PRINTED BY
JEAN M. NEIBARGER, STATE PRINTER
TOPEKA, KANSAS
1961
28-8518
Natural History of the Brush Mouse
(Peromyscus boylii) in Kansas
With Description of a New Subspecies
BY
CHARLES A. LONG
In order to determine the geographic distribution of the brush mouse in the state, 15 localities, chosen on the basis of suitable habitat, were investigated by means of snap-trapping in the winter and spring of 1959, spring of 1960, and winter and spring of 1961. Variation in specimens obtained by me and in other specimens in the Museum of Natural History, The University of Kansas, was analyzed. Captive mice from Cherokee County, Kansas, were observed almost daily from March 27, 1960, to June 1, 1961. Captive mice from Chautauqua and Cowley counties were studied briefly. Contents of 38 stomachs of brush mice were analyzed, and diet-preferences of the captive mice were studied. Data from live-trapping and from snap-trapping are combined and provide some knowledge of size and fluctuation of populations in the species.
Examination of the accumulated specimens and the captive mice reveals the occurrence in southern Kansas of an unnamed subspecies, which may be named and described as follows:
Peromyscus boylii cansensis new subspecies