THE NATURALIST AND COLLECTOR 
2 I 
The Pocket Qopher. 
T HE pocket gophers of North 
America are thick-set animals 
about the size of a rat, with 
small eyes and powerful fore¬ 
feet armed with strong curved claws. 
Their name is obtained from their large 
cheek pouches for carrying the roots 
and plants which form their food. Food 
not needed for immediate use is carried 
to their burrows and stored in the 
chambers there for future consumption. 
The localities inhabited by these 
small animals are marked by little 
mounds of earth called “gopher holes,” 
extending along the lines of their sub¬ 
terranean tunnels. Each mound con¬ 
tains five or six quarts of earth, and, 
considering the great number of these, 
the gophers, working all summ-r and 
part of the winter, must be very busy 
little creatures. They cause great 
damage to the farmer by the amount 
of potatoes, carrots and the like which 
they destroy. 
Two species of gopher inhabit the 
United States. The gray pocket gopher 
(Thymnmys talpoides) inhabits Montana 
and the Dakotas, pushing into the 
northwest part of Minnesota. It is 
solitary in its habits, it being seldom, 
except in the breeding season, that 
more than one is found in a mound. 
The red pocket gopher (Geomys bur- 
satius) differs from the preceding one 
by its larger size and reddish color and 
by the grooves on its teeth, and its 
larger forefeet and claws. It inhabits 
the Mississipi Valley, extending from 
the Red riyer to Texas, where it merges 
into another species. 
There is little difference between the 
mounds thrown up by the different 
species, except as one would naturally 
expect, the mounds made by the smaller 
animals are smaller and closer together. 
After an extended acquaintance with 
both species they can be distinguished 
by their mounds. In their habits and 
food they closely resemble each other. 
— R. C. Rice. 
Gem stones are far more numerous 
than is commonly supposed, observes 
Mr. II. A. Miers of the Eritish museum, 
although they often pass muster under 
erroneous names. Tourmaline is 
sold as ruby, cinnamon stone as 
jacinth, whith jaron and phenacite as 
diamond, while g*reen garnets are 
universally known in the trade as 
olivine or peridat. That the varieties 
of available gem-stones are not far 
more numerous is due mainly to the 
prejudice of purchasers, who ring the 
changes on diamonds, rubies, sapphires 
and emeralds, and have heard of noth¬ 
ing else; estimating the stones, as the 
public estimates popular actors or 
authors, not by their real excellence, 
but by their names. In the mineral 
gallery of the British Museum are 
many examples of cut stones which 
have rarely or never been employed in 
jewelry, but should certainly win favor 
on their own merits. One very curious 
example is a little gem cut from a crys¬ 
tal of the ordinary tin-stone, the same 
ore which is worked for tin in the 
Cornish mines. This is a stone which, 
when cut from a sufficiently transpar¬ 
ent crystal, posesses a most beautiful 
luster and coior. Another example is 
a single rough fragment of stone from 
the ruby mines of Burmah, which has 
puzzled many but has been proven by 
scientific tests to be the boro-silicate 
of lime known as Danburite, and 
whose appearance leads to the belief 
that it wonld make a beautiful gem. 
Chrysolites have been unearthed in 
the Cumberland mountains. 
