42 
JOTJENAL OF MAMMALOGY 
habits in the winter in South Africa. In those districts where the winter is very 
cold and sharp frosts prevail, the Shrew lies dormant and bereft of the power 
of movement.” It is in connection with his general remarks on the Soricidae 
that the author makes the astonishing statement that ‘‘In Europe and other 
countries where the winter is very cold, and insect life exceedingly scarce, the 
Shrews seek out some snug, sheltered situation, and hibernate until the return 
of warm weather, which brings with it an abundance of insect life.” Of particu- 
lar interest in this volume are the chapter on the South African hedgehog 
and the account of the introduced North American gray squirrel. The gray 
squirrel is said to have become such a source of vexation to fruit growers that it 
has been placed on the “vermin list” at Cape Town, and a bounty has been 
authorized for its destruction. 
— N. Hollister. 
Dixon, Joseph. Notes on the Natural History of the Bushy-Tailed 
Wood Rats op California. Univ. California Publ. Zook, vol. 21, no. 3, pp. 
49-74, pis. 1-3, 3 figs, in text, December 10, 1919. 
“It is the function of the present paper,” writes the author, “to place on 
record such facts as have been learned to date in regard to the habits and associ- 
ational relationships of the bushy-tailed wood rats occurring in California.” 
Following adequate descriptions of the two Californian forms (iV eotoma cinerea 
cinerea and A. c. occidentalis) the status of the fossil form Teonoma spelaea Sin- 
clair from Potter Creek Cave is considered, the author confirming Kellogg’s ref- 
erence of it to the recent N . c. occidentalis. The species cinerea is boreal in dis- 
tribution, its altitudinal range being from 5,000 feet, as in Kings River Canyon, 
to 13,090 feet, on the summit of Mount Lyell. 
The life history is taken up under 13 headings, as follows: local associations, 
mannerisms and behavior, timidity and reflexes, tracks and other sign, houses, 
hibernation, breeding season, growth of young, relation to other animals, forag- 
ing, food, population, and economic status. Of particular interest is a compara- 
tive statement of the relative speed of nervous impulses in individual wood rats 
and certain other small rodents based on shutter-speed necessary to stop all 
motion when the animals were photographed. second stopped motion in the 
bushy-tailed wood rat; sV second, alpine chipmunk {Eutamias alpinus) ; second, 
California pocket gopher {Thomomys hottce), Great Basin pocket mouse (Perogna- 
thus parvus olivaceus), Tahoe chipmunk {Eutamias speciosus f rater), and Nelson 
antelope ground squirrel (Ammospermophilus nelsoni); tV second, California 
ground squirrel {Citellus beecheyi). 
— Walter P. Taylor. 
Adams, Chas. C., George P. Burns, T. L. Hankinson, Barrington Moore, 
AND Norman Taylor. Plants and animals of Mount Marcy, New York. 
Ecology, vok.l, 1920: part 1, pp. 71-94, (April) August; part 2; pp. 20F-233, 
(July) October; part 3, pp. 274-288, (October) November. (Contains 
remarks upon the ecological distribution of mammals on Mount Marcy.) 
Anderson, Malcolm Playfair. The discovery of the Chinese takin. Nat. 
Hist., vol. 20, pp. 428-433. September-October, 1920. 
