272 



KNOWLEDGE. 



[December 1, 1896. 



fur is nearly always used of the natural colour ; but, as it 

 will felt, it is occasionally employed in the manufacture 

 of bats. 



Altbougli a few skins of the small Indian striped squirrel 

 fSriiii-K.t ixiliiiiinnii i and of the American grey squirrel 

 I S. cnrolint'nsix) find their way into the market, the next 

 species of any commercial importance is the red squirrel, 

 or chickari /'S'. Iniilxonidiius ), of North America. Like 

 the next, it is chielly used for the cheaper kinds of mantles. 





Head of Bull Musk Ox. 



The small, burrowing, Russian animal, allied to the 

 squirrels and known a,3 the snalik ( Sjuriiiojihiliis citilhts J, 

 has only recently come to form an item in the fur trade, 

 but we have no record of the amount of the import. 



The harshness of their fur renders the skins of the 

 marmots (An-tonujs i but ill adapted to the requirements of 

 the furrier. Nevertheless, as many as fifty thousand pelts 

 of the Russian marmot i A. hohac) have been imported in 

 a single year, while of the American species (A. monux) 

 some four or five hundred come into the market. Some 

 thousand skins of Arctic marmots are also sometimes 

 imported. They are generally used for rugs, although 

 some are dyed brown and made up into capes. 



In the old days, when its fur was used in the manu- 

 facture of " stove-pipe " hats, the American beaver was 

 one of the most important of all mammals in the fur trade. 



but this manufacture has almost entirely ceased. Still, 

 the importation of skins is even now very considerable, 

 and would doubtless be larger were it not that the 

 numbers of the animal have been so reduced by constant 

 persecution. Jn the year 1H!)1, Mr. Poland states that 

 over sixty-three thousand beaver skins were sold by the 

 Hudson JJay Company. At the present day the skins are 

 used either in the natural state, or with the longer hairs 

 removed so as to display the under-fur, while in some 

 cases they are dyed brown or black. Sometimes they are 

 " painted " by the introduction of white hairs to imitate 

 sea-otter, and in some instances they are silvered at the 

 tips by means of acid. When finished, they are usually 

 worked up into trimmings, cuffs, or muffs, but a few 

 clipped skins are used for glove-tops. In Europe the 

 beaver is too nearly exterminated for its fur to be of any 

 commercial importance. 



Although a few skins of the 

 Australian water-rat (lli/dromi/s) 

 are from time to time imported, 

 the next animal on our list is the 

 well - known European hamster 

 [Crici'tus frumentarius), which is a 

 member of the great mouse tribe 

 ( Muriila). Many thousands of pelts 

 are yearly imported into England, 

 which may be recognized by their 

 varied colours, the upper parts being 

 mostly brownish grey, with blue 

 under-fur, while the lower surface 

 is black. Of far more importance 

 is the American musquash , or musk- 

 rat (Fibei- :ibethicus), which is a 

 near ally of our own water-rat, and 

 yields a beautifully soft fur varying 

 in colour from umber brown to 

 black. Upwards of three or four 

 million skins yearly come into the 

 market, the Hudson Bay Company 

 having alone sold more than 

 half a million in 1891. Twenty 

 years ago nearly four shillings each 

 were paid for the best black skins, but the present price 

 is less than two. They are made up either in the natural 

 state or dyed black, or some shade of brown ; while a 

 certain number are "pulled" and dyed to imitate sealskin. 

 The next important rodent in the fur trade is the South 

 American coypu (Miidpotamus cai/pu), a large animal with 

 somewhat the habits, colour, and appearance of a beaver, 

 but with a tail of ordinary proportions, and bright red 

 incisor teeth. It is, however, no relation to the beaver, 

 but belongs to the great family of the (JctodontidcB, most 

 of the members of which are South American, although a 

 few are African. Both in its native land and in the fur 

 trade the animal is known as nutria (the Spanish name for 

 otter) ; and the skins are removed by slitting up the 

 middle of the back, so as to preserve intact the fine fur of 

 the under surface. From three hundred thousand to half 

 a million skins are annually collected. Either in the 

 natural condition or " pulled," the fur is dyed dark brown 

 or black ; and in the latter condition forms one of the 

 best imitations of sealskin. Sometimes the "pulled " fur 

 is silvered to imitate sea-otter. 



The most beautiful and, for its size, the most valuable 

 of all South American rodent furs is, however, that of the 

 little chinchilla {Eriomi/s chiurhilln) of the Andes, which 

 belongs to the exclusively South American family of the 

 Lai/ostoiiiatidcB, typically represented by the viscacha of the 

 Argentine pampas. Chinchilla fur is the fiaest and most 



