40 



granted on the recommendation of two well-known scientific 

 men, and the collector must enter into a bond in the sum of 

 two hundred dollars, mtli two responsible sureties. These 

 certificates are to be issued on payment of a fee of one dollar, 

 and are to remain in force for one year only. If the privileges 

 granted by the certificate are abused, the bond is to be forfeited, 

 the certificate rendered void, and penalties may be exacted.* 

 In practice, upwards of thirty States give facilities to the 

 scientific collector, and in most cases certificates are issued as 

 recommended by the Model Law. Some States, however, 

 grant them for three years {e.g., Maine), others for less ; some 

 limit the number of permits in force at any one time. Colorado, 

 Maine, Minnesota and Wisconsin issue certificates only on con- 

 dition that the specimens collected shall be kept or exchanged, 

 and not sold or disposed of by gift ; in Michigan they can neither 

 be exchanged nor sold. Again, the minimum age for the holder 

 of a certificate varies from that of fifteen, recommended by the 

 Model Law, to twenty-one, required in Massachussetts and New 

 Jersey, t But in one form or another the suggested law has 

 been very generally adopted. The restrictions placed by some 

 States upon the sale and exchange of specimens collected is 

 a noteworthy and A\ise precaution, for it is obvious that the 

 liberty to collect might be abused by the subsequent disposal of 

 the specimens, a point which has not altogether escaped notice 

 in Europe. J 



It is certainly a flaw in our own law that no facilities are given 

 to the collector for museums, though it may be doubted whether 

 the system of certified collectors prevalent in America could be 

 successfully established in a land which is small and mostly 

 cultivated. At any rate such certificates should specify the 

 nature and number of specimens to be obtained ; added to 

 which the number of certificates in force at any one time would 

 have to be very limited, and the utmost care and discrimination 

 exercised in their issue, otherwise the professional dealer would 

 soon be masquerading as the disciple of Science in order that 

 he might supply greedy and often very unscientific collectors mth 

 British-taken specimens. 



* Sects. 5 and 6 of Model Law. 



t For Maine, see Public Laws of 1901, Chap. 222, pp. 2.31-233, Sect. 7; 

 for Colorado, see Laws of 1897, Chap. 8, pp. 40-49, Sect. 31 ; for 

 Minnesota, see General Laws of 1897, Chap. 221, pp. 413-427, Sect. 41 ; 

 for Wisconsin, see Laws of 1901, Chap. 1-56, pp. 190-191, Sects. 5 and 

 6 ; for Michigan, see Public Acts of 1901, No. 217, pp. 335-339, Sect 

 21 ; for Massachusetts, see Supplemental Public Statutes, 1882- 

 1888, Chap. 276, p. 435, Sect. 4 ; and for New Jersey, see Laws of 

 1901, Chap. 76, pp. 176-178, Sect. 5. 



t E.g., Switzerland has provided against this possible abuse in Article 20 

 of the law of 1904. 



