64 Department of Conservation of Louisiana: 



of predatory animals by killing them and utilizing the sur- 

 plus. Had this not been done, he declares, many species of 

 land mammals and birds would have been exterminated,, 

 and only the largest, the strongest and the fleetest would 

 have survived. 



Even at the risk — or, rather, the absolute certainty — of 

 arousing resentment and criticism, Dr. Hornaday said that 

 he felt compelled to say that the fur trapper has his legiti- 

 mate place in the economy of nature, and that he believed- 

 in the taking of fur — in moderation. The noted wild life 

 expert and champion, however, sounded a warning, claim- 

 ing it is easy for the trapper to overplay his hand and leave 

 behind him lifeless wastes, and that in many instances the- 

 world of today is trapping not wisely but too well. 



"It is the duty of the fur trade to get together and take 

 steps to regulate the trapping business, to stop waste and 

 abuses, to stop using species that should not be used, and 

 provide for a continuance of the legitimate fur trade," is 

 his summing up of the situation as it presents itself today.. 



Periodic Fluctuations of Fur Animals 



In the study of creatures of the wild, whether they be- 

 birds, mammals, or insects, the reason for a great abund- 

 ance one year and a corresponding scarcity another has 

 always been a puzzling study, whether its solution is sought 

 by scientist or untutored student of the ways of the wild. 

 These alternating cycles of abundance are sometimes so- 

 uniform that they have been termed "period fluctuations" 

 and in many cases have never been satsfactorily explained 

 or, to be more exact, they have brought forth a number of 

 conflicting theories from those who have declared a solu- 

 tion for the phenomena. 



Periodic fluctuations in the fur catch have been known 

 since the early days of the operations of the Hudson's Bay 

 Company among the fur animals of northern North Amer- 

 ica and, in Louisiana, as well as in the far north, these' 

 cycles or waves of plenty and scarcity have elicited many 

 explanations. The peculiar "year of no rabbits" of the 

 Arctic and sub-Arctic is perhaps the best known and the: 



