356 
IOWA ACADEMY OF SCIENCE Vol. XXIV, 1917 
tor of the county in which the animal was taken. As evidence 
of the destruction of each animal the front feet are demanded. 
In some counties where this pe,st is extremely abundant more 
than $2,000.00 are paid out annually in bounty without, appar- 
ently, lessening the amount of destructive work done by the 
animals. In a few counties visited the annual bounty on pocket 
gophers totals more than $3,000.00 and the question is raised 
as to whether the results secured are commensurate with the 
expense incurred. The offering of this bounty has also some- 
times led to fraudulent practices. 
Bounties may be offered upon some other species of animals 
including other rodents such as woodchucks, Franklin’s spermo- 
phile and the 13-striped spermophile. It is left optional with 
the various county boards of supervisors whether a bounty shall 
be paid and if so the amount to be paid on each animal. This 
procedure has resulted in a good deal of difficulty and incon- 
sistency in regard to these matters. For example, of four ad- 
joining counties in northeastern Iowa, two pay a bounty of 
twent}^ cents each on woodchucks, another county pays ten cents 
each while the other county offers no bounty whatever on these 
animals. The possible difficulties are at once apparent and it 
is very evident that such an arrangement is not the key to the 
situation. It would seem that if bounty is to be paid at all the 
amount paid on each animal should be uniform in all the counties 
of the state so that all claimants would be treated alike. If the 
pest is not abundant in one county the drain on the funds will 
be light while, on the other hand, if the pest is abundant and is 
brought in numbers for bounty that locality will in the end 
benefit thereby. 
On the wdiole, the bounty system as a means of combatting 
noxious rodents appears to have met with small success and it is 
questionable whether the practice should be continued. If every 
farmer would see to it that the pests are destroyed on his own 
premises without consideration for the bounty the difficulty 
would be solved and the funds now expended in bounties could 
be invested in some manner that wmuld be likely to yield greater 
returns. 
This matter will be more fully dealt with in a future bulletin 
of the Iowa Geological Survey. 
State University of Iowa. 
