MAMMALS IN THEIR RELATION TO SPOTTED FEVER. 



15 



warm rocky slopes and the vicinity of small settlements in the foot- 

 hills. They were especially abundant around Lo Lo Hot Springs and 

 near the construction buildings at Lake Como. They are true ground 

 squirrels and hibernate at an earlier date 

 than the chipmunks, usually about the 

 1st of September, reappearing in March. 

 They live largely on seeds and grain and, 

 when necessary, can be readily poisoned. 

 Under favorable circumstances they serve 

 as hosts for ticks, and from four out of the 

 five specimens captured at Woodman were 

 taken nymphal and seed ticks of Derma- 

 ventor venustiis. 



* WOODCHUCK. 



( Marmota fla vivcnter. ) 



Woodchucks are generally distributed 

 along both sides of the valley and in the 

 adjacent foothills. They are especially 

 abundant in rock piles and around vacant 

 buildings along the valley's edge. From 

 one rock pile in a hayfield near Florence 

 I took 15 woodchucks ; and from under the 

 unoccupied buildings on the ranch at the 

 mouth of Bass Creek 6 specimens were 

 taken. The first one was noted on March 

 24, and most of them had emerged from 

 hibernation by the end of the month. By 

 the middle of August most of them had 

 again " holed up." About 25 of these ani- 

 mals were examined for ticks, and it was 

 found that they commonly serve as hosts 

 for nymphs and seeds of Dermacentor 

 venustiis. On one were found two adults 

 of this species; and adults were found to 

 attach and engorge on woodchucks in cap- 

 tivity. It would probably not be very difficult to exterminate these 

 harmful rodents in the cultivated fields and around ranches. 



Fig. 5. — Side-striped ground 

 squirrel (Callospcrmophilus 

 lateralis cinerascens) . 

 (About J natural size.) 



HOARY MARMOT. 



{Marmota caligata.) 



These big mountain woodchucks, hoary marmots, or " whistlers," 

 occur mainly above timberline in the Bitterroot Mountains, and are 

 not abundant there. None were examined. 



[Cir. 82] 



