rilK STRIPlOl) (iliOlM) SQIJIIIUELS OF ( "()L( )K.\I)() 



by the number of squirrels living upon a given piece of ground will ^ive 

 some idea of the amount of benefit derived from them. 



This, without saying anything of the large number of grasshoppers, 

 wire-worms, and other noxious insects eaten, makes a very large credit 

 account to be placed over against the debits chargeable to these squirrels. 

 (Bulletin No. 6, Iowa Experiment Station, August, 1889.) 



In I*i-()fessor J. M. Aldrich, at that time assistaiil ento 



inologist to the South Dakota Experiment Station, examined fif- 

 teen stomachs of this same species of squirrel, and, after (piotinji 

 IM'ofessor Gillette's ])aper mentioned above, summed up his results 

 MS follows : 



Summing up the insects, we have nineteen or twenty cut-worms, 

 eleven other lepidopterous larvae, three grasshoppers, and two crickets, 

 all of which may be set down as injurious. The number of I)eetles of 

 all kinds could not be definitely ascertained, but was thirty to thirty-five. 

 None of them are species which were noted either for benefiting or injuring 

 the farmer. Those marked Carabid and Harpalus belong to a family that 

 are in general beneficial, while those marked Chrysomelid and Chrysomela 

 belong to the leaf-eaters, of which groups many species are injurious. 



As the beetles found in the gophers' stomachs were of both classes, 

 there is no great preponderance on either side. As far as our observations 

 go, they do not give the gopher as favorable a showing as Professor 

 Gillette's did. (Bulletin No. 30, South Dakota Experiment Station, March, 

 1892.) 



Mr. Vernon Baily, in a summary of eighty stomachs exam- 

 ined, states that more than half of their contents consisted of 

 insects. The percentage of animal matter was 52.9, of vegetable 

 matter 44.4, and of indeterminate uiatter 2.7. 



The cheek pouches contained 100 per cent vegetable mattei-. 

 being filled exclusively with grain and seeds of various plants. 

 ( Bulletin No. 4, Division of Ornithology and Mammalogy. United 

 States Department of Agriculture, Washington, D. C, 1893.) 



The following letter just received from Mr. A. C. Maxson. 

 entomologist for the Great Western Sugar Company, refers to 

 the eastern form of the striped ground squirrel fCitrJhis frideeem- 

 lineatus) : 



LoxGMOXT, Colo.. September 10. 1914. 



Mr. Bvrnett, Fort Collins, Colo. 



Dear Mr. Burnett: In compliance with my promise, I will give you 

 the account of my brother's experience with gophers as chicken-killers. 



My brother's farm is located in central Minnesota, in a timber coun- 

 try, about seventy-five miles north of St. Paul. 



This spring about sixty brooder chicks were placed in a lot about 

 one hundred feet square. This lot was bounded by a pasture, a potato 

 field, and the house and barnyards. 



Soon after the chicks were placed in the yard they began to disappear. 

 A search for the cause revealed the fact that the common striped gophers 

 were taking them. Forty chicks about two weeks old were taken in one 

 day. The next day twenty gophers were killed in the lot, and no chicks 

 were taken. 



