HOW ZOOLOGISTS DO THEIR WORK 181 



of the British Association and the Royal Society. 

 He has a vague idea that the man of learning 

 sometimes uses midnight oil, but it would surprise 

 him to be informed that the man of learning often 

 sets to work at five o'clock in the morning as is 

 actually the case. And well he may, considering 

 the magnitude of the task he has in hand, and 

 the variety of the odds and ends of labour that it 

 includes. 



Firstly, how does he obtain the raw material 

 for his work ? The scientist, like the cook, must 

 " first catch his hare " before any further details 

 of work can be arranged. He does not, as a 

 rule, do this in person, except when an animal of 

 unusual interest is concerned. An army of col- 

 lectors, all the world over, are constantly busy in 

 searching for material for the zoologists, on land 

 and sea. They look for employment and pay to 

 the museums and laboratories of the learned 

 world. When the specimens arrive, what is to be 

 done with them ? Some arrive alive, and may 

 be dismissed from present consideration. The 

 dead specimens give employment to a number of 

 workers who are under the command of the man 

 of learning. There are skins to be mounted and 

 stuffed, bones to be articulated and set up, each 

 practically the work of a different trade. There 

 are drawings to be made of all important speci- 

 mens, a task which affords employment for the 

 artist and the photographer. There are carcases 

 large and small, to be immersed in preservative 

 fluids until they can be thoroughly examined in 

 detail. And woe betide the zoologist who allows 

 any o( these tasks to be performed without his 

 own personal supervision. He will realise, as all 

 careless masters do, that blunders may be made 



