Roger W. Barbour

Home Range of Microtus Ochrogaster as Determined by a Modified Minimum Area Method

Home ranges of six Microtus ochrogaster were determined by radioisotopic tagging. A modified minimum area method, of delineating home range was derived, using one-fourth of the range length as a standard to determine whether outside points in the range were to be connected directly. Home ranges as determined by the new method varied from 0.05 to 0.18 (averaging 0.11) acres for five males. A single female had a range of 0.02 acres. These figures are on the order of 50% of the range size determined by the minimum area method. Overlapping of home ranges occurs, and one individual showing a marked shift in home range was observed.

The Mammals of Big Black Mountain, Harlan County, Kentucky

Big Black Mountain lies in southeastern Kentucky and adjacent Virginia, occupying parts of Harlan County, Kentucky, and Wise County, Virginia. Highway 160, between Lynch, Kentucky, and Appalachia, Virginia, crosses the mountain; the highest point in Kentucky (elevation 4150 feet) is some half mile west of the highway. About a mile northwest of this peak is a second height, indicated on the United States Geological Survey Estillville Sheet to have an elevation of 4150 feet or more. On this second peak the Civil Aeronautics Authority maintains the Glenbrook Visual-Aural Range Station. According to an engineer who surveyed this area for the station, the elevation of this peak is 4140 feet. With this station as a center, a circle with a four mile radius would include practically every point at which collections discussed in this paper were made. The only collections made outside this area and included were from the Poor Fork of the Cumberland River between the towns of Cumberland and Harlan, Kentucky, and two areas on Pine Mountain, one near Cumberland, and the other near Rosspoint, some four miles from the town of Harlan. This study was initiated on July 19, 1939, and is the result of four collecting trips to the area. The period July 19-August 18, 1939, was spent in the area, the time equally divided between the community of Rosspoint and the summit of Big Black Mountain, near Lynch. On May 3-4, 1940, I accompanied a party from Morehead State College, Morehead, Kentucky, to the area. On July 3, 1946, I accompanied a party of three to the summit of the mountain, to remain until July 7. On June 4, 1948, my family and I made camp near the Glenbrook Visual-Aural Range Station and remained there until September 1, 1948. During these four trips, over 350 mammal skins were prepared, most of them collected in Kentucky. The majority of the skins are in my personal collection; some are in the Cornell University collections, while a few are deposited in the United States National Museum. Big Black Mountain is the highest point of the Cumberland Mountain Section, the physiography of which has been treated by Fenneman (1938). The exposed rocks of the area under consideration belong to the Pennsylvanian series. Bedrock is exposed in but few places other than stream beds; the region is generally covered by a deep soil mantle. The geology of the area has been treated by the United States Geological Survey (1894). The mammalian fauna of the mountainous areas of eastern Kentucky and adjacent states is of considerable interest. It is here that certain northern species reach the southern limits of their range; here some southern species reach the northern limits of their range; here is a region of intergradation of various northern and southern geographic races; and here a few geographic races are confined. This paper presents information on thirty-two species and subspecies of mammals known to occur on Big Black Mountain in southeastern Kentucky and adjacent Virginia. They may be divided into five distributional categories: 100 Vol. 32, No. I

Some Additional Mammal Records from Kentucky

Recent mammal collecting in Kentucky has resulted in the acquisition of a few specimens of some species whose distribution in the state is poorly known. In an effort to bring up to date the knowledge of these species in the state, the literature has been surveyed and data pertinent to the specimens appended. Credit is due to The Research Fund Committee of the University of Kentucky for financial assistance in the collection of certain of the specimens; Charles O. Handley of the United States National Museum for verifying my identification of the specimens of Corynorhinus and for other courtesies; and to many of my students for assistance in the field.nnNomenclature of Corynorhinus follows that of Handley (Jour. Wash. Acad. Sei., 45(5): 147–149, 1955), wherein C. rafinesquii = C. macrotis , and C. townsendii = C. rafinesquii . Most of the specimens are deposited in the zoological collection of the University of Kentucky; a few are in the United States National Museum. Measurements are expressed in millimeters; averages are given first, followed by extremes in parentheses. …

The Amphibians of Big Black Mountain, Harlan County, Kentucky

BETWEEN 1939 and 1948, the writer camped over four months on Big Black Mountain in Harlan County, Kentucky, making a survey of the amphibians, reptiles, and mammals of the region. Previously published reports deal with the reptiles (Barbour, 1950a) and the mammals (Barbour, 1951). For a general discussion of the area, reference is made to these papers. Big Black Mountain reaches a maximum elevation of 4150 feet above sea level, and is the highest point in Kentucky. It lies largely in Harlan County, Kentucky, but occupies a part of adjacent Wise County, Virginia. The majority of the collections discussed in this paper were made within a four-mile radius of the

Synaptomys cooperi in Kentucky, with Description of a New Subspecies

The scarcity of Kentucky specimens of Synaptomys in the recent papers of Hall and Cockrum (1953) and Wetzel (1955) have prompted the author to put on record his findings relative to the status of Synaptomys cooperi in Kentucky.nnWelter and Sollberger (1939) were apparently the first to record Synaptomys cooperi stonei Rhoads from Kentucky. They recorded two specimens from a swampy area near Morehead, Rowan County. Barbour (1951) was the second to record the species, with his five specimens from the summit of Big Black Mountain, in Harlan County. These are apparently the only two published accounts of the occurrence of the species in the state.nnThe zoological collections of the University of Kentucky currently contain 86 specimens of Synaptomys cooperi from Kentucky, collected by the author and his students, largely since 1950. A series of 16 specimens from Mason County was borrowed from the private collection of Mr. James T. Wallace of Maysville. Three specimens from Rowan County were borrowed from the zoological collection of Morehead State College. Mr. Dwight M. Lindsay, of Georgetown College, Georgetown, Kentucky, kindly lent a series of 13 specimens of Synaptomys cooperi from Ripley and Jefferson counties, Indiana. Credit is due the Research Fund Committee of the University of Kentucky for financial assistance incident to the collection of many of the specimens.nnWe have found Synaptomys rather easy to trap, particularly in the months of January, February and March. At this time in Kentucky, at least, the ground is relatively free of snow cover, and the tall grasses that constitute the habitat of Synaptomys are rather limited in distribution, confined largely to fence rows, swampy areas, and the relatively few waste fields. At this time of year, the population of Synaptomys is concentrated in such areas, and snap-back mouse traps set across the runs …

Two New Mammal Records from Kentucky

It has long been suspected that Bachmans Shrew, Sorex longirostris occurred in western Kentucky, but there appears to be no definite locality record of its occurrence within the state. On February 2, 1953, I trapped an individual of this species near the museum on the Bernheim Forest, Bullitt County, Kentucky. This …