A study of subspecific variation in the Yellow Pocket-Gopher (\u3ci\u3eGeomys lutescens\u3c/i\u3e) in Nebraska, and of the geographical and ecological distribution of the variants

The Yellow Pocket-gopher (Geomys lutescens) was described by Merriam (14) in 1890, as a paler and smaller subspecies of Geomys bursarius, based on numerous specimens received from the sand hills of western Nebraska , and especially upon an adult Cjl type specimen (No. 23595, U. S. N. M.) collected in the sandhills along Birdwood Creek, Lincoln County, Nebraska, May 27, 1889, by A. B. Baker. ... Although even as late as 1931 Scheffer (17) classified Geomys lutescens as a subspecies of G. bursarius, it is without doubt specifically distinct from G. bursarius. In all of its variations it is decidedly smaller, the fully adult males averaging fully 35 to 50 mm. less, and the fully adult females 29 to 44 mm. less, in total length, than the average of full adults of the corresponding sexes of Geomys bursarius majusculus. Individuals in the Ponca River Valley represent a very well-marked subspecies of Geomys lutescens, characterized by maximum size and distinctive cranial characters. It may be known as Geomys lutescens levisagittalis subsp. nov. SMOOTH-CROWNED YELLOW POCKET-GOPHER Altogether, this form seems to have become sufficiently differentiated to warrant subspecific recognition, and it is proposed to call it Geomys lutescens vinaceus subsp. nov. PLAINS YELLOW POCKET-GOPHE

A PRELIMINARY REVIEW OF THE BIRDS OF NEBRASKA WITH SYNOPSES

In 1896, Prof. Bruner published his list entitled Some Notes on Nebraska Birds. As a working basis for the study of the ornithology of the state it has proven invaluable and it has also been greatly in demand by people not ornithologists, who desired to know something about our birds. That edition was exhausted some time ago and its author has been frequently urged to publish another. However, the organization of the Nebraska Ornithologists\u27 Union and the development of ornithology in the University has led to such a rapid increase in our knowledge in the past five years that it seemed that any publication would soon become out of date, and so no one ventured to undertake the task. It is under these conditions that the opportunity has been offered, through the kindness of Ex-Governor Furnas, Secretary of the State Board of Agriculture, and an enthusiastic member of the Union, to prepare something on the birds of the state. It seemed too good an opportunity to be lost, and yet, under the circumstances, the authors of this contribution feel that it can only be considered, as its title states, as a preliminary review. It should be understood, nevertheless, preliminary in one sense as it is, that it has been prepared with the greatest care, and is believed to represent exactly the state of our knowledge at the present, day. Every species has been carefully considered, the specimens available examined, its occurrence in surrounding states studied, the records in Bruner\u27s list thoroughly canvassed, as well as all data which have accumulated since, and the whole reduced to such statements as indicate clearly the limits of our knowledge in regard to the form under consideration. All specimens about which there could be any doubt were sent to authorities east for exact determination. Those species that have been\u27 previously reported from Nebraska but the right of which to a place in our fauna is questioned or denied have been introduced, but in brackets. There have also been added under the phrase extralimital those species which may possibly be found in the state in the future. 125 pages. Includes Index. Also includes BIRDS IN RELATION TO AGRICULTURE AND HORTICULTURE by Lawrence Bruner

A Study of Subspecific Variation in the Yellow Pocket-Gopher (\u3ci\u3eGeomys lutescens\u3c/i\u3e) in Nebraska, and of the Geographical and Ecological Distribution of the Variants

The Yellow Pocket-Gopher (Geomys lutescens) was described by Merriam (14) in 1890, as a paler and smaller subspecies of Geomys bursarius, based on numerous specimens received from the Sand Hills of western Nebraska , and especially upon an adult Cjl type specimen (No. 23595, U. S. N. M.) collected in the sandhills along Birdwood Creek, Lincoln County, Nebraska, May 27, 1889, by A. B. Baker. Although even as late as 1931 Scheffer (17) classified Geomys lutescens as a subspecies of G. bursarius, it is without doubt specifically distinct from G. bursarius. In all of its variations it is decidedly smaller, the fully adult males averaging fully 35 to 50 mm. less, and the fully adult females 29 to 44 mm. less, in total length, than the average of full adults of the corresponding sexes of Geomys bursarius majusculus. Individuals in the Ponca River Valley represent a very well-marked subspecies of Geomys lutescens, characterized by maximum size and distinctive cranial characters. It may be known as Geomys lutescens levisagittalis subsp. nov. Smooth-Crowned Yellow Pocket-Gopher. Altogether, this form seems to have become sufficiently differentiated to warrant subspecific recognition, and it is proposed to call it Geomys lutescens vinaceus subsp. nov. Plains Yellow Pocket-Gopher

On a New Subspecies of Porcupine from Nebraska

Publication NO.2 of the Nebraska State Biological Survey. Nebraska porcupines all belong to the yellow-haired species (Erethizon epixanthum) , and these animals have never been abundant in the state. Formerly, however, they were much more numerous than today, and enjoyed a more extended range in the state than they do at the present time. Up to about 1885 these animals occurred across the northern portion of Nebraska east at least to Pierce and Madison counties, there being records of four specimens secured along the small streams tributary to the Elkhorn river in these two counties between 1870 and 1885. Also, in March, 1900, a specimen was killed along the Republican river at Orleans, Harlan county, Nebraska, by Eskey Cobb and is now in the A. M. Brooking collection. As early as 1880 Aughey referred to these animals as being present in the state in small numbers only. All of the more recent records of the occurrence of porcupines in Nebraska have come from the counties west of the 100th meridian, and mostly from the Pine Ridge of Sioux and Dawes counties and the North Platte valley in Scottsbluff and Banner counties. However, in this study I have carefully examined four mounted porcupines which are in the Rees Heaton collection and which were taken at intervals up to 1903 in Frontier and other western counties. Also, a suhadult female porcupine was captured alive with a lasso near the Roseberry ranch in the Cherry county sandhills north of Mullen, Hooker county, September 12, 1914, by Carl Kiehl, quite away from any timber. This specimen was taken to Omaha and sold there, whence it came into my possession by purchase, and is now in the University collection. In August of that same year (1914), a porcupine was killed in a cottonwood grove west of the city of North Platte, Lincoln county, about three miles from the river, according to Mr. Wilson Tout. Mr. Tout saw the specimen, which, unfortunately, was not preserved. In the winter of 1900-1901 a porcupine was reported as killed by a ranchman in the Pine Ridge near Harrison, Sioux county, but was not preserved, and a Plateau Lynx killed in southern Sioux county on February 9, 1916, had numerous porcupine quills in its head. Mr. L. M. Gates writes me that two porcupines were caught in the Ridge near Chadron, Dawes county, during the fall of 1915. But the center of abundance of this animal in N ebraska during recent years seems to be in the North Platte valley. On January 8, 1896, a specimen was received at the University from Scottsbluff county and was mounted for the Museum. During the summer of 1913 Dr. R. H. Wolcott saw a porcupine lying by the roadside in Banner county. On July 28, 1914, Mr. P. P. Wilcox, of Minatare, Scottsbluff county, caught a porcupine in an oats field seven miles north of the town of Scottsbluff, and he kept the animal in captivity in the town of Minatare for a time, but it finally chewed its way out of its cage and escaped. At about the same time Mr. J. N. Wood, of Scottsbluff, captured another specimen in about the same manner. On September 26, 1915, Mr. J. E. Dorothy found a fine old male porcupine in the trees on his farm three miles east of Mitchell, Scottsbluff county, and captured it alive. It was sent to me on September 30 and kept alive in captivity until October 19, when· it was killed and added to the author\u27s collection at the University. Later in the fall Mr. F. C. White, a neighbor of Mr. Dorothy, found another porcupine on his farm in a beet field and sent it alive to Hastings College, from whence it was sent to an eastern museum. These, with other records that I have been unable to fully verify, indicate that porcupines are yet surviving in fair numbers in extreme western Nebraska. A careful comparison of the available Nebraska specimens with the published measurements and descriptions of the various described subspecies of yellow-haired porcupines, and with specimens of the typical subspecies, convinces me that the Nebraska animal may well be separated under the name Erethizon epixanthum bruneri subsp. nov. NEBRASKA YELLOW-HAIRED PORCUPINE Type.-Three miles east of Mitchell, Scottsbluff county, Nebraska, September 26, 1915. (f adult (No. 305, Collection of State Entomologist, University of Nebraska). J. E. Dorothy, collector

A Study of Subspecific Variation in the Richardson Pocket-Gopher (\u3ci\u3eThomomys talpoides\u3c/i\u3e) in Nebraska, with Descriptions of Two New Subspecies

There has been little published evidence of the occurrence of pocket gophers of the genus Thomomys in Nebraska. Thomomys talpoides pierreicolus subsp. nov Pierre Richardson Pocket-Gopher Thomomys talpoides cheyennensis subsp. nov. Cheyenne Richardson Pocket-Gophe

In Memoriam, Lawrence Bruner

On January 30, 1937, at his home at 3033 Deakin Street in Berkeley, California, Lawrence Bruner, pioneer American economic entomologist and a world authority on grasshoppers and related insects (Orthoptera), as well as the person who more than any other individual was responsible for the organization of the Nebraska Ornithologists’ Union, passed away after a severe illness of a few days that culminated a rather extended period of gradually declining health. It is difficult to epitomize any account of the life accomplishments of this man, because they were so many and varied, and perhaps for this purpose there may very well be quoted some very recently written words of Herbert Osborn, another pioneer of American entomologist who in age was just seventeen days Bruner’s junior

A study of local size variations in the Prairie Pocket-Gopher (\u3ci\u3eGeomys bursarius\u3c/i\u3e), with description of a new subspecies from Nebraska

Beginning in the fall of 1913, the writer has continuously been interested in accumulating accurate body measurements, taken in the flesh, of Nebraska pocket-gophers. As a result quite an assemblage of such data has been secured. In the case of Geomys bursarius, the bulk of these data relates to specimens trapped in the vicinity of Lincoln, Lancaster County, involving to date 48 adult and 38 immature males and 50 adult and 65 immature females. Recently these measurements have been tabulated and compared with such measurements of the species as have been recorded in the literature from other parts of its range. The writer realizes the undesirability of unduly multiplying the named mammalian subspecies that are based solely or primarily upon size characters (so-called millimeter subspecies ), but after a careful study of the measurement data summarized in the preceding Tables 1 and 2 has concluded that the unusually large form of prairie pocket-gopher inhabiting eastern Nebraska and western and south-central Iowa merits subspecific recognition by name, and therefore proposes that it be called Geomys bursarius majusculus subsp. nov

A study of the geographical and ecological distribution of the Buffy Plains Pocket Mouse (\u3ci\u3ePerognathus flavescens flavescens\u3c/i\u3e), with description of a new subspecies from Nebraska

The Buffy Plains Pocket-mouse (Perognathus flavescens flavescens) is a typical mammal of the Sandhill Region of Nebraska. Its home, like that of other species of pocket-mice, is a series of burrows in the ground, consisting of several entrance holes leading to the main \u27burrow, in which is located the nest and the food storage chambers. In the Nebraska sandhills its burrows and nests are commonly placed beneath clumps of Spanish Bayonet or Prickly Pear Cactus, and the entrance holes usually are so distributed as to open from under the plant in all directions. The writer had hoped to secure still more specimens, but, not having been able to do so, now proposes that the new subspecies be named Perognathus flavescens olivaceogriseus subsp. nov. OLIVE-GRAY PLAINS POCKET-MOUSE

The Relation of Temperature to the Embryonic and Nymphal Development of the Differential Grasshopper Melanoplus differentialis Thomas

Temperature plays the major role in the regulation of the rate of embryonic development of the differential grasshopper (Melanoplus differentialis Thomas)