CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE 



THE FIELD BIOLOGIST'S REPORT 



As the muskrat is the chief fur animal of Louisiana, the 

 source of the state's greatest revenue through the 

 ■ sale of pelts and the tax on them, as well as the most 

 important animal of the fur trade of the country today, 

 it was deemed imperative early in 1925 that the Depart- 

 ment of Conservation conduct a thorough and intensive 

 survey of the life history of this rodent. 



To this end, after consultation with members of the fur 

 trade of Louisiana, marshland owners, and others interested 

 in our furs, there was established contact with the Bureau 

 of Biological Survey in the United States Department of 

 Agriculture, and Dr. E. W. Nelson, who was then its chief, 

 and asked that this federal bureau, which was as interested 

 in the subject as we in Louisiana were, obtain the services 

 of some young student of zoology and have him come to Lou- 

 isiana and study the muskrat first-hand and at close range. 



The biological survey, enthusiastically cooperative in the 

 matter, not only selected the biologist to essay the field work 

 but also sent Vernon Bailey, chief field naturalist of the 

 bureau, to Louisiana to assist in laying the groundwork 

 for the investigation and to direct its scope. The field 

 biologist selected was Arthur Svihla, a graduate of the 

 University of Illinois, who, at the time of his employment 

 by the Department of Conservation, was taking a post- 

 graduate course in zoology at the George Washington Uni- 

 versity in the national capital. 



The biologist began his field work in June of 1925, and 

 carried on his investigations up to and including June 30, 

 1927. His main work was to secure, as far as it was pos- 

 sible to do so, a complete life history of the Louisiana musk- 

 rat, and he was directed to confine his studies to the re- 

 productive end of the problem, determining periods of ges- 

 tation, number of young in litters, number of litters per 

 year, and when the muskrat became physically mature and 

 when it became sexually mature, as it was believed that 



