Of the species other than grasses found stored in these dens, mesquite beans (Prosopis velutina) are most important both by weight and number of dens containing them. The total for the 22 Range Reserve dens is 1,570 grams, or 35.9 per cent of the seeds other than grasses, but only 5.1 per cent of the total storage. In bulk mesquite beans do not loom up large, as they are probably the heaviest material stored. Sections of pods which must have been dragged into the burrows are found, some of them certainly being much too long for carriage in the pouches. The species of plant other than grass found in the largest quantity in any one den, however, was Aplopappus gracilis, not recorded in quantity from any den until the excavation of the twenty-second, and then found in a very large bulk of soft, fluffy material, with most of the seeds separated from the heads, and weighing 1,030 grams ([Table 1, den 22]).
Any of the food materials above listed are likely to be found in the cheek pouches, while in addition such extraneous matter as stones and feces have also been found. All species of plants stored are accessible in the immediate vicinity of the mound, and when any particular plant is found seeding in abundance in the vicinity of the den it is likely to be represented in the storage. Usually the animals can be readily trapped with almost any kind of grain bait, as oats, rolled oats, rolled barley, and wheat; and nut meats also are attractive, though we have no record of the storing of any true nut in the dens, such not being available in the range of the animal on the Range Reserve.
The following plants not represented in the list stored by the kangaroo rat on the Range Reserve have been found in the cheek pouches or mounds of spectabilis in other localities:
Amaranthus palmeri, Sesuvium portulacastrum, and Atriplex wrightii (alluvial soil of Santa Cruz Valley, Continental, Ariz., Bailey).
Cut leaves and stems of a small sagebrush (Franklin Mountains, Tex., Gaut).
Gutierrezia heads (San Juan Valley, N. Mex., Birdseye).
Verbesina enceliodes, Portulaca oleracea, Bouteloua gracilis, and Munroa squarrosa (Rio Alamosa, N. Mex., Goldman).
Tops of buds of Artemisia filifolia (Mesa Jumanes, N. Mex., Gaut).
Tumbleweed (Amaranthus graecizans), Russian thistle (Salsola pestifer), Munroa squarrosa, and Sporobolus cryptandrus strictus (Sandia Mountains, Albuquerque, N. Mex., Vorhies).