51« 



pel them to travel after daylight in vehicles iloiig 

 public highways. 



THE MOST USEFUL MAMMALS. 



Farmers and sportsmen, in fact people in general, 

 speak ill of Skunks, and alihougli they are probably the 

 most useful of all our mammals in destroying nuxiouis 

 insects and troublesome mice, farmers and horticul- 

 turists will c^nouurage their destruction. 



Skunks are easily domesticated and become as gentle 

 as kittens, and they can, a writer affirms, be handled 

 Avitli impunity if care is taken to use the tail as a 

 handle. 



Skunks are prolific animals, and they are abundant 

 in this Commonwealth where many thousands are 

 every year captured and their pelts shipped mostly to 

 Kew York and Philadelphia markets. 



THEY DO GOOD SERVICE. 



Notwithstanding the untold services which these 

 animals do in the farming districts, farmers as a rule 

 allow hunters and trappers to employ all devices which 

 their ingenuity can invent to slay these four-footed 

 l)rotector,s of cultivated ci'0])S. Strange, is it not, how 

 prejudice and ignorance, like love and confidence 

 wrongfully placed, will often lead one to do that which 

 sooner or later does him serious injury? 



It would be a wise expenditure of public money if 

 the State oflScials who have full power would direct 

 subordinates who are entirely competent to do such 

 work to prepare and have published for the Avidest 

 possible circulation to school children and farmers, 

 books and bulletins which would fully explain the 



