284 KEPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



AQUATIC FURS. 



GENERAL REVIEW. 



Exclusive of the great variet}^ of rabbit, squirrel, and opossum 

 skins produced in all parts of the globe, a large portion of the ^York^s 

 product of furs is obtained from aquatic animals. Indeed, the trade 

 in fancy furs is made up very largely of the skins" of those animals. 



An examination of the sales made in 1901 by the largest fur- 

 brokerage house in the world shows that the aquatic furs constituted 

 49 per cent in number and 54 per cent in value of all peltries handled. 

 Of the furs produced in the United States, fully 75 per cent in value 

 are j^ielded by aquatic animals. Formerly the proportion was much 

 greater, but is reduced b}" a decrease in product of beaver, fur-seal, otter, 

 and sea-otter, and the large increase in quantity of rabbit, opossum, 

 raccoon, etc., which have multiplied with the settlement of the country. 



The principal fur-producers among the aquatic animals are the fur- 

 seal, mink, muskrat, beaver, otter, sea-otter, and nutria. The greatest 

 value is placed on the sea-otter, the choicest skins selling for upward 

 of $1,200; the number of sea-otters obtained annually, however, has 

 been reduced to about 600. This fur has never been fashionable in 

 western Europe or the United States; the market for it exists in China 

 and Russia, those countries using probably 85 percent of all the skins 

 secured since its introduction into commerce in the seventeenth centur^^ 

 For two hundred years previous to 1800, beaver was by far the most 

 important item in the fur trade as regards the total value of the product. 

 The increasing scarcity of that animal, however, and the adoption of 

 substitutes have greatly depreciated its proniinence. 



During the last thirty years, fur-seal skins have outranked all others 

 in commercial importance, being the fashionable material in Europe 

 and America for ladies' garments for use in the cold weather. Since 

 1890, the product of fur-seal has greatly decreased, especiall}- in the 

 territory of the United States, and at the present time the yield of 

 mink in this countr}^ is more valuable. The latter is probal)!}^ the 

 most dura])le of all furs, but the demand for it is very irregular, the 

 market sales not exceeding 200,000 or 300,000 skins in one year and 

 in a short while increasing to a million or more. Next to these in 



a Among the furriers the term "skin" is used to designate the fur and the membranous tissue com- 

 bined, while "pelt" is restricted to the membranous or coriaceous portion of the animal's coat, 

 which is contrary to the general usage. The term "fur " in a general sense refers to the soft underhair 

 of the fur-bearing animals. The skins of these animals, when removed from the body and cured, 

 are called peltry. When the membrane is converted into a form of leather by a process called 

 "dressing," the skin obtains the name of fur in a restricted sense. The term fur is also applied in a 

 still more restricted sense to the >niderhair cut from the skin and presented in the form of delicate 

 filiiincnls for felting purposes, but tliis is more coninioiily known as liatters' fur. 



