PAPERS OF GENERAL INTEREST 45 



small animals particularly suited for aquaria for public 

 schools. 



''Many swamps lie in the direct migration route of 

 many sj^ecies of birds which are used as food, or which 

 destroy crop pests farther north. This is so imjDortant 

 that through gifts and state acquisition Louisiana has 

 set aside areas of swampy land along the southern coast 

 to serve as way stations for migrating birds and as a 

 breeding place for the native species. Thus, swamps 

 have a real value from the standpoint of birds alone; 

 they are not the only animals found in and about marsh- 

 es, which provide us with necessities, including food, 

 furs, buttons, and other articles. The marshes and water 

 courses of Louisiana yield upward of $700,000 per year 

 in products including turtles, frogs and furs. 



''Upland marshes also have values similar to those of 

 the lowland and coastal swamps, and an additional and 

 important function. With the clearing off of timber and 

 the draining of such swamps the streams appear to be 

 subject to greater floods and to more extreme low water. 

 The latter conditions in particular are important in con- 

 nection with the effects of pollution. It is at extreme 

 low stages that the streams are overloaded, and that a 

 small amount of pollution overtaxes the self -purification 

 mechanisms, with results almost as disastrous to fishes 

 and similar animals, as if the low water occurred 

 throughout the year. 



''A part of any large swamp, such as the Okefinokee 

 Swamp, or any other natural area is as valuable as the 

 most expensive American museum, one which requires 

 say $10,000,000 endoTSTnent and $500,000 annual expense. 

 Such swamps are really museums of living things, the 

 value of which at any time may become infinitely great 

 in the solution of important scientific problems, which 

 involve living animals. Each year animals and plants 

 find new uses and new values. No one would have thought 

 white rats, guinea pigs, and connnon mice worth saving 

 a century ago ; if the question of sacrificing all of them for 

 a little additional land to cultivate had been raised it 

 would have received but one answer, there would be none 

 of these animals now. Yet by far the greater part of our 



