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Show 38 NATIONAL WAGON ROAD GUIDE. ment oft repeated in the same place, has caused the deep cavities or basins; so nutnerous along the banks of the Platte. ..... 1 • The badger is occasionally seen. The little sand~rat or gopher, is found all along the route ; or rather their countless ·holes, are often found, making a perfect honeycomb of the ground for acres together, but the animal is seldom seen. Upon Deer Creek, a tributary of the Platte, a few miles below the upper crossing, we saw the first elk, a noble animal, and along the s,veet water as we apprpached the Rocky Mountains, saw great numbers of of them. The little prairie dog, cynomys ludovicianus, are fre-quently seen, and queer little fellows they are : burrowing in the ground, and living in families; seldom leave their holes in the day time, except to play im1nediately around them, where you see them at times setting around, reared upon their hind legs, chattering and barking like a mad miniature puppy; 'but disappear instantly on discovering your first inclination to approach. Of the reptile family, the lacerta, or land lizzard, are numerous after leaving the Platte river; they are from four inches to a foot in length, entirely harmless, and though built precisely like a miniature crocodile, they will just dart like an arrow along the surface of the ground. _ Upon Green river, one of the great sources of the Colorado, a wide, cold and rapid stream, we saw the first .. NATIONAL WAGON ROAD GUIDE. 39 "buffalo frogs," as they are usually called by emi-grants on account of their size. They are the true rana musica, entirely unlike any variety found at the east, or -4 \. |