1915. J 



INTEODUCTION. 



13 



in the females (fig. 2). In the umhrinus group from Mexico, with 

 3 pairs of mammse, the number of embryos has been recorded as 2 

 and 3. In other species, with 4 pairs of mammse, tlie number of 

 embryos has been recorded as 4 and 5, while in the dusius and 

 ocius groups, with 6 and 7 pairs of mammae, 6 and 7 embryos seem 

 to be the rule. Judging from nearly matured fetuses the young are 

 born helpless and naked, and must remain for some time in the 

 nest while cared for by the mother. Apparently nothing is known 

 of their nests or breeding quarters. 



DISPOSITION. 



Like aU of the family, gophers of the genus Thow^omys are pug- 

 nacious and fight man or dog as quickly as they would an animal 

 of their own size. To the gopher everything that moves is an 

 enemy and is attacked with vicious wheezing and savage bites. 

 The toe of a boot or a stick is seized, and the heavy incisors make 

 deep cuts into wood or quickly cut through leather. The weasel 

 is probably the gopher s only enemy of its own size that successfully 

 attacks and masters it in its burrows. The gopher's vision is 

 extremely limited, and it seems not to see an object until very close, 

 when its instinct of self-preservation suggests prompt attack. 



POCKET GOPHERS AS FOOD. 



These gophers are not only strict vegetarians, but are in every 

 way cleanly and exemplary in their food habits. Their flesh is 

 tender and well flavored, and w^ere the animals large enough they 

 might be made a valuable adjunct to our meat supply. They have 

 furnished me with many a palatable meal in the mountains when 

 other food was not available, and w^ould have been of great value 

 to early explorers, who suffered from starvation, had a few gopher 

 traps been carried across the mountains and deserts. Two or three 

 gophers broiled over the coals of the camp fire furnish a fairly sub- 

 stantial and palatable meal, especially if accompanied by a stew of 

 wild onions and bulbs of the camas. Gophers are hardly large 

 enough to be worth catching for the market, however, but where large 

 numbers must be destroyed to protect crops, some may be utilized for 

 the table. The meat is rather dark and fine-grained, tender, and in 

 flavor not unlike that of the squirrel. Sometimes it is rather strongly 

 flavored with wild onions, but to some this is not unpleasant. 



NATURAL ENEMIES. 



While the underground life of pocket gophers would seem to render 

 them safe from attacks of enemies, yet they are preyed upon by a 

 great variety of animals. Hawks and owls pick up so many of them 

 at their doorways that gopher bones are among the most abundant 



