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Lava Beds mice do not differ from the other samples in this character.

Foot Length: Besides age differences there is a constant sex difference in foot length inPeromyscus the females having the smaller feet. The sexes are presented separately but not combined figure is given because of the sex difference.

It may be seen that the usual sex differences holds for the females with greater body length have the smaller average foot length.

The Lava Beds series does not differ in foot length in either sex from either of the Crater Lake series. There are small but statistically significant differences in the foot length of both sexes between the Lava Beds and Silver Lake series. It is possible this is due to the differences in the sandy soil cover at Silver Lake and the pumiceous or relatively unweathered rock fragment cover in the other regions.

Summary

1. Deer mice were abundant in September 1941 in the Lava Beds National Monument.
2. The 32 adults taken there resemble series of Peromyscus maniculatus gambeliitaken at other areas in California and Oregon.
3. Comparisons of the Lava Beds series with mice taken at Silver Lake, Oregon, and at the Rim and the South Entrance of Crater Lake National Park showed no statistical difference in body length or ear length.
4. The Lava Beds series differed statistically in relative tail length from the Crater Lake Rim series but not from the Silver Lake or South Entrance series.
5. The gradient in relative tail length varies with the vegetative cover of the regions from which the series were taken: Rim, South Entrance, Silver Lake, Lava Beds.
6. The Lava Bed series exhibited a small but statistically significant difference in foot length in both sexes from the Silver Lake series but not from either Crater Lake series.
7. The softer soil cover at Silver Lake may be a factor in the production of this difference in foot length between the Lava Beds and Silver Lake mice.