10 



CIRCULAR F()(:RTEEi\ 



So far as could be ascertained, there was not a gopher burrow in the 

 enclosure. The gophers came from the pasture and border of the potato 

 field. 



Hoping that this record may be of value to you, I remain, 



Yours truly, 



As.\ C. Maxsox. 



A striped ground squirrel which we captured alive and ke})t 

 in a cage at the College Museum for several months would eat 

 all kinds of grain, drv bread, cake, and meat, and had a great 

 liking for mice, which it would catch, kill, and eat with great 

 eagerness. The caged squirrel was very fond of grasshoppers, 

 and, no matter what kind of food was in the cage, he would leave 

 everything else for grasshopjiers. and would eat nothing else 

 until the supply was exhausted. We placed the grasshoppers 

 in the cage alive, and the squirrel would catch and eat them, 

 sitting up on his hind legs in the characteristic pose of ground 

 squirrels while feeding. He would seize them with his fore feet, 

 bite off their heads, and begin feeding at the head. The legs and 

 wings were bitten off and dropped to the bottom of the cag^e. Large 

 sphinx larvae were also eaten in the same manner, with great 

 i-elish. 



These squirrels have been reported as a nuisance from the 

 fact that they dig up seed beans and peas. The one we had refused 

 to eat both dried beans and peas. It is possible that the squirrels 

 eat them when they are dug up at planting time, after the seed 

 has germinated. 



The squirrel is also fond of ground beetles (family Carahi 

 dae), a family of predaceous insects very common in the state. 

 The caged animal, referred to above, refused to eat blister beetles 

 (family Mcloidae). These beetles are used for making blister 

 plasters, the one most commonly used being a European one 

 known as Spanish fly. No doubt these beetles are ill-tasting. 



In the early part of the summer of 1912 the wife of the super- 

 intendent of the college farm called our attention to her patch 

 of sweet corn and said that the striped ground squirrels were 

 destroying it. The corn was at that time some eighteen or twenty 

 inches high, and down by the side of almost every stalk of corn 

 was a hole made by these ground squirrels. After watching for 

 several days, it became evident that they were doing no damage 

 to the corn stalks. T was of the opinion that they were after cut 

 worms, but ten specimens trapped near this corn field failed to 

 show any of the worms in their stomachs, and no trace of corn, 

 except in two stomachs. The corn found in them was hard and 

 flinty, and not kernels that had germinated, and all the stomachs 

 contained remains of grasshoppers. This corn was not injured 

 in any way that we could see from the work of this squirrel, and 

 matured at the proper time. 



On pasture land the damage done by the stri]jed ground 

 squirrels cannot be very great, for. unlike the prairie-dog, they 



