10 



KNOWLEDGE 



[January 1, 1896. 



bunches of fruit are encased in cotton •wool, and while 

 great care has to be talcon to protect tliem from damp or 

 frost, thorough ventilation must be maintained as well. 

 On arrival at the fruit merchant's warehouse, they arc 

 stored in dry, airy rooms, the temperature of which is 

 regulated by the condition of the fruit, and the length of 

 time it is proposed to keep it before placing it upon the 

 market. Thus, fruit which is wanted to ripen slowly may 

 be kept at a steady temperature of 55° to GO' Fahrenheit, 

 while the ripening process may be easily accelerated by 

 increasing the temperature. When properly ripe, the outer 

 skin assumes that delicate canary hue which colour experts 

 maintain has no other exact parallel among the tints with 

 which nature invests her vegetable products. 



OUR FUR-PRODUCERS.-I. 

 OTTERS. SKUNKS, BADGERS, AND GLUTTONS. 



By E. Lydekker, B.A.Cantab., F.R.S. 

 f I ^HE skins of mammals have always played 



important part in human clothing from the very 

 earhest times, when they were dressed with rude 

 scrapers of ilint, obsidian, or other kinds of stone. 

 Before the art of weaving became known, they 

 appear to have constituted the entire dress of our savage 

 ancestors, and although in temperate climates they are now 

 to a great extent articles of luxury, in the Polar regions they 

 are absolute necessities. The trade in furs at the present 

 day is enormous, the value of those sold in London alone 

 being estimated a few years ago at little short of a million 

 sterling ; and the recent 

 rise in the price of some 

 of the more valuable 

 kinds suggests that this 

 estimate may now be 

 considerably below the 

 mark. 



Although the term 

 "fur" is commonly re- 

 garded as distinct from 

 wool, yet in nature there 

 is a more or less com- 

 plete transition from the 

 one to the other, so that 

 in any essay on fur-pro- 

 ducing animals, it is 

 diflScult to exclude those 

 that yield wool. Never- 

 theless, whereas wool, 

 as such, is employed in 

 the manufacture of tex- 

 tile fabrics after its 

 removal fi-om the skin, 

 while furs are the 

 whole " pelts " of the 

 animals by which they 

 are yielded, we have 

 an obvious distinction, 

 so far as manufacturing 

 purposes are concerned. 

 Accordingly, in the pre- 

 sent series of articles, our attention will be directed to pelts 

 alone. It would, of course, be impossible within the limits 

 of our space to mention even by name all the animals 

 whose pelts are used in commerce ; and we must therefore 

 confine ourselves to such as are most commonly employed, 

 and to those which, from their beauty or rarity, command 



the highest values in the market. It must not, however, 

 be supposed that those which fetch the highest price at 

 one time will do so at another, for fashion in furs, as in 

 everything else, changes ; and skins which are in high 

 demand in one season may be a drug in the market in the 

 next. Consequently, lluctuations in value of from forty to 

 sixty per cent, are by no means unconnnon ; and probably 

 these iluctuations are of some importance in keeping up 

 the supply, for whereas, when its skin is in fashion, a 

 species of mammal will be relentlessly hunted, when the 

 mode changes the creature has a more or less complete 

 respite for a season. Nevertheless, there are certain pelts, 

 such as those of the sea-otter and silver-fox, which always 

 maintain an exceptionally high value. 



Fur and wool, both of which are merely varieties of 

 hair, are the products oi mammals alone ; but whereas 

 the great majority of that class grow hair of somc^ kind or 

 other, it is chiefly among particular groups or famiiiea 

 that the most valuable furs are produced. One of the 

 most valuable families of all in this respect is that of the 

 weasel tribe — the Mustflhla. of zoologists — which comprises 

 the martens, ermines, otters, and sea-otter ; and certainly 

 no other group includes such a large number of valuable 

 fur-bearing species. But the fur-seals ('O^/cnV^y, although 

 less numerous in species, likewise occupy a high position, 

 on account of the large size of their pelts and the number 

 of individuals by which they are represented. Among the 

 abundant yielders of less valuable furs may be mentioned 

 the squirrel family and the hares and rabbits. 



It is a somewhat curious comment upon the suscepti- 

 bilities of human nature that, whereas we are continually 

 being reminded of the iniquity of our ladies in adorning 



The Pine-Marten. (One-fourth natural size.) 



their hat;; and bonnets with the plumage of birds, yet no 

 one has a word to say against the enormous slaughter of 

 mammals that is continually taking place for the sake of 

 their pelts. No one, we beheve, has ever thought of 

 establishing a " fur league," and yet it is extremely doubt- 

 ful whether the cruelty which is certainly exercised in the 



