4 



CIRCULAR FOURTEEN 



line of work the following circulars have already been issued from 

 the office of th^^ State Entomologist : 



No. T), ''Rodent Investigation for 1912." 



No. 8, ''Prairie-Dog Investigation in Colorado." 



No. 9, ''The Wyoming S])ermophile or Ground Squirrel." 



No. 10, "Pocket Gophers." 



The present circular on the striped ground squirrels describes 

 the first attem})t, to the writer's knowledge, to get together a 

 number of stomachs for examination of the food habits of this 

 squirrel. The eastern form. Citellns trideccmlineaUts. has been 

 the subject of several circulars from different ex})erimcnt stations, 

 and the United States Department of Agriculture. No doubt the 

 food habits of the two are practically identical. The number of 

 stomaclis (xamined for the present paper is far too small to 

 arrive at a definite conclusion as to their food habits, but may 

 serve as a basis for further investigation. 



No attem])t has been made to study tlie food habits of tlic 

 smaller form of this squirrel, Citelhis t. parruH^ but the descri])- 

 tion and distribution have been added for the ])iirpose of calling 

 the reader's attention to tlie two forms found in the state. 



The strijied ground squirrel, Citelhis t. tridrvvndincatus, of 

 which our pale-striped ground squirrel, (^itrllus t. pallidas, is a 

 subs]ieci( s, was first described in 1821, from a specimen taken in 

 central Minnesota. Some fifty years later Dr. Allen separated 

 tli(^ sjiecies and named the sijnirrel found on the ai-id plains 

 pall id us. 



DESCRIPTION AND DISTRIBFTION 



.Vccording to Warren ("Mammals of Colorado"), ''('itclhfs 

 tridf'ccnilinaitiis with its subspecies has a range from Saskatche- 

 wan on tlie north to northern Texas on the south, and from north- 

 Avestern T'tali, Colorado, and Wyoming to Michigan.'' The present 

 subspecies inhabits the arid plains from Montana, Wyoming, and 

 Nebraska to Texas. In Colorado it is found over most of the 

 plains country of the eastern jmrt of the state, from the foot-hills 

 east, and inhabits every county of that part of the state. "It is 

 found in South Park, and has been taken at Twin Lake, near 

 Leadville." (Warren's "Mammals of Colorado.'*) 



Gary rcqiorts it from "North Park, Wet Mountain, and Huer- 

 fano A'^alley, and near La Yeta in the Cucharras Valley." ("North 

 American Fauna," No. 83.) 



In this state we have records, at the office of State Entomolo- 

 gist, of its occurrence in fjractically all the })lains country north 

 of the Arkansas River. The writer has taken this squirrel near 

 Log Cabin P. O., Larinu r County, at an elevation of 7,200 feet, 

 but it is not at all common at that elevation. In Moffat, Rio 

 Blanco, and Garfield Counties, and in most of the San Luis 

 Valley, this ground squirrel is replaced by the smallest member 



