> , ot oot « @.s oA See ome es oret: *,4.°, os yer 9 » * in! i x oe) . _ a a” wa he . ja -* --* f 4 eae >" 0 a Ee ae a Oe OE Nets ..2 2 Sep a? er a Re RC See ORE: ji, ae : — ro . - . 5 Tae 2 Bes Pies say < if 28 . ‘ PL wa" ve letel wasses iy _ Tee nels hd ig a+ "eam; -} oO ppt ret a tee orreens ably: a xy > zs Bs Ss 2 — ne : : A ae a s ar = £& 2 % ‘ . 5 . . : Ps , , 2 -—~ . 5 an bs ‘ — a 2 = _— 5 = HARVARD UNIVERSITY. LIBRARY OF THE MUSEUM OF COMPARATIVE ZOOLOGY. \LaSh. \ (\ Cr OF ORNITHOLOGY AND MAMMALOGY EPARTME Isl0 ‘ ‘¢ ar i Tre fe BY AUTHORITY OF THE SECRETARY OF AGRICULTURE mh ye S E i ed = pe N Cis . PRINTING OFFICE ov v . x= we * ty > Bad ~ Powe # Baurd @€.- ad * FRONTISPIECE. Bull. No. 5, Division of Ornithology and Mammalogy, Dept. of Agriculture. I) Y y Yj Yf)) Uy Yy, YU Y "Wy yyy Wi YY Why Wy Yi GEORGIA GOPHER, GEOMYS TUZA (Ord.). BULLETIN No. 5. Poe a PMENT OF AGRICULTURE DIVISION OF ORNITHOLOGY AND MAMMALOGY isl 5 POCKET GOPHERS OF THE Meira tAT ES PREPARED UNDER THE DIRECTION OF Dr. C. HART MERRIAM CHIEF OF DIVISION BY VERNON «BAILEY CHIEF FIELD AGENT ' PUBLISHED BY AUTHORITY OF THE SECRETARY OF AGRICULTURE WASHINGTON GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 1895 LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL. UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE, Washington, D. C., January 31, 1895. Sir: I have the Agian to transmit herewith Bulletin No. 5 of this division, treating of the habits, economic status, and means of destruc- tion of the Pocket Gophers of the United States. It has been prepared by Vernon Bailey, chief field naturalist of the division, and is comple- mentary to a technical paper on the group this day issued by the division (North American Fauna, No. 8). Respectfully, ©. HART MERRIAM, Chief of Division of Ornithology and Mammalogy. Hon. J. STERLING MORTON, Secretary of Agriculture. 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Jane--- sees 17 ite seu aS 2 Ciyimie” MACHINE 2). =e s = cosa tes wn an in SD sete eee 18 momaso done py Gophers 22... 2-02-22 ee el oo Se ie re ae Ae oats oe i Injury to roots, tubers, and garden vegetables.....-.....--..-----.+..-.- 19 Mamet OUNET AITINLOLOUS S. .0 nes ates 2 FS see Sosa See Ss ne eee le ete 20 nein ene pt ts yt ey eR Ge Sears is Ae ate oe sae eles doe oe 20 Sen ieeOme IV Gite. DUEEO WR se 2 = ee = eS oa tik ook Sk oo oe LS ee ee ee 20 eM omen es Ol tasers: 2) 6.2432 co CO. Ces ew Lace sey ec Gel eee eee veeee 20 meas Of Cestrucion and Exclusion... 22. D-.-- 2 oo. Se en dee Se eee eee 23 ULL E SOP UGS a a eS ae hee er a ae ee 23 2) LS TED SS ge ia a ee ea ee ere See Is 23 Len sae Ste eC een Les ois eg. Sees s eyes ba gD eed oo Ste 23 CO SEE a SED Sys SSIs a a 24 ey EE te GUN ee nt ie a ae aan etl seis See one 24 nae se ie ree erty) ene en noes tn’ oe td ae died ease oes soe Se- 25 2 LST Bose a nee 3s SER aS Oe ee eee eae a 25 SeEMCuIUAiene bile DOUMEy SYSTEM) 2225.2 52 oo 5222 2 bs ss esc es bane de eee eee 26 Geopraphic distribution of the Pocket Gophers..........--...------.---...--- 28 Mempecies of Ceomys ...0...-...-2.00..2--------- i a ae Sead a Gg 29 Habits of the Georgia Gopher (Geomys tuza)......-------------- Se Ge alee Nate 31 Prarie Gopner (Geomys bursarius) 2. 222. .-. 8-2-2 2o ke od eee cess 3d Pinins Gopher’ (Geomys lutescens) ==... 22.2 .5-2 5022s 2 nce ooe eens ag Louisiana Gopher (Geomys breviceps) ...-...----..-------+-+---- 40 eangyGopler | Geos arenaruis). 22.2% 2-222 22. - ee e ce sees - oe 43 Padre Island Gopher (Geomys personatus) ..-----.--------------- 43 Baird’s Gopher (Cratogeomys castanops) .--.-"-..-.--.---------- 44 ‘Gray Gopher (Thomomys talpoides) .......2---- 0eeeeeeeeee cere 44 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS, Frontispiece: Georgia Gopher (Geomys tuza). Fig. I. Face of Prairie Gopher (Geomys bursarius), showing grooved front teeth and opening of cheek pouches. 2. Face of Gray Gopher (Thomomys talpoides), showing plane front teeth and opening of cheek pouches. 3. Left forefoot of Padre Island Gopher (Geomys personatus), showing the rows of bristles which form brushes on the sides of the toes. . Outline of skull of Mexican Gopher, showing teeth in normal position. . Base of small apple tree with roots gnawed off by Pocket Gopher. 6. Map showing geographic distribution of the three genera of Pocket Gophers of the United States. OU COLORED PLATES. Red or Prairie Gopher (Geomys bursariis). Gray Gopher (Thomomys talpoides). COLORED MAP. Geographic distribution of Gophers of the genera Geomys and Cratogeomys. iv see * et hr, THE POCKET GOPHERS OF THE UNITED STATES. INTRODUCTION. The aim of the present bulletin is to give a popular account of the Pocket Gophers of the United States. The name ‘Gopher’! is applied to these animals throughout the greater part of the region they inhabit, though in the Southern States they are commonly called ‘salamanders.’ Since the real salamanders are lizard-like animals, once believed to live in the fire, it seems prob- able, as suggested by Dr. Goode, that the name was given to the Gophers from the sudden appearance of their fresh mounds on ground recently blackened by fire. In the Mississippi Valley the name Gopher is used for the ground squirrels as well as the Pocket Gophers, while in the south a burrowing turtle (Gopherus polyphemus) is called by the same name. From the Gophers’ habit of living underground they are some- times confounded with the moles. A greater mistake could not be made, for the moles belong to the widely different order of insectivores and are among the most beneficial of mammals. The Pocket Gophers are sturdy little animals, well adapted to under- ground life. Their bodies are stout and compact, their eyes are small, almost rudimentary, and their front feet are armed with strong, curved claws for digging. The appearance of a characteristic species is shown in the frontispiece. Gophers can lay no claim to beauty, either in graceful form or in pleasing contrast of colors; but their coats of plain earthy browns harmonize perfectly with the color of the soil. - What seems like fur is in reality soft, silky hair, with a smoothness and gloss that repels the dirt and keeps the animal bright and clean though in constant contact with the soil. Such beauty as they have lies in their perfect adaptation to a peculiar mode of life. Pocket Gophers belong among the rodents or gnawers. In general they may be recognized by their peculiar form, already described, and by the presence of cheek pouches opening outside of the mouth. The only other mammals having external cheek pouches are the pocket mice and kangaroo rats, which differ from the Gophers in slender, graceful forms, long tails, and long hind legs. The Gophers may be subdivided — 1From Gaufre of the early French explorers 9 10 POCKET GOPHERS OF THE UNITED STATES. into two groups, those with grooved front teeth and those with smooth front teeth (see figs. 1 and 2). The harmfulness of these animals is perhaps best shown by the fact that single counties have paid for their destruction in one year as much as $14,000.* That animals living below the surface of the soil, rarely seen and to most people unknown, ean be the cause of enough mis- chief to bring such a price upon their heads may surprise many people. A careless observer might travel for weeks over the western prairies and not be aware of their presence, and yet the buffalo and antelope in their past abundance were not one-tenth as numerous. Unlike larger animals, Gophers do not disappear before man unless as the result of his direct and continuous efforts toward their de- - struction. They remain in his fields working havoe among crops, killing his choicest trees, eating the roots from garden vegetables, and destroy- . ing meadows and fields of grain. They breed and multiply beneath his*very feet, and work as silently and unob- servedly as the frost, while the result Tic. 1.—Face of Geomysbursarius, show- of their work is Shown above their tun- ing grooved upper incisors and opening of mae 4 ee rane nels by lines of whithering and dying Fic. 2.—Face of Yhomomys talpoides, plant ts. showing plane upper incisors and‘openings of cheek pouches. There is another side to the ques- tion, and the Gophers should be given full credit for the important part they have played in mixing and enriching soils. Still, the verdict must go against them. We must protect our crops. There is no demand for legislation or for any concerted action. The bounty system has been repeatedly tried and has always proved a failure and a waste of the funds of county or State, as shown beyond. There is little difficulty in destroying the Gophers on a farm, and once reduced their numbers may be e: wsily controlled. GENERAL TABITS. Underground lifee—Kven where Gophers are so numerous as to be exceedingly troublesome, few people are familiar with them in life; they keep so close to their underground tunnels as to be rarely observed unless caught in traps. By patient watching a little brown head may *Poweshiek County, Iowa, paid $14,000 in bounties, at the rate of 10 cents a scalp, in 1890. — S GENERAL HABITS. gfe sometimes be seen for an instant while the animal pushes a load of earth from a freshly opened hole; and on rare occasions the whole animal appears above ground but disappears again so quickly that-the eye hardly catches its form. Still more rarely one may be met with following a road or path remote from its hole. As Pocket Gophers spend their lives underground, their whole organ- ization is modified in accordance with the needs of a subterranean exist- ence. The different kinds, though numerous, are very much alike exter- nally. They are short-legged, thickset animals, without an appreciable neck, without noticeable external ears, and with very small eyes. The feet are largely developed for digging. The forepaws in particular are very strong, are armed with long curved claws, and the sides of the toes are lined with rows of bristles that evidently serve in preventing the dirt from passing between the fingers (fig. 3), thus completing a more effective arrangement for keep. ing the tunnels clean, and for pushing the earth out of the openings in the burrows. The tail, which is of moderate length, is thick, fleshy, and usually devoid of hair, and is endowed with tactile sensibility. The Pocket Gophers, in working their way through the earth in the construction of their tun- nels, use the powerful upper front teeth as a pick to loosen the ground. At the same time the fore feet are kept in active operation, both in digging and in pressing the earth back under the body, ; ' : ° : = BEN es Fic. 3.—Left forefoot of and the hind feet are used in moving it still far- — geomye personatus, show- ther backward. When a sufficient quantity has ing the rows of bristles accumulated behind the animal, he immediately Si 0m sues on turns in the burrow and by bringing the wrists together under the chin, with the palms of the hands held vertically, forces himself along by the hind feet, pushing the earth out in front. When an opening in the tunnel is reached the earth is discharged through it, forming a little hillock that resembles in a general way the hills thrown up by moles. In many Gophers there is a naked callosity or ‘nasal pad’ over the anterior half of the nose, which must be of great assistance in the. construction of the tunnels. The substance of the following notes on the habits of a live Gopher in captivity is from a technical paper recently published by Dr. C. Hart Merriam :* A Pocket Gopher from Vernon, Texas, ran backward as rapidly and easily as forward. This method of progression was particularly notice- able when the animal could follow a runway or other accustomed route. When carrying food to one of his storehouses he rarely turned around, * North American Fauna, No.8, January 31, 1895. 12 POCKET GOPHERS OF THE UNITED STATES. but usually ran backward to the place of deposit, returning for more, and repeating the operation again and again, the to-and-fro movement suggesting a shuttle on its track. The well-known peculiarity of the external genitalia, which are so hidden and modified that the sexes are determined with difficulty, is doubtless the result of this habit, pro- tecting the parts from injury when the animal is moving backward. in all Pocket Gophers the tail is rather large and fleshy, and as a rule is naked or scantily haired. Its function had long been a puzzle, but the Gopher above mentioned used it as an organ of touch when running backward. The tail is doubtless endowed with special sensi- bility and is evidently of great value in warning the animals of the presence of an enemy in the rear when they are traveling backward in their dark tunnels. In walking on soft ground the forefeet are usually held in the normal position, with the soles down, or inclined slightly inward. In walking on hard ground, however, the forefeet are turned sideways, their soles facing one another, so that the claws curve inward, and the animal walks on the outer or ulnar side of the foot. This method of using the forefoot in walking on hard substances was frequently observed, and enables the animal to walk comfortably where the long curved claws would be in the way if held in the normal position. It was also frequently noticed that the feet were held in the same position (horizon- tally) when at rest, and when used as a scoop in pushing loads of earth or sand out of the way. When thus engaged the feet were drawn back under the breast, the wrists near together and the Jong claws turned outward. By moving the body quickly forward the animal always suc- ceeded in throwing ahead of it a considerable quantity of loose earth. Burrows.—Gopher burrows seem to have neither beginning nor end: They are extended and added to year after year, and in many cases those dug by a single animal would measure a mile or more if straight- ened out. IJ have never attempted to ascertain the actual length of one, but feel secure in making the above statement. At the end of a year a Gopher may often be found within 20 rods of the pomt from which he started, but in traveling this distance he has paid no atten- tion to the points of the compass. He follows a tender root for a few feet, then moves to one side, encounters a stone, and makes a second turn. A layer of mellow soil entices him off in another direction, and so on through a thousand devious crooks and turns. Sometimes the main passage swings around and crosses itself, or numerous side branches are extended varying distances. The main tunnel usually runs from 6 inches to a foot below the surface. At intervals varying from a few feet to a few rods openings are made through which to discharge the earth that makes the little piles called ‘ gopher hills.’ The open- ings are closed by being packed so full of dirt that no trace of the run- way is visible except the little mounds that mark its course. An aver- age-sized gopher hill contains 5 or 6 quarts of earth, but the quantity — GENERAL HABITS. 13 varies from a pint to a bushel. They are generally circular and a foot or more in diameter. The quantity of dirt in each varies greatly with different kinds of soil and according to the distance between the hills. In mellow soil both holes and hills are larger than in hard soil. I once counted the hills thrown out by three Gophers ( Geomys bursarius) twelve days after arain. The numbers were respectively 28, 35, and 40. As the Gophers work all summer and to some extent through the winter, the total quantity of earth brought to the surface and the total area covered are considerable. For example, in the central part of Minne- sota, where the ground is unfrozen for seven months in the year, the lowest number in the three cases mentioned, 28 hills in twelve days, would result in 490 hills in seven months. or at least 500 square feet of ground covered over with subsoil in one year by one Gopher. Mixing the soil_—That Gophers have done great good in preparing the land for cultivation can not be denied. For unknown ages they have been steadily at work plowing the ground, covering deeper and deeper the vegetable matter, loosening the soil, draining the land, and slowly but surely cultivating and enriching it. On the prairies that are Swept each year by fire, the only vegetation remaining to decay and fertilize the soil is that which the gopher hills cover and protect from the flames. On poor, sandy soil the scant vegetation would dry up, blow away, and only a small amount find its way into the soil were not the gophers busy all summer burying the fresh plants. Carefully scrape away a gopher hill that has been standing for six months and a layer of decayed plants will be found under it. In a year or two new plants will spring up on the spot and draw their nourishment from the elements of former growths, these again in time to be buried and add their substance to the wealth of the soil. Hence it would be well to examine their habits carefully before condemning the Gophers that occupy wild pastures and idle land. Hibernation.—Although Gophers are supposed to hibernate, there is abundant evidence that they do not. While all hibernating animals become very fat in autumn, as a preparation for their long winter’s fast, Gophers never undergo such a change. Moreover, during snowy winters when the ground is not frozen they continue their work under the snow, When the snow is light, hills may be thrown up under it in-the ordinary way, but if it becomes too hard to be readily pushed aside, the animals excavate tunnels in it into which they push the earth. As the snow disappears in spring cylinders of packed earth are fre- quently seen radiating from the closed ends of gopher holes. They are sometimes 20 feet long. Throughout the northern part of the gopher country the ground usually remains frozen during most of the winter. Then the Gophers do not appear at the surface at all, but are probably extending their tunnels below the frost, where food is obtained from deep running roots. To what extent they depend on the stores laid up in fall is hard to tell. Part of the supply is sometimes used, 14 POCKET GOPHERS OF THE UNITED STATES. but frequently the spring plowing turns out an untouched and moldy store left from the preceding year. Of course the supply of food encountered in extending their tunnels determines whether the stores shall be drawn upon. Food.—The food consists chiefly of roots, tubers, and other rather hard vegetable substances, though grass and the succulent parts of plants are sometimes eaten. In agricultural districts the animals are highly injurious, destroying potatoes and other tubers in large quanti- ties, and gnawing off the roots of fruit trees. When a burrow strikes the roots of a tree, it is carried around among them until one after another:the smaller ones are cut off and eaten and the bark stripped from the larger ones so that the tree is almost invariably killed. If the tree is not large every root is sometimes cut off, and the first breeze tips it over. Drinx.—So far as known Pocket Gophers do not drink. Like other rodents of arid regions they obtain the necessary water from the plants on which they feed. Persons who have kept Gophers in confinement— Dr. Goode, Dr. Merriam, Professor Herrick, and Mr. J. B. Pare aa never heb able to nas them drink. } Use of pouches.—Though their eyes are small and their range of vision limited, the Gophers lose little thereby in the dark underground passages. Touch, taste, and smell, take the place of sight as guides in selecting the roots with which they are constantly coming in contact while excavating their endless tunnels. They have broad, chisel-like teeth for cutting these roots, and large, fur-lined pockets in their cheeks in which to carry their food. Under cover of overhanging vegetation they fill these pouches with green leaves and stems to carry back and eat atleisure in their holes. In half aminute enough food fora good meal may be collected and stowed away, while a much longer‘time would be required to eat the same where collected. This arrangement is especially important to the Gophers from the fact that their sight is not keen. Probably their vision is better at night, or at least during the twilight, for tnen they are most active. Seana squirrels, and ground squirrels take food in their mouths and with the tongue push it out-between theteeth into an elastic pouch, just as boys put marbles in their cheeks. In the squirrels and chip- munks the cheek pouches communicate with the mouth. In the Pocket Gopher (also in all species of pocket mice and kangaroo rats) the pouches open from the outside along the front of the cheeks. They extend back under the skin to the shoulders, are lined with short hair, and are enveloped by muscles. The way in which Gophers fill their cheek pouches is thus described by Dr. Merriam in the technical paper already referred to: A live Geomys from Vernon, Texas, has been carefully observed for the purpose of y ; y ascertaining how the reserve food is placed in the cheek pouches. The animal soon | became sufficiently tame to eat freely from the hand, and was commonly fed bits of USE OF THE POUCHES. | 15 potato, of which he was particularly fond. The manner of eating was peculiar and interesting, and showed an ability to use the huge forefeet and claws in a way pre- viously unsuspected. After satisfying the immediate demands of hunger it was his practice to fill one or both cheek pouches. His motions were so swift that it was exceedingly difficult to follow them with sufficient exactness to see just how the operation was performed. If a whole potato was given him, or apiece too large to go into the pouch, he invariably grasped it between the forepaws and proceeded to pry off a small piece with the iong lower incisors. He would then raise himself slightly on bis hind legs and hold the fragment between his forepaws while eating, for he usually ate a certain quantity before putting any into the pouches. If small pieces were given him he took them promptly and passed them quickly into the pouches. Some pieces were thus disposed of at once; others were first trimmed by biting off projecting angles. As a rule one pouch was filled at a time, though not always, and the hand of the same side was used to push the food in. The usual course is as follows: A piece of potato, root, or other food is seized between the incisor teeth,.and is immediately transferred to the forepaws, which are held in a horizontal position, the tips of the claws curving toward one another. If the food requires reduction in size, the trimming is done while held in this position. The piece is then passed rapidly across the side of the face with a sort of wiping motion which forces it into the-open mouth of the pouch. Sometimes a single rapid stroke with one hand is sufficient; at other times both hands are used, particularly if the piece is large. In such cases the long claws of one hand are used to draw down the lower side of the opening, while the food is poked in withthe other. It is obviously impossible for the animal to pass food from the mouth, to the pouches without the aid of its foreclaws. The most remarkable thing connected with the use of the pouches is the way they are emptied. The forefeet are brought back simultaneously along the sides of the head until they reach a point opposite the hinder end of the pouches; they are then pressed firmly against the head and carried rapidly forward. In this way the con- tents of the pouches are promptly dumped in front of the animal. Sometimes several strokes are necessary. Iam not prepared to say that the animal can not empty the pouches by means of the delicate investing muscles, but I have never seen them emptied in any other way than that here described. The pockets are often stuffed so fuil of pieces of roots, stems, and leaves as to distort the appearence of the animal’s head. Roots and stems are cut in sections about an inch long, so as to fit the pockets nicely, and are packed in lengthwise. Leaves are folded or rolled to fill the smallest space. Although it is commonly sapposed that the pouches are used for carrying dirt out of the holes, the fact is they are never used for this purpose. In examining the pockets of more than a hundred specimens caught in traps I could find no evidence that any had been filled with earth. Occasionally specks of dirt from roots cling to the hairy inner surfaces; nothing more. If the pouches had been filled with earth, the short hairs would inevitably retain some of it. Furthermore, Gophers shot in the very act of pushing dirt from their holes had none in their pouches. Themethod of removing earth from the burrows, as observed in live Gophers, has been already described (p. 11). . The Gophers are industrious workers, and whatever food is found dnd not needed at once is carried to chambers in some part of the tunnel and stored. Frequently a plow breaks into these storehouses 16 POCKET GOPHERS OF THE UNITED STATES. and scatters their contents. Sometimes a peck of small potatoes, roots of coco grass, wild parsnip, wild sunflower, and other fleshy or bulbous roots are found in a single chamber. Abundance.—Gophers are abundant over a large part of the Missis- sippi Valley, where I have estimated their numbers to be, in some places, three or four to the acre. This estimate will apply to considerable tracts of country throughout their range. In general they are most numerous on light, sandy soil. Farmers are sometimes of the opinion that Gophers injure their fields by bringing to the surface the bare clay or sand from below the reach of the plow. This .may possibly be true in places where the soil is shallow and the subsoil poor, but they are, as already shown, more often a positive help to the agriculturist in mixing the soil. Breeding habits—Early in spring, before the snow is fairly gone, a male Gopher is sometimes found following a road-or path. He has left his burrow and is seeking a mate. At this season a pair may be caught in one burrow, but at other times they are solitary. Apparently only the males leave the burrows in quest of mates, though positive informa- | tion on the subject is difficult to obtain. The few that have thus come uuder my notice have been, without exception, males. The few facts known concerning the time of breeding and number of young are given under the head of the Prairie Gopher (Geomys bursarius). Disposition.—In disposition the Pocket Gophers are naturally vicious. When caught in traps they fight with a ferocity that would be formid: able in larger animals, and if nothing else comes within their reach they bite a steel trap with such force as to break off their teeth. They will bite through a heavy shoe with the greatest ease. They seem to have no sense of fear. The few that I have met away from their holes have, without any provocation on my part, attacked me with the utmost fury, as if bent upon killing and devouring me. They would bite at my feet or any part of my person that came within reach, all the time uttering a wheezy, panting sound, expressive of anger. Even the half-grown young show the same fierce disposition. No doubt they could be tamed and made gentle if taken when young, and might make as interesting pets as the one described by Dr. Merriam. Pro- fessor Herrick, speaking of one he had in captivity, says: ‘ After a short time he became perfectly tame and an engaging pet.” My one effort at domesticating a Pocket Gopher was a failure, prob. ably because the Gopher was old and hardened in his ways. He was placed in a large box in which a partition with a hole through it separ- ated one-half, filled with dirt, from the other half, which was open. Plenty of food and nest material were placed in the box, but the Gopher paid little attention to them. His one effort was to burrow out of the box. Beginning at the hole in the partition he pushed the dirt. through into the vacant side, then brought it back. The dirt was pushed, not carried in the pockets, For several days he worked almost GOPHERS AS FOOD. | ve incessantly, moving the dirt back and forth. He would sometimes stop and scratch or gnaw the wood, but to no great extent. He would eat.raw potatoes when no one was near, but would stop eating or work- ing to try to fight anything that moved within his range of vision. He always tried to bite when I stroked him, and finally, after he had succeeded in putting: his teeth through the end of my finger, | gave him his liberty. The fierce disposition is just what might be expected from the soli- tary mode of life. From the time the young are half grown and big enough to start burrows of their own, each individual lives entirely alone, except during the short mating season in early spring. Living alone and in the dark for eleven months of the year is not caleulated to develop a lovable disposition. To the same causes—darkness and solitude—may also be attributed the Gopher’s small eyes and ears, narrow brain case, and undeveloped voice. Voice.—The usual hissing sound made when angry seems to have no connection with the vocal organs, but to be the result of rapid inhala- tion and exhalation through the half-open mouth. Perhaps the hairy lining of the mouth aids in producing the sound. When the Gophers are Caught and held firmly in the. hand, or in any way hurt, they some- times utter a sharp squeal that expresses either pain or a climax of rage. Itis rarely heard, however. In handling a large number of the animals alive I can recall but three instances in which they gave vent to this ery. Mr. Edwin A. Donald, in an interesting letter on the Pocket Gopher, says: “TI have killed scores of them, and the only outery, when struck, that I ever heard was on one occasion, when the animal gave a faint squeak, like a mouse, but not so loud. All the others I have killed died silent.” GOPHERS AS AN ARTICLE OF FOOD. Unless they are too small, there is no reason why Pocket Gophers should not be used as food. Their habits are cleanly and in no way objectionable. They are strict vegetarians. Sometimes, from eating onions, leeks, or other strong plants, their flesh has an unpleasant odor, but usually itis sweet and tender. Mr. H. P. Attwater, of San Antonio, Texas, writes the division that “the German settlers on St. Charles Peninsula, in Aransas County, Texas, used to eat the Gophers, and pronounced them excellent.” THE TEETH.* Structure and manner of attachment.—All of the Pocket Gophers have the same number of teeth, namely, 20; 10 above and 10 below. There _are 5 on each side of each jaw—a large cutting tooth in front (the * Abstract by Dr. Merriam of part of his article on the ‘Dynamics of the Teeth,’ from N. Am, Fauna, No, 8, 1895. 18 POCKET GOPHERS OF THE UNITED STATES, incisor) and 4 smaller grinding teeth behind (the premolar and molars), All of the teeth are simple, rootless, tubular prisms, closed at the top and open at the base. In life the lower part is filled with a soft pulp- like substance, supplied with blood vessels which replenish the tooth from below, enabling it to grow as long as the animal lives. The hardening of the pulp within the tooth forms the dentine and osteo- dentine; the enamel and cement are deposited on the outside. In the adult the enamel is attached to the outside in the form of vertical plates or bands like staves on a barrel. Each ineisor is provided with a single band of enamel, which covers the front face of the tooth and forms the chisel-like cutting edge. The premolar has 3 or 4 plates. The true molars have 2 each in the genus Thomomys. In the genus Geomys the last upper molar always has 3 plates and the lower molars 1 each. The upper intermediary molars Fieg, 4.—Outline of skull of Mexican Gopher, showing teeth in normal position. have 2 each in Geomys, but only 1 in Baird’s Gopher (Cratogeomys castanops). The free ends of the enamel plates project slightly beyond the rest of the tooth, forming effective cutting blades. All of the teeth are attached to the sockets by means of vertical cushions which extend from root to gum. This method of attachment not only relieves the tender pulp at the base of the tooth from pressure, but gives to the cutting edge an elasticity that is highly effective. The teeth as a cutting machine.—The destructiveness of the Gophers in cutting and slicing roots may be better understood from a study of the machinery that does the work. The upper front tooth or incisor is used chiefly to anchor the animal to the root operated on, while the lower incisor does most of the work, playing rapidly back and forth like a steam drill until a piece is cut off and passed into the mouth, where it is planed or sliced into fine particles, ready to be taken into the stomach for digestion. The cutting edges of the enamel plates of the molar teeth are the tools that reduce the food. In the Gophers of DAMAGE DONE BY GOPHERS. 19 the Mississippi Valley and Southern States, the plates are arranged in such a way that 38 distinct single cuts are made by the forward stroke of the jawand 28 by the backward stroke. Inatame Gopher it was ascer- tained by actual count that 200 complete strokes are made each minute. On this basis the number of cuts made each minute on the forward stroke would be 7,600, and on the backward stroke 5,600, making a grand total of 13,200 cuts a minute while the jaws are in active operation. 1G. 5.—Root of apple-tree gnawed off by Pocket Gopher. DAMAGE DONE BY GOPHERS. Gophers injure farms in two different ways: By eating crops and by burrowing in hillsides, meadows, and the banks of artificial water courses. [ull accounts of the damage done may be found in the special articles on the different species. Here it is necessary to mention the ravages in a general way only. Injury to roots, tubers, and garden vegetables.—Gophers are especially fond of starchy, tuberous or bulbous roots like potatoes, turnips, car- 20) POCKET GOPHERS OF THE UNITED STATES. rots, beets, onions, and parsnips. These are cut below the surface and eaten on the spot, or carried away to be stored for future use. Injury to other farm ercps.—Certain crops, such as corn, wheat, oats, barley, rye, and alfalfa are cut above the ground and carried down into the burrows. Squashes, pumpkins, melons, and the like are some- times gnawed into from below and the inside eaten out. Injury to trees.—Gophers eat the roots of fruit trees and of trees planted for shade, ornament, or timber. Very great harm is done in this way. All the roots may be cut so that the tree falls at the first wind. The base of such a tree is shown in figure 5. Mr. Byron Andrews, manager of the Boston Commonwealth, writes that at his farm in South Dakota Gophers have proved very trouble- some in a 10-acre nursery of white ash trees five years from the seed. In one dry summer they cut away the roots of the young trees so that when touched the trees fell. ‘‘The Gophers would take every tree not missing one for ten or twelve feet in a row, and then cut across and go up the next row. In a few weeks they thus destroyed about one-half of the nursery. Injury done by the burrows.—Gophers’ burrows on hillsides often cause very serious washing in rainy weather. Meadows are damaged by the mounds of earth thrown out from the tunnels as well as by the tunnels themselves. Still greater injury is done by the burrows in the banks of canals and irrigating ditches. Thus, in about twelve years, a large irrigating canalnearly 25 miles long, at Riverside, Cal., became almost unfit for use on account of the holes bored in its banks by ' Gophers. In Weld County, Colo., suit was brought against the town of Greeley for damage done by the breakage of a canal caused by the burrowing of Gophers in the banks. One person secured a judgment of $750 on the ground that the town did not properly superintend the canal. NATURAL ENEMIES OF POCKET GOPHERS. From their manner of living below the surface of the ground and in holes carefully closed, Gophers would seem unusually safe from natural enemies. Compared with most mammals they are, but occasionally a fox or cat pounces upon one as it brings out a load of dirt in the twi- light. Hawks and owls pick one up now and then and weasels often enter the burrows and dine upon the occupants. I have taken one from the stomach of a fox, while the stomach of a wildcat shot by Dr. C. Hart Merriam on San Francisco Mountain, Arizona, contained two. As Gophers are most active during the evening and early night, more are captured by owls than by hawks. This is shown by Dr. A. K. Fisher, in his Hawk and Owl Bulletin, where it is stated that two were found in the stomachs of marsh hawks, four in red-tailed hawks, four in great horned owls, and eight in barn owls, The barn owl is ENEMIES OF GOPHERS. 21 especially serviceable in destroying Gophers. The following extract from a letter by Clark P. Streator gives important testimony on the sub- ject: “In examining a large number of nests, at all months of the year, I have found nothing but Gophers { Thomomys], except on one occasion, when there were one or two Brewer’s blackbirds. On further investi- gation I found a deposit of pellets of nothing but Gopher hair and bones, which had been ejected by the owls, and had accumulated in a few instances to the extent of two or three cubic feet in the trees in which the birds lived. I also found that in the breeding season it was not uncommon to find six or more Gophers, that were not eaten by the young, lying about the nest. I have found Gophers in the nests at other times than the breeding season, but not in such abundance.” In Arizona, a few years ago, I discovered numerous small bones on the bottom of a cave. They were the bones of rodents, and evidently had been brought by owls and disgorged as pellets. In about a quart of these bones were 43 skulls of the Gopher common in that locality, Nothing is known as to what owl inhabited this cave. Several are common in the region. Mr.. Ernest EK. Thompson, writing of the Gray Gopher (Thomomys talpoides) in Manitoba, says: “The earliest seasonal record that I have for this species is as follows: April 12, 1883, ‘Snowy owl shot by Mr. Arthur 8. Thompson, and brought to me, had in its claws a pocket mouse,* whose pouches were full of roots.’ Mr. Miller Christy writes me from western Manitoba as follows: ‘May 5, 1887, found a nest of the horned owl (Bubo virginianus) in a poplar tree on the prairie. Besides the two fledgling owls, it contained the remains of 20 pocket mice* in various stages of decay.’ The above is all the evidence I can give to show that the animal ever appears above ground.” Badgers spend much time and energy in digging open gopher holes, but rarely succeed in catching the Gopher. After digging far enough to convince themselves that the burrow is interminable they abandon the effort, and with better results turn their attention to ground squirrels. There are two enemies that more than all others hold in check the increase of the Pocket Gophers—the weasel and the bull snake. Of these, weasels rank first, bull snakes (Pituophis) second. Whenever a weasel enters a gopher hole the Gopher is his prey. There is no pos- sibility of escape. The largest weasel is small enough to enter their burrows easily and travel quickly through them. In localities inhabited by weasels I have found much difficulty, even when old gopher hills were numerous, in catching enough Gophers for specimens. Mr. L. C. Cummings, a well-known nurseryman of Riverside, Cal., writes: “ At one nursery we were bothered with Gophers; all at once the Gophers became scarce, and from one to four weasels could be seen nearly every day running through the nursery and over an adjoining hill. They *Mr. Thompson uses the erroneous term ‘ pocket mouse’ for these Gophers. Pocket mice are widely different animals and belong to another family. 22 POCKET GOPHERS OF THE UNITED STATES. killed all the Gophers. We have a few weasels yet, but do not know how long they will stay. As Gopher exterminators they have done well.” Notwithstanding these facts weasels are almost universally con- demned, and killed whenever opportunity offers. The bull snake or gopher snake, which often attains a length of more than 6 feet and is heavily built, enters a hole that by accident may have been left open, and, following the Gopher to the end, swallows hin. Mr. B. H. Dutcher, a field naturalist of the division, contributes an interesting account of a case that fell under his observation at Cairo, Kans. He says: “On going to my gopher traps one mormng I found that one of them had been drawn 3 or 4 inches into the burrow. Taking hold of the chain I attempted to pull out the trap, but met with a steady resistance somewhat greater than that of which I considered a Gopher capable. Increasing the strain, the opposing force was suddenly removed and the trap emerged from the hole, with a dead Gopher in its jaws. On examination, the hind end of the Gopher for about half its length was found to be wet and covered with slime. Surmising ‘snake,’ I proceeded to my next trap, some 30 or 40 feet away, where I found that a similar tragedy had taken place. Herea large yellow bull snake (Pituophis), perhaps 5 feet long, had either pushed or pulled the Gopher from the hole some 2 or 3 feet, and had then proceeded to try to swallow him. He had succeeded in his efforts until the Gopher’s neck was reached, where an unexpected obstacle was encountered in the trap, the jaws of which were tightly clasped just behind the head. When found, the snake was tying himself up into knots in vain endeavors to engulf the trap also. On my seizing the trap chain and trying to pull his prey away from him, the snake suddenly loosened his hold and quickly drew his head away from the Gopher.” In one instance only have I found a full-grown Gopher in the stomach of one of these snakes, but the fact that they habitually feed on them gives the snake its name. Notwithstanding the fact that these snakes are known to be perfectly harmless, most people kill them at every opportunity. - From time to time it is announced that Gophers may be killed or driven away by the use of a certain plant supposed to be poisonous or exceedingly distasteful to them. Wherever this plant is grown, Gophers it is said, cease their depredations. So important is this matter that it has been investigated by the agricultural experiment station of the University of California. From this study it appears that the plant is well known in gardens, both here and abroad. It is cultivated on account of its ornamental flowers and fruit and is known as the giant spurge, false caper, or cross of Malta (Luphorbia lathyris). In parts of Europe the fruit is used for pickling. The spurge has a milky juice and is somewhat poisonous, ——_ "|. shame ee Oe eS ey ee eae aah ln aie hat alee Ri ae METHODS OF DESTRUCTION. 20 serious sickness of children being caused by eating its attractive berry- like seed vessels. On the Gophers of the experiment station grounds, however, 1t had absolutely no effect, the animals thriving as well in fields where the spurge was grown as elsewhere. But the author of the bulletin, Mr. E. J. Wickson, states that the soil of the station garden ‘is a stiff adobe, and cases of success with the plant have been mostly reported from regions with sandy soils.” (See Bull. 95, Calif. Ag. Experiment Station.) METHODS OF DESTRUCTION AND EXCLUSION. Bisulphide of carbon.—In most cases bisulphide of carbon is the sim- plest agent for the destruction of Gophers. It may be used as follows: Open the gopher hole where one of the freshest hills has been thrown out. Pour two tablepoonsful of bisulphide on a bunch of cotton, rags, tow, waste, or any such material and push it well down into the hole; then close the opening. The bisulphide quickly forms a heavy sufto- cating gas that flows down the hole and along the galleries. Where- ever it overtakes the Gopher he is quickly killed. ‘The whole operation is perfectly simple and easy. The only difficulty arises from the length of the tunnels, which is so great that the animals may be beyond the reach of the gas. Hence it is sometimes necessary to open the tunnel and introduce the bisulphide at two or more places. The gas hasavile odor. It should be carefully kept from fire, as it is highly inflammable and explosive; otherwise no danger attends its use. Fumigation—Rude pumps, known as ‘fumigators,’ by means of which the fumes of burning sulphur may be forced into the burrows to suffocate the occupants, are extensively used in some parts of the West, particularly in California. They are, however, clumsy, expen- sive, and less effective than bisulphide of carbon. Trapping.—Gophers are easily trapped, and once exterminated in a field, others do not soon come in. Their manner of traveling is so slow that only those near the edge of a field will work in during a summer. In the spring the males in their wanderings may settle down in a new place, but this does not often happen. The process of trapping is per- fectly simple, although many farmers have assured me that Pocket Gophers can not be caught in traps. Hence a few directions may be useful. Having selected a fresh hill and observed from which direc- tion the earth is pushed out, dig down on that side until the open hole is found. Enlarge the hole sufficiently to admit a No. 0 steel trap and remove such loose earth as may have fallenin. The trap should be set very lightly, placed well down in the hole, sunk in loose earth to the level of the runway, and partly concealed by a sprinkling of fine earth. Finding its hole open the Gopher proceeds to repair the breach, in domg which he steps on the trap and is caught. If loose earth 1s left m the burrow it will be pushed out in front of the animal, covering the trap, so that 1 will fail to spring. 24 POCKET GOPHERS OF THE UNITED STATES. Other methods of trapping Gophers have been tried with varying suc- cess, and numerous kinds of traps have been devised for the purpose. Five of these are figured in a bulletin of the Oregon Agricultural Exper- iment Station (Bull. No. 25, April, 1893). Many of them are clumsy and expensive, and few, if any,can compete with the common steel trap when the latter is properly used. Poisoning.—Poisoning is a simpler and more expeditious method of destroying Gophers than trapping, but is more laborious than the use of bisulphide of carbon. The use of poison is always attended with danger, for in spite of all precaution, other animals than those for which it was intended are liable to get it. The usual method is to insert a small quantity of arsenic or floured strychnine into a piece of potato and push the potato as far as possible into a fresh Gopher’s hole and then close the opening securely. The Honorable J. Sterling Morton, Secretary of Agriculture, has found arsenic on white potatoes and apples efficacious in destroying Pocket Gophers at his home in eastern Nebraska. Phosphorus has been used extensively in California, Washington, and Oregon in destroying ground squirrels, and to a less extent for Pocket Gophers. Mr. Allen Chattin, of Charter Oak, Lowa, states that he has entirely exterminated the Gophers from his own and several neighboring farms by the use of phosphorus. His recipe is as follows: Put a stick of phosphorus in a 5-gallon can with a little cold water; next pour in hot water, not quite boiling, until the can is half full, and stir with a stick. When the phosphorus is melted add, while the water is Stirred constantly, 2 pounds of sugar, and immediately after the sugar is dissolved thicken to a stiff batter with corn meal and flour, half-and-half. Now add wheat and stir until stiff. While adding the wheat add also 15 to 20 drops of oil of rhodium. The wheat will soak up all the water in the mass and it will become quite hard. Keep ina cool place. Small pieces may be chipped off as needed. Gophers may get too little strychnine to kill them, but no matter how small a piece of phosphorus they get it will finally prove fatal. Dig down to an open hole, drop in a small piece, put a clod to keep the hole from filling, and cover over with loose dirt to exclude the light. It should be borne in mind that phosphorus is one of the most deadly poisons. Ido not wish to be held responsible for recommending the ae of this or any other poison on the farm. /se of wire netting.—In Bulletin No. 5 of the neeas Agricultural i te Station it is stated that young trees may be protected by a cylinder of wire netting 2 feet 1n diameter and 2 feet 1n length placed around the roots when the tree 1s planted. The top of the cylinder should be 4 to 6 inches below the surface of the ground, and the bottom may be left open. Netting with a three-quarter ich mesh 1s recom- mended. ek Lae elit «he, a e ¥o, dbs EPs BOUNTIES. 25 Trenches.—It has been asserted that a field may be protected by a treveh at the bottom of which oil cans are sunk at intervals. The Gophers in trying to enter the field are supposed to fall into the trench, along which they move until caught by the oil cans. BOUNTIES. So great is the harm done by Gophers that in many places bounties are offered for the animals’ scalps or tails. Bounties have been paid most extensively in Iowa, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Minne- sota, and from these States have been received detailed accounts of the results of the system. In these reports, however, the ground squirrels and Pocket Gophers are seldom discriminated, so itis hard to form a just estimate of the proportional sums paid for each. To give an idea of the large sums expended in attempts to reduce the numbers of these troublesome animals it may be stated that thousands of dollars are often paid annually by one county for this purpose. The following table gives a detailed account of the sums expended in Gopher bounties by the State of Iowa, for which the best returns have ‘been received (from county treasurers): ° Table showing amounts paid in Gopher bounties in Iowa, by counties. Total] paid Amount De AG : Bounty |specified as | oe County. Date. onexeh | -paid for, | 22O .sroune Gopher. | Gophers squirrels— one, not discrimi- nated. Cents co. ( a Say SS ag nr de de MUI O sa ce ne pret Cie se tteie 2 * $800. 00 (Clea lk 0 Soe Pe ete a aes Be ee ee LECH /D ee aS OR eae ee 15 Aree ese Beto 1, 458. 65 eeerer Vira viene Sd TIT aS eet sf cat phe eee 1, 378. 70 CS Se ee None torts or 20) yearas-| 2-26. 2.--+|.-5-be eens He emer bt Sy JOYS! Sete Bs OR eee ee ISGS=69R eet s see tee: Oe Serere che ore + 449. 00 SHOMLO MGS seks steer ee tals ee 2 ers at NSS Stes aeamet ars Pea ac eth Ds ae hare fale gente * 250. 00 OPP E en! noc olen BASS Sate hole WES FAS Sees SONS Brae Se ne Ses Reel a tea A ee AM COCK eemine= <= san-se sn cee oes ee Sie or (hekShele, pas, Sant en te eye mnie Eee ec eee Gara eee eae +1, 150. 00 15 08 60) 0X0) C6 Ee ee ee ae ee ea June 1, 1888, to July 1, me PO Se Soeeea sc 2, 198. 01 1888. IOs Sach ces Ces eS Eo ee a a OG OMe te re Sarees LOWS SPAS 2, 400. 00 ea tere get eho wh, ahs = at nb CU a a Ble i eo oe ea a | Re [eee sass 10. 99 AD OP ee ek etre See ons ee Ni Aes a aan Prat Ie || Reea enter e 35. 84 UD) eee meee ee eee to ac eis a = LS oer eee see eer ea tes dian eae nace oes 90. 50 Dieters sem ee Sone eae Mee Seo metotsielerond setuid Reraeae raced ear ena nee 126. 25 WOR ee eg ster fe cra neces ss ea NS Deere tte cee ere ater tay niche terete sal aha See Siaayere 71. 58 100) SA ee SE eg een Ie SO eee ers eel ei mere el ee | tee 225. 79 IDOpSac RekSd es spoon a cee NS ieee ee Sart arya Se PS PEG one Si Pherae 371. 01 IDO RRA SSB SRS ae aber Ora gees oie IY te iste erie etc ekc Ere ore acts epee, Sagal Ihe eae ee 994, 29 IDO. 3 os3 5 soe Pa Os soe se See PIT pS cscs SAIS uel te es nal eee es ee EM ae eee 73. 00 ISD ig aa5 Ree ates ee 2, Eee ISSO Reto seen aot see ecle Sa TUS eee erate ce * 7, 782. 30 101 yi hee ae ee ene waseae Woks LaROU sas ah ew Ti) eA Sala | ae a enn ee Mek sOmerren = 2 aren aes, Leese ae Ge. lite Soa 3G cick eee See 15 CoG Cb) | See eeeesese sor USO ee Rie 2 5 Rees ice ae aoe SOR Mo aoe eee poms se 15 i ALOV OO Rtas = ia abet ole NOVO ence eee Ie oe eee Ber SOO Mess oceania nas Sees 15 ES Patel) Oe ss See ese DOsee os a eee eee eee be eed ) TKS CAS ed Sok SE RE ae te 15 UTS) 5 eee eer ooe ADORE Coe serene Se aie eee eae eles 2 AS plore es eee are aa alt oe cea ON GOh | Eeeas sae Ree UD One tet ae amit se bake Se oe EST Zee = gee ee ee ey ces peers ee oe ee * 2, 00T. 75 ee iets ee No bounty for 20 years... LL eS ema, Se ey ae TRCN by PRS Se iS cake ree en GG) sen cobeced tebe clleoto dd Mele meee wee ames: eee ae 1 ERICK Cs GS Aaa Se, me Soins Se Sno Eee eee Arico Sto sentet seo ics iff5) SSO OM erates ae otitis oe LCE Ee ane SAS eee ot a ee Apnil (87G ©. ole: WO Uiee. deaos: GW fee. Evecnons sepmore Gee conn aie Read Opie USM See tea Seas ats a ee 10 Pe Tho ERS SD) || Se ae ee ION Soe eee thee ee eee eee LS Spree ee eee act. Sn eees cicte Ss 1, 110. 30 * 6, 221. 60 POCUAWHOPAMINIG 6 -as. onan dee we Notuumtts toc LO years: }) soe 2) ICO f oe A 2 ote == + * Estimated. + Approximate. 26 POCKET GOPHERS OF THE UNI TED STATES. Table showing amounts paid in Gopher bounties in Iowa, by counties—Continued. Total paid Amount / Bounty | specified as peed sie on hn County. Date. on each | paid for sauitcle Gopher. | aa not discrimi- nated. Cents. BRECON fo ais dares shin Raia Se Ceas hs CCSD Ole race Bataan eee etn he eee TQ’) he, Te. SS. eS eee SHGSUY 50 oS shoe ee eee ee USO See e oe cee oon 10 So is (UN eae aah te Set OS. Ss ot edeatis eset eae ee ent IS7ln <3. secs ehh eee ee 481-50 Witsoe eceeeemee 10 ES Pe hittin mee IEE a ee Ne | POF een Saree tk nate ee ae eel 3. 00 * $518. 80 De ORS SEES yey hes See Ne bounty for 20: yeara>). 0 $256.526.)- -s2one sees eek ee eee Winnesnieks fc. 200. Se ae ewe ee USSG. serie aes wake DY |b svdeet psec (ee aoe SRR S- = ace = eas ee ae ee ee For7 or8 years previous VO: |nye 82 he cal he eee to 1888. Perankin-. -.020 2 toes Gee SSS eh SS Ae tte SS LOH aye claeon * 750. 00 OSS Sate Sait oe a eee ee eS IS8s cos tec c cae io sk cn Sebi eo ees Re ee ee * 965. 00 Wee). 3s 5.5.2 are ste ee es » SE SPOISSBE C2: 5 hepsere ose clr Alt See [saeco ees *1, 195. 00 DG. nse See eee ee ee S80 ee on ote bees oer a oe ee ee *1, 546. 00 Buchanan....-..-.- OPO Wy ee oP eS eRe SES TRGS=1 Sy rere ese eee ee ROA Co See * 1, 800. 00 SF GDRSOR 5 2205 < a5 Soe eles eso SEE cee No bounty for 20:years’:|. =.=" 2.) <2 \veett estes 5b ee (xsreene = .. #: 32 sa See cee eoeee er a eee EGO oS Aes ae ee geese 10 Sore LOM. sina oe eae D0 32e sk oe ee Se A re a ee VS O82 Se. ace ees eee 10 302 D0} ok Ae teem WO luce 5254 So ee ee Ee eee DRGs 3 Ee See tee ee nee 10 256; BOY |e 5 ee eee CO i eres See teen es oe de ieee bey Ce Seon Ny 10 243; S03] oo ose nets NVQ: = oe So Sa te ore eee Cee LQveeat> £245. dSecc sees TOs Satis se seee 4°1. 327, 80 Pigmpuulin= 6 Soe See Ber ee (leak hae Ot ES D)*| cee sini alee oer ee Haprnsgns 2: [2-522 «soo ere see No bounty sinee 1874 ...|....-..... Peer ere em hae a > 2: 2 Marshall .% . i -5 cocks seas hota asset 1868 oo ke tee oe Le SSS naaenge ee 2, 087. 10 Bot cee << neh DAE Sonn oe eee SEGS1S 70-2. sae ocee P58 |p Sarees alee oe eee Cerro'Gurdots st ee ee ee une 9, 1864, to Oct. 18, LOY eee ere * 954. 45 1865. Bentoneasce- Sts ee em ee TSGGi eA see secs es 10 2;(000:'00.4\2 22 eer DO esis 2 an ee eee oe oe ee TSG Tso aee Sse ae Sin ee 20)-\" 2.0) 0005:00 }\ 22ers = eee DO 2 se SU ee ae eee eee IS6S 5. {2 as eee ee 128) oS S22 Se ace eee DIO Soe SS re eee ee ew en Sie es June to December, 1868 HQ). Lees See * 1, 800. GO Bamilton-< 3.428 Seen Ee 8 AST Aa Ree see ee Serle ele RASS Se edt aie T4, OVO. 00 Madison) 22 2. ae as eee 1SG4S, Boece peeee "SPARS ee ot Scan ee 0,82 Sa Ret ae ee aes es to TSOS..ce es Sa eeete oe ee 62 [2 eee eee +5, 000. 00 * Estimated. + Approximate. OBJECTIONS TO THE BOUNTY SYSTEM. The objections to the bounty system as a means of reducing the numbers of farm pests have been already stated in the publications of this division. The matter is of such importance, however, that certain facts of special interest in the present connection may well be repeated. The experience of nearly all the States which have paid bounties for the destruction of injurious animals has been that the system is not only very expensive, but unsatisfactory. In the ease of Montana the money in the treasury was exhausted before the act had been in opera- tion six months, and yet the ground squirrels were not perceptibly diminished. The experience of Benton County, lowa, with Pocket Gophers also shows the disastrous effects of offering high bounties. In 1866 a bounty of 10 cents per scalp was paid. The. following year the bounty was increased to 20 cents, and amounted to $10,000. This caused the county to borrow $3,000, and still left Gopher warrants unpaid to the amount of $3,000 additional reduced to 124 cents for six months, then to abolished on January 1, 1869, the entire amou being about $18,000; but the Gopher, alth numbers, was not exterminated, - . The bounty was then 10 cents, and was finally nt paid out in three years ough greatly reduced in The result was hardly more successful in the Dakotas and Minnesota, and in several cases the bounties were withdi ‘awn within a few months i ee a a ae ee ee ee eee ee oe AS 5 ha Mi all ne OBJECTIONS TO BOUNTIES. ra after the passage of the law. The report received from Nelson County, N. Dak., showed that $4,363.25 had been paid for the destruction of spermophiles between April and July, 1887. The report states: ‘The attempt to put down the gopher raid was a failure, as it was impossible to follow the 1887 bounties without bankrupting the county. The county has 28 full townships and 227,000 acres under cultivation, which gives too much gopher lands.” The county of Griggs, N. Dak., offered a bounty of 3 cents per tail for Gophers during the spring of 1887, and reported $5,200.60 paid out before the bounty was withdrawn. Mr. George R. Fralick, of Lamoure, N. Dak., wrote in 1888: “This county (Lamoure) has expended thousands of dollars to destroy the Gray ‘Gopher, and there are thousands of thei yet to destroy our crops.” In Minnesota, under the act of 1887, Meeker County paid bounties from May 1 to October 1, when the payments were discontinued, as it was said that there were as many Gophers as before, although $14,056.34 had been expended for the destruction of Pocket and Striped Gophers. In Nobles County the act of 1887 was accepted May 18, but the bounty was ordered discontinued after August 28. During this period the amount paid was $1,997.24, about 90 per cent of which was for Striped Gophers and the balance about equally divided between Pocket and Gray Gophers and blackbirds. ~ Several counties reported fraudulent payments of bounties. In Raim- sey County, N. Dak., tails were received as evidence. This was unsat- isfactory, as ‘it was proved that some of our clever young Americans divided the caudal appendage in two pieces and claimed bounty for each piece, or caught breeders, cut their tails off, and let them go, so as to give them a chance to raise more bounty-producing Gophers.” The report from Madison County, Iowa, which offered bounties on the several species of Gophers indiscriminately, showed that bits of gopher hide with holes cut in them to imitate scalps were presented for pay- ment. ‘This involved the county in lawsuits, and the bounty on scalps was repealed.” Dissatisfied with the effects of the bounty laws, the commissioners of several counties in North Dakota offered poison free of charge to the farmers for the destruction of Gophers. In the year 1888 Benson County distributed $100 worth of strychnine and reported the results satisfactory so far as the extermination of the pests was concerned, although some stock was poisoned. The number of Gophers killed during this year was said to be larger than during the previous year under the bounty act. In the spring of the same year Nelson County furnished $200 worth of the strychnine to the farmers, but reported the experiment unsuccessful. Wheat soaked in a solution of poison was used during May and June. These months were wet, and it was sup- posed that the moist ground destroyed in some measure the effects of the poison. During the years 1887 to 1889 Wells County furnished $500 worth of strychnine and reported the result successful. 28 POCKET GOPHERS OF THE UNITED STATES. In the State of Washington a large amount of money has also been expended in poison for the destruction of Townsend’s Ground Squirrel (Spermophilus townsendi). Dr. J. W. Lockhardt, of St. John, Whit- man County, under date of June 8, 1892, writes: “I think it no exag- geration to say that the farmers of this county (Whitman) spent $3,000 this year for the poison for this pest, and yet many acres of grain are already destroyed.” Evidently a bounty can be but a temporary expedient for the extermi- nation of these or other animals. Even if a sufficient amount of money were appropriated to completely exterminate a species in a given locality, its numbers would soon be reduced to a certain limit where it would cease to be profitable to hunt the animals, and the bounty would consequently become inoperative. Bounties offered for the destructionof harmful species seldom accom- plish the desired end, and if success does finally result it is only after vastly larger expenditures than were at first thought necessary. After a harmful species—the wolt, for example—has become rather scarce in any section of country the offer of a bounty may lead to its complete — extermination; and to attain such a result, itis certainly good economy to make the bounty large. Obviously, it is better to pay a large sum at once for the last few pairs of wolves in a district than to offer a bounty so smallthat itis little inducement to a hunter to spend his time in their pursuit. In this latter case the wolves easily hold their own for many years, or even increase slowly, while the aggregate boun- ties paid will far exceed all expectation. In order to be effective a bounty should be large enough to assure the destruction of the great majority of the individuals during the first year, and this is especially true of species which are very numerous and prolific. And yet the amount of money required for the payment of bounties in such cases would be so enormous as to make the plan impracticable. A full discussion of this phase of the subject may be found in a sec- tion devoted to the question of bounties on the English sparrow. GEOGRAPHIC DISTRIBUTION OF THE POCKET GOPHERS. * The Pocket Gophers of the United States belong to three groups or genera which may be distinguished by the upper front teeth: Geomys, having two grooves on the face of each of these teeth; Cratoqgeomys, having a single deep groove, and Thomomys, having: a single faint groove or none. The area inhabited by the family stretches from the dry interior of British Columbia and the plains of the Saskatchewan southward to Costa Rica. In an east and west direction the group covers the conti- nent from ocean to ocean, except that it is absent from the region north of the Savannah River and east of the Mississippi Valley. The family * Abridged from a monographie revision of the Geomyida, N. Am. Fauna, No. 8,1895. > Faw J , , nh ES a ib GEOGRAPHIC DISTRIBUTION. 29 is clearly of Sonoran origin and reaches its highest development on the southern part of the table-land of Mexico. The great majority of the species inhabit the upper and lower Sonoran zones, though a few spe- cially modified forms range npward on favorable mountain sides through the Transition and even into the lower edge of the Boreal zone. On the other hand, two species inhabit the Tropical belt of Mexico. The genus Thomomys has by far the most extended range of any of the three, inhabiting suitable localities from the Valley of Mexico and Mount Orizaba northward to British Columbia and the North Sas- katchewan, and from the Pacific Coast eastward to the Great Plains. It is represented by numerous species. Fic. 6.—Geographic distribution of Pocket Gophers by genera. The genus Cratogeomys inhabits the Great Plains of the United States from the Arkansas River in eastern Colorado southward, and extends far into Mexico (see fig. 6 and map 1, H). The genus Geomys inhabits a broad belt across the middle part of the United States from the Red River Valley in northwestern Minne- sota and northeastern North Dakota southward to the Mexican bound- ary along the Rio Grande; and also the southern half of Alabama and Georgia and the northern half of Florida. It does not occur west of eastern Wyoming, east-central Colorado, and the Rio Grande Valley in New Mexico (see fig. 6 and map 1). THE SPECIES OF GEOMYS. The Georgia Gopher (Geomys tuza), a rather large cinnamon-brown species, inhabits the pine barrens of eastern Georgia, where it is 30 POCKET GOPHERS OF THE UNITED STATES. \ locally known as the ‘Salamander.’ The same name is applied to the . following subspecies: The Florida Gopher (Geomys tuza floridanus) is a Florida form of tuza, as its name indicates, and does not differ materially i in external appearance, The Alabama Gopher (Geomys tuza mobilensis) inhabits southern Alabama and northwestern Florida and is a strongly marked form. it is very much darker than tuza The Prairie Gopher (Geomys pues is the common Pocket Gopher of the northern Mississippi Valley, from eastern North Dakota and western Mimesota south to southeastern Missouri (see map 1, B). It is a dark liver-colored animal with pure white forefeet, in sharp contrast to the color of the surrounding parts, and has the longest claws of any of the species having two grooves on the upper incisors (see plate IT). The Plains Gopher ((eomys lutescens) is a pallid form of the bursarius type, inhabiting the arid sand hills of western Nebraska and extreme eastern Wyoming, and ranging thence southerly into northwestern Texas (see map 1, C). The Louisiana Gopher (Geomys breviceps) inhabits the alluvial lands of Louisiana, Arkansas, and eastern Texas, the typical form coming from Prairie Mer Rouge, in Morehouse Parish. It extends thence northwesterly up the valley of the Arkansas River nearly to the Kan- sas border (see map 1, D). It is a rather small dark species. On the south, along the coast region of Texas, it splits up into the two follow- ing subspecies: The Galveston Bay Gopher (Geomys breviceps sagittalis) inhabits the Gulf coast of Texas about Galveston Bay. It is smaller than true breviceps. Attwater’s Gopher (Geomys breviceps attwatert) inhabits the coastal plain and islands of Texas, from Nueces Bay northward to Matagorda Bay, and ranges into the interior nearly to San Antonio. It is con- siderably larger than typical breviceps. The Texas Gopher (Geomys texensis) in its typical form inhabits central Texas (see map 1, EK). On the north and northwest it probably passes into lutescens, while on the east it may intergrade with breviceps. Itis much sd thes than bursarius or lutescens and has a pure white belly. Its upper parts are reddish-brown, paler than bursarius, but darker and brighter than lutescens. The Sandy Gopher (Geomys arenarius) inhabits a very restricted area in the upper Rio Grande Valley in extreme northern Chihuahua, west- ern Texas, and southern New Mexico (see map 1, G). So far as known it is completely isolated, not coming in contact with any other species of the genus. It is of medium size, has a relatively long tail, and the upper parts are drab. The Padre Island Gopher (Geomys personatus) inhabits Padre Island and the adjacent coast of Texas from Santa Rosa southward, extend- GEORGIA GOPHER. 31 ing inland as far as Carrizo, on the Rio Grande; its range, together with that of its subspecies fal/ax, thus coincides with the northern arm of the arid tropical belt along the Gulf coast (see map 1, F). In external appearance personatus much resembles G. lutescens of the Great Plains, from which it may be distinguished at once by its larger size, larger and more naked tail, and by important cranial characters. Geomys personatus fallax inhabits a small area on the Gulf coast of Texas, immediately south of Nueces Bay. It is smaller and darker than true personatus. HABITS OF THE GEORGIA GOPHER OR ‘SALAMANDER’ (Geomys tuza). (Frontispiece. ) The Georgia Gopher inhabits the pine barrens of Georgia, and closely related forms are found in similar tracts in Alabama and Florida. The first description of the animal was written by a Member of Congress, the Honorable John Milledge, Representative from Georgia. It was published by Dr. Mitchill in the New York Medical Repository in 1802 (Vol. V, p. 89), and runs as follows: One of the little animals that burrows in the pine land, only known in Georgia, was caught by Mr. Stephen Pierce, living midway between Savannah and Augusta. Its body is of the length and thickness of a common-sized rat, and of the same color; the head between that of arat and a mole, with small whiskers and short snout; the tail without hair, but shorter than that of a rat; the forefeet like those of a mole, with nails near an inch long; the hind feet like those of a rat, but the nails not of the same length, each foot having five claws; very sparkling small eyes; also short ears; teeth like a squirrel, and full as long. On both sides of the jaw, externally, are sacks or wallets where it deposits its food, and each will contain as much as can be put in a large tablespoon. Little or no fur, and the hair of the length of a wood rat. The whole face of the pine country is covered with little mounds made by this animal, of the circuinference of a peck, and from 6 to 8 inches high. It is by no means active, but remarkably fierce. No common wooden place of confinement can hold it long, as it gnaws its way out. It lives entirely on roots, and is very fond of the sweet potato, and often proves injurious to the planter by getting under his stacks. It appears to move nearer the surface in the spring and fall than at any other season. It is surprising that though the work of this creature is seen through- out the country, in the region of the long-leaf pine, and in that region only, yet such is its skill in burrowing, ani acuteness of hearing, that there is no animal in all our State so seldom caught or seen. The best account that has been written of the Florida Pocket Gopher is from the pen of the eminent director of the United States National Museum, Dr. G. Brown Goode, by whom it was contributed to Coues’ monographic paper on the group, published in 1875. Dr. Goode kept a number in confinement for several weeks and was thus enabled to make the following interesting observations on their habits. He says: They may easily be confined in a wooden box, with sides 8 or 10 inches high, hav- ing dry sand 2 or 3 inches deep on the bottom. No cover is necessary; I have never seen one Jook up from the earth, and have rarely known them to attempt to escape. They require no water, and no food except sweet potatoes. A single potato of mod- erate size will feed a salamander for three days. The senses of sight and hearing seem in them to be very dull. An object may be held within a short distance of their eyes without attracting their attention; but 32 POCKET GOPHERS OF THE UNITED STATES. the moment one is touched, he turns with a jump, snapping fiercely, much to the detriment of fingers which may be near. If two are confined in the same cage, the one does not seem aware of the presence of the other, unless they accidentally come in contact. Their eyes are small, dull, and without expression. Their sense of smell I judge to be very delicate, from the manner in which they approach the hills of potatoes. Their motions are surprisingly quick and energetic, their activity never ceasing from morning to night. They are very pugnacious, and a rough-and-tumble combat between two vigorous males would seem terrific, if their size could be magnified a few diameters in the eye of thespectator. Every muscle of their compact, elastic, stout bodies is brought into action, and they plunge and bite with wonderful ferocity. A battle is usually fol- lowed by the death of one or both. I have examined them after death and found the whole anterior part of the body bruised almost to the consistency of paste, the bones of the legs crushed in four or five places. When two come together in the cage their salutation is a plunge and a bite. J] watched their burrowjng with much interest. They dig by grubbing with the nose and arapid shoveling with the long curved forepaws, assisted by the pushing of the hind feet, which removes the dirt from beneath the body and propel it back with great power a distance of 8 or 10 inches. When asmall quantity of earth has accumulated in the rear of the miner, around he whirls with a vigorous flirt of the tail and joining forepaws before his nose, he transmutes himself into a sort of wheelbarrow, pushing the dirt before him to a convenient distance, and repeating the act until the accumulation is removed, then resuming his mining Any root or twig which blocks his way is quickly divided by his sharp chiselteeth. ~ ~*~ ~* The direction of the burrows may easily be traced by the loose hillocks of white sand which are thrown up along the line at intervals of 3 or 4 feet. These are the ‘ dumps’ made by the burrower in throwing out his refuse accumulations. Each consists of about a peck of loose sand, and, by the casual observer, might easily be mistaken for an ant hill. No opening is visible, but by digging under the hill a holeis found, the mouth of the adit to the main tunnel, which may be 3 feet below the surface if made in cold weather, but perhaps not more than 6inches if insummer. One of the mounds is thrown up in a very few moments. I have seen thirty raised in a single night on the line of one tunnel; this would represent nealy 100 feet of tunneling. I have seen one hundred and fifty in one continuous row raised in about two days; this would make between 400 and 500 feet of burrow completed in that short time, apparently by one little animal, an amount of work which may seem incredible to one who has not watched the restless movements of these animated plows, which are seemingly as well adapted for piercing the sand as birds are for cleaving the air, The burrows are about 2} inches in diameter. * * * The nests are large cham- bers, 1 or 2 feet from the main tunnel, with which they are connected by side pas- sages, which leave nearly at right angles. Here the miners lay up a supply of provisions and the chambers are often found to contain a half bushel of sweet pota- toes cut up into chunks as large as peach stones, and of convenient size to be carried in the pockets. ~ * * In these side chambers the salamanders rear their young, building anest of grass, pine needles, and live-oak leaves. I found them breeding in April. a Mr. Morris M. Green, who obtained specimens for the division at. Pomona, Putnam County, Florida, in June, 1889, furnished the follow- ing notes respecting their habits: Vhe hills of the ‘salamander,’ as the Florida Geomys is called, are abundant in the pine woods and clearings, on rather low and moist land. Their tunnels were from 4 te 24 inches below the surface; the hills were thrown up at intervals of from 2 to 6 fect, and contained about a peck of dirt each. The night and early morning seemed to be their favorite time for working. It is very easy to trap a ‘salamander’ when fresh . PRAIRIE GOPHER. 33 mounds are found. By sweeping to one side the heaps of dirt, traces of the hole through which the earth was brought and its direction can be easily found. A min- ute’s work with the spade will usually expose the tunnel lying to one side of the hill. Place a steel trap in the tunnel, and cover up the breach with a piece of pine bark or some palmetto ‘fans.’ If the breach is left open, the animals will carry dirt to shut out the light, and thus clog the trap, whereas if the opening is closed they will step in the trap and be caught. A break is often repaired within half an hour, or it may be left for nearly a day. In mending an opening it is astonishing how compactly the earth 1s packed; in one case an animal closed an opening so securely that the tunnel could not be found at all until another shaft was sunk in search of it. A ‘salamander’ caught in a trap is a picture of fury and spite, biting at every- thing within reach of its jaws, and sometimes breaking its front teeth in venting its rage on the trap. In the cheek pouches of one were some pieces of pine roots, and some grasses were found in the tunnels. The animals do serious injury to orange and pear trees by gnawing the roots. Sometimes the roots are gnawed off so completely that the tree can be pushed over with one hand. They also feed on sweet potatoes. But when an animal enters a garden or an orchard, and betrays itself by throwing up hills, there is no excuse for not ridding the place of it, as it may be easily caught in a steel trap. It is claimed that the ‘salamander’ works near the surface from September to March, retiring deeper in the ground during the hot season. Mr. William J. Frank, of Cotton Plant, Fla., writes the division as follows respecting this Gopher: They are very common in this part of the country, and do considerable damage to vegetables, especially potatoes. ‘They tunnel under ground, and following the rows eat the potatoes from the hills. Mr. Walter Scott, at Rock Springs, says he lost 20 percent of his sweet potatoes by Pocket Gophers last August and September. Pocket Gophers sometimes destroy fruit trees, shrubs, etc., by cutting off the tap- roots. During the past year several peach, plum, and orange trees have been killed in this section by them. HABITS OF THE RED OR PRAIRIE GOPHER (Geomys bursarius). (Plate II.) The Prairie Gopher is of much greater economic consequence than all the other species combined, for the reason that its home is in the fertile prairie region of the Mississippi Valley from central Missouri northward, covering the whole State of Iowa, nearly the whole of Illi- nois, and the richest and most densely populated agricultural lands of eastern Kansas, eastern Nebraska, eastern North and South Dakota, Minnesota, and southern Wisconsin. The statement so often made that Pocket Gophers are prolific breeders has no foundation in fact. Only one litter of young is raised in a year, and as there are but two or three in a litter the rate of increase is slow. Judging from available facts their birth rate is less than half that of the ground squirrels, tree squirrels, chipmunks, mice, and most other small rodents. On the other hand, their mode of life protects them from a host of enemies that attack animals of less seclusive habits. They are early breeders. A female collected May 14, 1886, at Elk River, Minn., contained two embryos; and on the same day a nearly half-grown young was caught. At the same locality on April 29, 1888, I found a young hardly one-third grown that had come out of 12983—No, 5——3 34 POCKET GOPHERS OF THE UNITED STATES. the burrow during a cold rain and had been chilled to death. At Ver- digris, Nebr., a female caught June 12, 1893, was nursing young. In southern Minnesota, in the latter part of May, my dog once dug out a nest containing two that could not have beena week old. They looked wonderfully like little babies. They had no visible hair, their com- plexion was a beautifully translucent pinky-white, their heads were round, and their little fat hands and fingers were touchingly babyish. Both eyes and ears were tightly sealed. They were helpless, and had the appearance of being born in a very rudimentary or undeveloped condition. The nest was a bed of soft grass and vegetable fibers on the bottom of an oval chamber in the burrow. Whether two is the usual number of young seems doubtful.* Before the young are half grown they begin to run about in the bur- row and strike off in side tunnels of their own. Sometimes they leave the parent burrow and begin a new one that does not connect with it. Itis not uncommon to catch one when no more than half grown living in a burrow some distance from any other. Their hermit life has then fairly begun. By autumn they are practically full grown and have learned all the art of ‘gopher mining,’ Numerous complaints have been received of the injury done to fruit and shade trees, hedges, and garden vegetables. On the prairies Gophers damage the groves of planted timber by gnawing the roots. They are especially troublesome in nurseries or wherever young trees are planted close together. Large trees are not often killed. Small ones are quickly ruined. The Honorable J. Sterling Morton, Secretary of Agriculture, states that on his farm in eastern Nebraska Pocket Gophers are partic- ularly destructive to the horse-chestnut and ginkgo trees, gnawing off the roots in preference to those of other trees. : There is hardly a product of the garden or field that Gophers do not accept as food, but the starchy, tuberous, or bulbous roots are preferred to all else. Potatoes, turnips, carrots, beets, onions, and parsnips are favorites. Melons, squashes, and pumpkins are frequently gnawed and spoiled when a gopher hole happens to come up near them. Pumpkins and squashes are sometimes entered through a hole and the inside eaten out. It is not rare to find a gopher hole extending along a potato row and every hill entered and entirely cleaned out. Some- times one row will be fellowed several rods and then another row attacked. One Gopher allowed in a potato field will do considerable damage and a larger number will easily ruin the crop. In fact, a number of cases have been reported where so much of the crop was taken by Gophers that the remainder was not considered worth har- vesting. *In many animals the number of young bears a definite relation to the number of teats. All of the Pocket Gophers have 6 teats, 3 on each side—2 inguinal and 1 pec- toral. The former are situated close together at the posterior extremity of the belly; the latter are on each side of the breast. The number indicates- that three is the usnal number of young, with a probable variation of from two to six. PRAIRIE GOPHER. . 35 Corn is rarely injured to any great extent, but the depredations in fields of small grain—wheat, oats, barley, and rye—are serious. From the time the grain comes out of the ground it is covered and killed by the gopher hills, and later, as the stalks become taller, they are cut down and drawn into the holes for food. The standing grain conceals the animals and their work. Long galleries are extended through the mellow soil close to the surface and frequent openings are made through which to come out to carry down a fresh supply of provisions. These shallow galleries are usually found packed full of cut up heads and stalks of grain—the remains of half eaten meals, and stores that have never been needed. While standing in the shock a smail amount of grain is sometimes destroyed by the Gopher entering from below and cutting off the heads of a few bundles. If left standing for an unusu- ally long time a shock is sometimes nearly destroyed. Occasionally they come up under a grain stack and in the same manner eat and waste considerable grain. Usually they do not care for ripe grain or seeds unless found in the sheaf or in a stack, where it is eaten along with stalks, leaves, and heads. They are particularly fond of half-ripe grain, which, apparently is not shelled but eaten with the head and chaff. They do their worst mischief in meadows. The leaves and roots of grass and clover furnish an abundance of food, but the amount eaten is of comparatively little consequence. Every hill thrown up covers and kills the grass where it lies, so that a single Gopher working all summer in a meadow will destroy the crop over a considerable area; but even this is not the worst result. The hills usually contain more or less gravel and in mowing with a machine the knife keeps running through them, dulling, nicking, and sometimes breaking the sections. It frequently becomes necessary to raise the cutting-bar several inches to avoid them, thereby losing a percentage of the crop. The surface of the meadow is made rough by the presence of the hills, and the horses feet frequently break through into the tunnels. This not only causes the horses to stumble, but increases the roughness of the meadow by leaving open holes. Mr. John N. Houghton, of Grinnell, Iowa, writes: ‘ The chief cause of damage is the throwing up of so inuch dirt on meadow land as sometimes to render it almost impossible to cut the hay.” Mr. W. Head, of Bristow, lowa, writes under date of January 5, 1887: ‘““The Pocket Gophers cover much ground with their mounds. * * * The damage done to meadow land is enormous, whole acres often being covered.” Mr. Allen Chattin writes from Charter Oak, Iowa: “ At the edge of a stream I had a fine timothy meadow in which the Pocket Gophers got to work. At wet times I could not run the mower, because the soft hills which they threw up would clog the machine.” From Turlington, Nebr., Mr. William N. Hunter writes: ‘The Pocket Gophers (Geomys bursarius) are getting very numerous and doing great dainage, especially to the meadows and mowing ground, where their 36 POCKET GOPHERS OF THE UNITED STATES. mounds are a nuisance to the mowing machine. I have seen a string of mounds extend clear across a field of clover for nearly a quarter of a mile. They also do some damage to young orchards that have been sown to clover.” Mr. Peter Skoglund writes from Lake Andrew, Minn., under date of November, 1889: ‘ Pocket Gophers do a good deal of damage to mead- ows by covering the grass with the earth they throw from their holes.” From London, Nebr., Mr. George A. Coleman writes: “ Pocket Gophers are not particular as to their place of residence. They are found in orchards, meadows, and fields. They do great damage by bur- rowing and throwing up large hills, which are sometimes 4 feet across. I have seen them cover the ground so thickly that one could step from one hill to another. Let ten of them go to work in a 10-acre meadow and there would soon be very little grass left uncovered.” The above statement that gopher hills are sometimes 4 feet across, while correct, needs further explanation. It sometimes happens that the same hole is opened and dirt thrown out at different times until an unusually large hill is produced, the hole being stopped up during the intervals. The ordinary hills average 1 or 2 feet across. Prof. L. L. Dyche, of Lawrence, Kans., writes: Pocket Gophers are common everywhere throughout this section of the country. There must be as many as one per acre, or even more in certain localities. Nursery- men and gardeners have the most complaints to make against this ‘“‘ very trouble- some little animal,” the principal of which may be summed up in the following manner: They do some damage to young hedgerows by burrowing under them and cutting off the roots and underground stems. As arule the damaged places are but a few feet in length, but some instances have been noted where a third or even a half of the plants have been destroyed for a distance of 100 feet. This usually hap- pens where the Gopher’s course crosses and recrosses the hedgerow. Other kinds of trees are sometimes killed in a like manner in nurseries and a few in young orchards. Potato farmers, particularly those raising sweet potatoes, complain that the Gophers work destruction on their crops from the time they are planted until they are removed from the fields. In some sweet-potato fields which I visited places from a few feet to 2 or 3 rods in length were found in the rows where the Gophers had either killed the vines while they were young or bad cut up and carried away most of the potatoes after the latter were formed. Winter before last a farmer 14 miles north of Lawrence lost 35 bushels of sweet potatoes taken by Gophers from a cellar which contained 500 bushels. The cellar was dug in sandy soil in the edge of the field where the p»tatoes were raised. The Gophers entered at the bottom of the cellar under the ei gs of the boaras which lined one of its sides. The cavity from which the potatoes were removed was 4 feet deep on the side where the Gophers entered and extended a considerable distance into the interior. The hole from which the potatoes had been removed was packed solid with earth. This hole was undoubtedly filled up with earth as fast as the potatoes were removed, for there was no external evidence by settling of the potatoes on the top of the pile of the mischief which was going on underneath. After the potatoes were removed in the early spring traps were set, and two Gophers (apparently all which had been work- ing upon the potatoes) were caught. Several reports have been noted to the effect that from 1 to 15 bushels of Irish potatoes have been removed by Gophers from potato heaps (called ‘potato holes’ by farmers) buried in fields. Some dam- age reported to have been done to cabbage and various other garden plants by eating : | PRAIRIE GOPHER. : a | off roots and stems, and then usually pulling the plant down into the ground. Gopher hills in meadows are considered a great nuisance by those who run mowers, but no complaints have been made of their injuring the meadows other than that a little grass or grain is covered up. Dr. A. K. Fisher says: “Both at Storm Lake, Iowa, and Round Lake, Minn., complaints were made of the damage done by Pocket Gophers in gnawing off the roots of fruit and shade trees. Mr. Louns- bury showed me an apple tree, fully 6 inches in diameter, all the roots of which had been cut off by Pocket Gophers. He had lost upward of 100 apple trees in the past few years by these destructive rodents. Vegetable gardens also suffer severely from their depredations.” Mr. D. W. Lounsbury writes from St. Joseph, Mo.: ‘On the farm of a friend here one-tenth of an orchard of 18 acres planted last spring (1888) was destroyed by Pocket Gophers.” Mr. Henry I. Warden, Keosauqua, Iowa, writes: ‘They are very destructive to young orchards. I have lost a good many trees by thew eating off the roots. * * * I have seen hickory saplings 2 inches through with the roots all eaten off by Gophers. * * * Ihave always paid 25 cents per head for-all caught on my place.” Mr. 8S. S. Dickinson, of Larned, Kans., writes as follows of Pocket Gophers: “Late in the fall and in the winter and spring they eat apple and other tree roots. They have destroyed 200 apple trees for me in the past two years.” | From Reeder, Kans., Mr. George Briggs writes: ‘“‘They are destruc- tive to fruit trees, running underground and cutting all the roots off. Five percent of all the trees in this neighborhood have been killed by the Pocket Gopher. .** * * Last year we planted one acre in pea- nuts, from which we raised 100 bushels; 25 bushels were destroyed by Gophers.” From Louisburg, Miami County, Kans., Mr. C. H. Aiken writes: ‘“‘The Pocket Gophers are destructive here and possess no redeeming traits. They are rather difficult to catch. They throw up mounds in our meadows and cut off roots of young hedges, grapevines, etc.” Dr. G. 8S. Agersborg writes from Vermillion, 8. Dak.: ‘ Geomys bur- sarius is very destructive and seems to work underground entirely, eating carrots, parsnips, and tree seedlings, especially black walnut, to within 2 inches of surface. They store away potatoes for winter. I know of one instance where nearly 2 bushels were found in the bottom of a burrow.” From Anthony, Kans., Mrs. H. C. Bowens writes: ‘Our experience has been that they eat roots and fruit and undermine vegetables. They ate our sweet potatoes and Irish potatoes about an inch under ground, leaving the tops to die.” Mr. Edwin A. Donnell, of Zumbrota, Minn., says in a letter of Decem. _ ber, 1886: “One of my neighbors plowed out two bushels of potatoes which had been gathered in one deposit, and were as clean as if they 38 POCKET GOPHERS OF THE UNITED STATES had been washed.” He also mentions another deposit in which a quan- tity of roots of quack grass and wild artichokes were found. Mr. E. L. Brown, of Durand, Wis., writes under date of December 30,1886: ** Pocket Gophers are very injurious to grain, vegetables, and erass. I have seen as much as a half bushel of potatoes packed in a single hole. They sometimes come up under a pile cf corn and carry it into the ground.” : Mr. W. Head, writes on January 5, 1887, from Bristow, Iowa: “‘Two — years ago, when I commenced to dig my potatoes, [found a great many ~ mounds thrown up around and on top of potato hills; wherever I found — these I ees not find potatoes. The potatoes were ee taken for arod — or more.’ . Mr. John N. Houghton, of Grinnell, Lowa, eee as follows: 25 CM CGRIMR MOL seep gat aa oate ee noe 26-28 TES Oe 0 a 16 SRAM: Slate Abo ee ee ae See eae er aane = 12,13 | INGER MMOMOU I a. 2 5 Sao = se ance Se 3 20 | Coco grass, distribution of, by gophers .... 41 Oratogeomys castanops..-...-..-..+-.-.2---4 44 CS SUSI 0 48 oe Se eee ee 16,17 DAS ha GlOMme cee amas tese oe ee ee 28, 29 ilomiMan sop et. ssa. 8 1.0L. os -= So ns Hodes 2 LORCWUSUSE aaa ce aes oes ec. cata = Baim asic ae a 30 VIEL ce, ox SS OOO SOC ee 29-30, 31-33 UUIZUSLOTUAAINWS a2 a= = tees oe n= 3 wee 30, 31-83 tuza mobilensis ..--.-.- Let! 5 OE oa 30 eGR Me MCR. cette nae wowace e dese ee 29-30 CLOPMEES WASMOOW tee as ocee se pee e cee eee snr 17 Ciaypocker gopher... 2.2 con acee eee 44 IRIE tts Kee ees neo a, See Le 44-47 Habits in captivity..........-- 11-12, 14-15, 31-33 31 | Page SE) ernaiilOMe eee ee ae oe ete ane ee cee pee 13-14 LUV ScOMAcMs CLOPSt sae. es. ee Se 20, 34-39 COSINE ROO Speemin= seas seco eee, eens 35-37 LOLORGH ACG: aoe ere ee ee ee 36-37, 39, 46 to roots, tubers, and garden vegetables. 19-20, 34, 37-39 LOPES 2s ie NA Ae ees i ee 20, 34, 37, 46 GWIs ae EODNEL co. N a oes Sate ae does 30 JE On fe 0) eave Re eS See eee 40-42 Natural enemies..-...-- SS Spee ae ee ae 20-23 Nut grass, distribution of, by gophers -..-. 41 Padre sland goplten.2 32.222 += 30222 A. 30-31 PENNIES, Ofte = a 28k FS. 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