throwing up hills, 

 there is no excuse for not ridding the place of it, as it may be easily caught in a 

 steel trap. It is claimed that the 'salamander' works near the surface from 

 September to March, retiring deeper in the ground during the hot season. 



Mr. William J. Frank, of Cotton Plant, Fla., writes the division as 

 follows respecting this Gopher: 



They are very common in this part of the country, and do considerable damage to 

 vegetables, especially potatoes. They tunnel under ground, and following the rows 

 eat the potatoes from the hills. Mr. Walter Scott, at Rock Springs, says he lost 

 20 percent of his sweet potatoes by Pocket Gophers last August and September. 

 Pocket Gophers sometimes destroy fruit trees, shrubs, etc., by cutting off the tap- 

 roots. During the past year several peach, plum, and orange trees have been killed 

 in this section by them. 



habits of the red or prairie gopher (Geomys bursarius). 



(Plate II.) 



The Prairie Gopher is of much greater economic consequence than 

 ail the other species combined, for the reason that its home is in the 

 fertile prairie region of the Mississippi Valley from central Missouri 

 northward, covering the whole State of Iowa, nearly the whole of Illi- 

 nois, and the richest and most densely populated agricultural lands of 

 eastern Kansas, eastern Nebraska, eastern North and South Dakota, 

 Miunesota, and southern Wisconsin. 



The statement so often made that Pocket Gophers are prolific breeders 

 has no foundation in fact. Only one litter of young is raised in a year, 

 and as there are but two or three in a litter the rate of increase is slow. 

 Judging from available facts their birth rate is less than half that of 

 the ground squirrels, tree squirrels, chipmunks, mice, and most other 

 small rodents. On the other hand, their mode of life protects them 

 from a host of enemies that attack animals of less seclusive habits. 

 They are early breeders. A female collected May 14, 1886, at Elk 

 Kiver, Minn., contained two embryos; and on the same day a 

 nearly half-grown young was caught. At the same locality on April 

 29, 1888, I found a young hardly one-third grown that had come out of 

 12983— No. 5 3 



