38 Department of Conservation of Louisiana 



today about a quarter of a million dollars annually to Lou- 

 isiana trappers or he'd be suprised!) 



Rabbits, according to Dumont, were to be found in 

 Louisiana and he called attention to the fact that they did 

 not burrow into the ground but "withdrew into the hol- 

 lows of trees," which aptly describes the hares to be found 

 in our state, and he, in contradistinction to Le Page du 

 Pratz and Captain Bossu, mentioned some of the smaller 

 fur animals as Dumont said : "Finally, there are renards 

 (foxes), belettes (mink), fouine (weasels), that are not 

 warred upon." Dumont, like the other two writers already 

 mentioned, did not mention the now celebrated muskrat. 



The skunk did not escape Dumont's attention, although 

 he gave it but, slight mention in the following words: 

 "There is also a sort of animal, rather pretty, but for 

 which for more than a league around befouls the air with 

 the stench of its urine, that is the reason why it has been 

 called Bete puant (the stinking animal)." 



