11(3 TRANSACTIONS OF THE 



ANIMALS, BIRDS, AND EEPTILES OF THE STATE. 



BY J. G. COOPER, M. D., 



ZOOLOGIST TO THE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



METHODS OP COLLECTING AND PRESERVING SPECIMENS OE VERTEBRATED 



ANIMALS. 



It is proposed to give here some brief instructions on this subject, and 

 then to mention those animals most interesting either to naturalists or 

 to farmers. Settlers on this coast are too apt to overlook the distinc- 

 tions between our animals and those of the Atlantic Slates, or to attri- 

 bute the differences to the climate and other circumstances, thinking 

 like the early European emigrants, that the new species are degenerate 

 forms of the species thc}^ left behind them. On the contrary, if there is 

 any degeneracy it is in the eastern animals, fur those nearest allied on 

 this coast are usually of higher development. 



On this account none should be overlooked ; and it is impossible to 

 determine beforehand how important some obscure and despised animal 

 may prove to be to the interests of agriculture when its habits are closely 

 investigated. All should be collected, classified, preserved in museums, 

 and their history fully recorded, so that our growing agricultural popu- 

 lation may learn that nothing was crcateil in vain, and that the laws of 

 nature, properly understood, maj- be made to contribute much more to 

 man's comfort and interest, than if he blindly opposes them and tries to 

 regulate things by his own fancies. 



AH specimens should be measured before skinning, and the length of 

 body, head, tail, ears, fore foot, hind foot, height at slioulder, color of 

 eye, and any other notes desired, together with the locality, name, date, 

 collector's name, and number corresponding to his notes on its habits, 

 etc., written on card or strong paper and tied to the specimen. Skulls 

 must 1)0 nuinbei-ed to correspond with their skins. Specimens in alcohol 

 should be labelled with a piece of j)archment, cloth, leather, etc., and the 

 ink dried well before putting them in, or a jiiece of wood or lead with a 

 number attached corresponding to one in the collector's notebook. 



A great assistance in skinning animals is to suspend the body by a 

 hook, no that both hands are at liberty. For small kinds a common fish- 



