192 



Department of Conservation of Louisiana 



His measurement and description may be correct, but 

 it is quite evident that he did not have a representative 

 collection of fresh pelts, either dried or tanned, for com- 

 parison. In comparisson of the live Louisiana muskrat 

 with live specimens from Michigan, the silver under-fur 

 of the Louisiana muskrat stands out distinctly frcm the 

 more yellowish belly skin of the Michigan 'rats. Skins 

 from Manitoba, Labrador, Minnesota, and Maryland, when 

 laid alongside skins from Louisiana animals, all show 

 darker on the underparts. 



And it should be remembered that it is from the under- 

 parts of the Louisiana mu:krat that the "silver muskrat" 

 garment of the fur trade is secured. Nor is Hollister's 

 assertion that our muskrat has duller colors borne out by 

 our comparisons of a representative lot of dressed and un- 

 dressed pelts from different sections of the country ; to the 

 contrary, our muskrat has brighter colors and it seems to* 

 take second place in darkness or blackness of dorsal pelage 

 to the so-called "black muskrat" of Maryland only. 



Illustrating the incisors, or front gnawing teeth, of the muskrat 

 typical of all rodents that subsist on vegetable food. 



It does not, seemingly, attain either the length or weight 

 of fully adult northern and eastern specimens, and in this 

 matter Hollister's deductions are evidently correct. But,. 



