NATURE 



605 



THURSDAY, OCTOBER 27, 1892. 



POLAND'S ''FUR-BEARING ANIMALS.'' 

 Fur-bearing Aniinah in Nature and Commerce. By 

 Henry Poland, F.Z.S., 1 vol., 8vo. (London: Gumey 

 and Jackson, 1892.) 

 A LTHOUGH, as civilization spreads with ever-quick- 

 ■^^ ening progress over all parts of the world's surface, 

 wild animals necessarily diminish in numbers year by 

 year, few people have any idea of the enormous quanti- 

 ties of furs and pelts still annually imported into the 

 United Kingdom, and of the extent of the commerce in 

 such commodities still carried on. Mr. Poland's useful 

 treatise on Fur-bearing Animals will afford us much in- 

 formation on this subject. In the introduction to his 

 volume full statistics about the past and present condi- 

 tion of the fur-trade are given, and it is stated that at the 

 great fur-sales now held at the College Hill sale-rooms in 

 London the annual value of all classes of fur-skins sold 

 is little short of ^1,000,000. 



But it is with the main portion of the present work that 

 naturalists will be most interested, as, so far as we know, 

 this is the first occasion on which a large amount of 

 practical knowledge of the subject has been combined 

 with a certain amount of scientific information. Mr. 

 Poland takes the fur-bearing animals systematically, 

 mostly, it appears, according to the order and nomen- 

 clature employed in the list of animals in the Zoological 

 Society's Gardens, and gives us under each head particu- 

 lars as to their localities, distribution, coloration, and 

 varieties, together with information as to the quantities 

 of skins imported and the uses to which they are 

 devoted. 



Beginning with the Quadrumana, we find that the skins 

 of about twenty-five Monkeys and Lemurs are used in 

 commerce. Of these the most abundant is the " Black 

 Monkey " of Western Africa {Colobus vellerosus and other 

 alHed species), of which some 90,000 are imported every 

 year. Another species of Colobus, the Guereza of 

 Abyssinia and Eastern Africa, also furnishes a " rare and 

 much esteemed skin," of which the value is from \os. to 

 1 55-. We may remark that the Tcheli Monkey {Macacus 

 tcheliensis) is not from Cochin China, as stated by Mr. 

 Poland, but from Mantchuria, north of Pekin, where it 

 ranges further north than any other Monkey now existing. 

 There is a fine example of this species at present living 

 in the Zoological Society's Gardens. The " China Grey 

 Monkey," described as having a "long white tail," is 

 evidently of quite a different species, the Tcheli Monkey 

 having only a very short caudal appendage. 



The Carnivora, which next follow, take up the greater 

 part of Mr. Poland's volume, nearly 150 species of this 

 extensive group supplying pelts which are more or less 

 useful to mankind. Commencing with the larger Cats, 

 our author calls attention to the great difference between 

 the Bengal Tiger and the Mongolian or Chinese variety 

 of the same animal, in which the fur is very thick, often 

 from li to 2 inches in length, and makes a long fringe 

 round the face. Skins of the Chinese Tiger are much 

 esteemed on this account, and fetch from ^10 to ^40 

 each, according to quality ; whereas a good Bengal Tiger 

 NO. 1200, VOL. 46] 



skin may be purchased at about £,\ or £^. The Lynx is 

 another of the true Cat-tribe which furnishes a rather 

 important article of trade, the quantity of Lynx-skins 

 imported by the Hudson's Bay Company ranging up to 

 40,000, and in exceptional years reaching even to 70,000. 

 Coming to the Musteline Carnivora or Weasels, we find 

 the Mink {Mustela vison) an animal of still greater 

 importance in trade. In 1890 upwards of 360,000 skins 

 of the Mink from North America were sold in London, 

 and converted mostly into muffs. On the other hand, an 

 allied species of the same genus, the Ermine (i)/. erminea), 

 formeriy so much esteemed, and regarded as a princely 

 fur to be devoted exclusively to royalty, is going quite 

 out of fashion. " It has become very much neglected, 

 and a few years ago was practically unsaleable." 



The fur of the Skunk, Mephitis mephitica, many persons 

 will be surprised to hear, in spite of its " powerful scent," 

 which " cannot be entirely got rid of," is largely used. In 

 1 89 1 nearly 700,000 skins of it were imported, and worked 

 up into muffs and capes. But the prince of furs of this 

 division of the Carnivora is that of the Sea-otter, Enhydra 

 lutris, of the north-west coast of America, an animal 

 generally supposed to be almost extinct in consequence 

 of long ages of persecution. But 2369 Sea-otter skins 

 were imported by the Alaska Commercial Company and 

 other traders in 1891, and sold at an average price of 

 £^^7 apiece. "The fur is principally consumed in 

 Russia, where it is used for collars of noblemen's coats." 

 From the Sea-otter we pass by an easy transition to 

 the Fur-seals — a group still of sufficient importance to have 

 brought three of the greatest nations of the world nearly to 

 loggerheads, but in bygone years much more abundant 

 than now. From South Georgia in the Antarctic Seas 

 one million two hundred thousand Fur-seal-skins are said 

 to have been taken soon after its discovery, and nearly 

 an equal quantity from Kerguelen Island, but the natural 

 consequence has followed that the animal has become 

 practically extinct in the Antarctic seas. The only species 

 of Otaria that still yields its skin year by year to supply 

 the ladies of Europe and America with " sealskin jackets " 

 is the Alaska Fur-seal, Otaria ursina, which, owing to 

 ihe stringent regulations enforced for its preservation, is 

 still abundant in certain parts of the North Pacific. Ac- 

 cording to the best authorities about 4,500,000 of this Fur- 

 seal resort to the Pribylov Islands every breeding season, 

 and until 1890, when the number to be slaughtered was 

 reduced, 100,000 were killed every year. Smaller quan- 

 tities are obtained from other parts of the North Pacific. 

 We need not here go into further details upon this animal 

 which has lately been the subject of so much discussion, 

 except to say that unless even more severe regulations 

 are made for its preservation than those now existing, 

 the Alaska Fur-seal will indubitably share the fate of its 

 Antarctic brethren, and cease to furnish an article of 

 commerce. 



Of the order Insectivora, which follows the Carnivora, 

 Mr. Poland only mentions two species as supplying fur 

 for the use of mankind. These are the Common Mole 

 [Talpa europcea) and the Russian Musk-rat or Desman 

 {Myogale moschata). The skin of the Mole is so small 

 as to be of little value, but several thousands are col- 

 lected annually and converted into those most comfort- 

 able of garments, moleskin waistcoats. The fur of the 



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