THE GRAY GROUND SQUIRREL. 



479 



this neighborhood the species was known as the gray squirrel. I 

 was unable to learn of more than the one colony anywhere near. 



The animals were not afraid of traps and three were caught in 

 a single trap, without bait, in two days. They were all females, and 

 one taken August 18 appeared to be nursing. The cheek pouches of 

 one contained several crickets and one of the others had been gar- 

 nering oats. The farmer on whose land they were taken did not 

 think that they had injured his crops appreciably. 



]\rr. W. S. Blatchley reports digging one of these spermophiles 

 out of a mound near Boone Grove, Porter County, on October 6. 

 At that time it had already begun to hibernate. 



b 



Fig. 6. — Skull of CitvUus frankUnii : a, lateral view ; b, dorsal view. After Baird. 



Econoinic status. — -The Franklin spermophile is not sufficiently 

 numerous in this State to be of much economic importance. In 

 some of the States farther west it sometimes does considerable dam- 

 age to grain. It eats some insects, but is not beneficial to any 

 marked degree. There is no reason why its flesh should not make 

 good food, though I cannot vouch for its flavor. 



Genus Marmota Zimmermann. 



Marmota Zimmermann, Specimen zoologicae geographicae, p. 

 509, 1777. Allen, Bull. Am. Mus. Nat. Hist., Vol. 16, p. 17, 

 1902. 



Arctomys Schreber, Saugethiere, Vol. 4, pis. 207-211, 1780. 

 Dental For?nula.—l, flj; C, ^2^; Pm, f^f; M, fl- = 22. 

 Generic characters. — Form heavy and thickset; tail short; ears 

 small ; color grizzled brownish or grayish with no distinct stripes ; 



