10 . BULLETIN NO. VII. 



Any clear understanding of the present fauna implies a study 

 of the record of its development as supplied by paleontology. 

 It is also desirable to learn what influences have acted to cause 

 the extinction of some animals, to change the habitats of oth- 

 ers, and to modify the form and habits of still others. An 

 obvious duty is the study of the habits of our mammals, such 

 especially as relate to the food and economic relations. Some 

 animals rank among the most important enemies of the farmer 

 and poultryman, while others are either indifferent or are 

 worthy of preservation for the contributions they make to the 

 resources of parts of the state. There are regions which nature 

 seems to have designed as natural game preserves and suitable 

 legislation might long continue to us the opportunity for health- 

 ful sport, and pleasant variety in the food supply. The facts 

 relating to the fur trade are also legitimate to this work and 

 some account of the methods pursued in collecting the furs, so 

 necessary an adjunct to winter clothing, would certainly not be 

 out of place. If any incidents could be intermingled which 

 would either reflect light on the habits or excite popular inter- 

 est in a neglected branch of science these certainly are admis- 

 sible. A scientific study of our mammals would involve much 

 more than this. Aside from intricate questions which arise as 

 to the actual limits of species and relative value of varietal 

 characters the anatomy and physiology of each mammal fur- 

 nishes a field for exhaustive study. An adequate knowledge of 

 the relationships existing between the various living as well as 

 fossil animals, must be founded upon an intimate familiarity 

 with the points of similarity and dissimilarity in their internal 

 structure. The complete study of the anatomy of a single ani- 

 mal is the work of years, so that here is a field which one per- 

 son would scarcely hope to cursorily examine, much less to 

 exhaust. 



In a state as large as Minnesota there are abundant oppor 

 tunities for the study of the influence of environment upon the 

 anatomical and physiological peculiarities of the fauna. Prob- 

 ably no other state in the Union is so favorably situated for 

 this study. In the northeastern part of the state is an area 

 with an annual rainfall almost as large as anywhere in the 

 Union. The western portion borders upon the great prairie 

 region of the interior. The northern portion of the state con- 

 tains a large invasion of the boreal fauna, while the southern 

 receives waifs from the south-central states. Moreover, the 

 distribution of forest and plain is such as to introduce diversity 



