Japanese moles of the genus Mogera show remarkable geographic variation in body size. In order to determine which habitat factors affect them, 260 specimens of Mogera imaizumii were collected from 27 localities, 280 specimens of M. wogura were collected from 23 localities, and 41 specimens of M. tokudae were obtained from two localities. The relationships between size, geographic location and seven habitat factors consisting of habitat (rice field) area, soil hardness, and five meteorological components, were analyzed. All three species showed a positive correlation between greatest skull length and habitat area. Populations of M. imaizumii from areas with heavy snow were significantly smaller than those from areas with little or no snow and this variation was also explained by the negative correlation with total annual precipitation. In addition, the size of M. imaizumii varied positively with the variation in annual mean temperature. In the correlation between skull size of M. wogura and habitat area, there was a significant difference in the Y-intersept between the populations from central Honshu and those from southern Honshu, Shikoku and Kyushu. This variation was well explained by the negative correlation between skull size and mean minimum temperature. This variation, however, was not constant across all populations examined, because M. wogura were smaller in narrow valleys, even where mean minimum temperatures were low.

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A total of 308 museum specimens of the genus Eothenomys from five separate areas in Sichuan (Szechwan) and Yunnan Provinces, China, were categorized by the relationship between condylobasal length (CBL) and tail length (TL). These specimens were allocated to three larger species, E. chinensis, E. wardi and E. proditor, and two smaller ones, E. custos and E. olitor.
E. chinensis and E. wardi are allopatric, and their distributions separated by about 240 km in northern high mountain areas (28-30° N). E. chinensis lives at altitudes above 1500 m, whereas E. wardi was found above 2300 m. Lengths of bulla (BL), tail (TL) and hind foot (HFL) were slightly larger in E. chinensis than in E. wardi
E. custos has a large latitudinal range between 26° and 29° N in Sichuan and Yunnan Provinces, whereas E. proditor occurs near the borders of Sichuan and Yunnan (27-28° N). The latitudinal range of E. custos overlaps with that of E. proditor in the areas of 26-28° N and 100-102° E, but E. custos was found at slightly higher altitudes (2500-4800 m) than E. proditor (2500-4200 m).
The distance between the anterior-most point on the upper incisor to the posterior-most edge of the third upper molar (I-M3) and BL of E. custos tended to increase from south to north, whereas those of E. proditor tended to decrease. E. custos had longer tails in localities around 29° N and 101.5° E than in other areas.
E. olitor was recorded from two widely separated localities (ca. 23.5° N and 99.5° E, and ca. 27° N and 104° E).

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The original designation of the lectotype of Mogera wogura (Temminck, 1842) by Corbet (1978) is incomplete, but the specimen RNH28684 which Corbet probably intended to designate is taken as the lectotype. Moles from the southern half of the Japanese main islands well coincide with RNH28684 in important diagnostic characters. Thus the name M. wogura should be given to these moles as concluded in Abe (1995). The name M. minor Kuroda, 1936 which Abe (1995) adopted for the moles found in the northern half is invalid and should be changed to M. imaizumii (Kuroda, 1957) in accordance with the Article 59b of the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature, the third edition (1985). Except for the name alternation from M. minor to M. imaizumii, there is nothing to change the synonym list for this species and for M. wogura in Abe (1995).

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Restriction fragment variations in nuclear ribosomal DNA (rDNA) spacers, and in mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA), were examined in a total of 14 individuals of the two Korean subspecies of the striped field mouse : Apodemus agrarius coreae, collected from the mainland and Jindo and Geoje islands, and A. a. chejuensis collected from Cheju Island. Analysis of heterogeneity in rDNA spacers with ten restriction enzymes, showed that the main Korean populations of A. a. coreae have a similar genetic background irrespective of their geographic locality. In the population from Cheju Island, however, an accumulation of a specific variation, a new SacI site within the internal spacer region of rDNA, was observed. In the contrast, analysis of heterogeneity of mtDNA with ten restriction enzymes, revealed that mtDNA haplotypes from the offshore islands were distinct from one another and distinct from those of the mainland, with up to 4% of sequence divergence, which corresponds to 1-2 million years of divergence time. It is suggested that certain geographic conditions, such as the existence of a large number of small islands, may help preserve various mtDNA haplotypes which diverged many millenial ago.

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The utilization of human food (provisions) by red foxes, Vulpes vulpes schrencki, in the Shiretoko National Park was investigated to clarify the significance of begging behavior in a natural habitat. An analysis of 736 scats showed that foxes ate prey, such as rodents, insects, fruits, birds and deer, mainly in relation to their seasonal availability. The tendency to depend on a single dietary component increased in the latter half of the tourist season, when many tourists fed foxes, and was lower during the non-tourist season and the first half of the tourist season. The monthly variation in the utilization of provisions did not correlate with availability, and was negatively correlated with the increase in other single dietary components during the tourist season. During the non-tourist season, when relatively little natural food was available, foxes expended great energy to obtain provisions. It is concluded that red foxes in the Shiretoko NP, utilize provisions as a secondary food supply. Such food could be critical for them, however, in order to compensate for the lack of their major natural food resources at certain times of the year.

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