222 Department of Conservation of Louisiana 



Muskrats occurring in the pronounced saline marshes 

 of Louisiana average smaller than 'rats taken from sweet 

 water marshes and are of a more reddish coloration. These 

 animals do not bring as good a price when offered to the 

 buyer. The Marsh Island 'rat has always commanded a 

 good price, although not as high as the Cameron parish 

 animal, and for this reason muskrats taken in Vermilion, 

 Iberia, and St. Mary parishes are generally sold as "Marsh 

 Island 'rats." The Terrebonne, Lafourche, and eastern 

 St. Mary parish muskrats show marked variations as to 

 color and size and other characteristics of pelt, and these 

 differences, due to local habitats, foods, and water, affect 

 the prices the trappers receive for their catches. Some 

 of our best muskrats are found in the celebrated Delacroix 

 Island section of St. Bernard and Plaquemines parishes, due 

 to the abundance of sweet water and three-cornered grasses. 



It is because of these variations that experienced buyers, 

 trappers, and other handlers of raw furs can readily dis- 

 tinquish the pelts sent in to them, and, unerringly and un- 

 cannily, designate the section of the state in which they 

 were trapped. Some of the buyers claim that these differ- 

 ences are regular, and a test given some of these "experts," 

 using skins raw and tanned, seem to indicate that these 

 differences do exist. 



Measurements made in the field of freshly taken animals 

 show that the Cameron parish muskrat averages larger 

 and its darker and richer colored pelage is superior to the 

 average muskrat of other sections of Louisiana coastal 

 marsh, with the exception of one section of St. Bernard 

 and Plaquemines parishes, which is almost equal in quality, 

 but, acre for acre, far more abundant. 



Food does not make this difference, it appears positive, 

 as the same vegetation that covers the Cameron marsh is 

 to be found in St. Bernard and, if anything, the heavy 

 stands of "three-cornered grass" in the Delacroix Island 

 sections of St. Bernard and Plaquemines are superior to the 

 mixed flora of Cameron. This would indicate that a soil 

 survey is as necessary in this branch of the study as a. 

 survey of the food plants. 



