214 ECONOMIC MAMMALOGY 



saying that he has examined hundreds of sea-otter stomachs which con- 

 tained sea-urchins, sea-squirts and a substance resembling fish spawn, 

 but no seaweeds, clams, limpets or mussels, and seldom fish. 49 



Subfamily Me phitinae SKUNKS. 



Since the general increase in the value of all furs, and the develop- 

 ment of better methods of deodorizing and preparing skins for use, 

 skunk skins, once considered undesirable, have come into extensive use, 

 and the total value of the annual skunk catch has reached a considerable 

 sum. Before 1912 the price had passed the $4 mark, 1 reached the peak 

 in 1919, then suddenly dropped. 2 In 1911, 2,009,465 skunk skins were 

 sold in London at an average price of $2 each, while in 1923 the raw 

 skins sold for $3 in New York; in 1921 one American association alone 

 dressed 824,599 skunk skins. 3 In 1923 it was estimated that skunk skins 

 brought the trappers of the United States about $3,000,000 annually. 

 In 1858 the reported sales of skunk skins in London amounted to only 

 18,255 pelts, increasing irregularly until in 1904 the number was 

 91 1,923 ; then averaged 1,300,708 for the ten years preceding the World 

 War, after which the fur trade rapidly shifted to the United States 

 and Canada. In 1918, 596,454 skunk skins were sold in New York and 

 St. Louis, 1,276,913 in 1919, 1,205,910 in 1920, 918,675 in 1921, the 

 price reaching the apex, from $4.65 to $5.30, in 1922. 4 The State of 

 New York in 1918 produced $750,812 worth of skunk skins ("black 

 muskrat"), 5 and in 1920 it was estimated that the catch was worth 

 $i,ooo,ooo. 6 During the trapping season of 1927-1928 Kansas pro- 

 duced 279,647 skunk skins, for which the dealers paid over $560,000, 

 and 107,277 "civit" skins. 7 Skunk farming has been popular at times. 

 In 1916 it was said that skunk breeders were more numerous than breed- 

 ers of all other fur-bearing mammals. 8 Though skunks do well in cap- 



48 Seton, Lives of game animals, n, Part 2, pp. 641-6/0, 1929. 

 1 Jones, Fur farming in Canada, pp. 85-88, 1913. 

 ' Innis, The fur trade of Canada, p. 39, IQ~7- 



3 Bailey, N. Anwr. Fauna, No. 49, p. 181, 1926. Lantz, Farmers' Bull, No. 587, 

 1922. 



4 Lantz, The economic value of North American skunks, Farmers' Bull, No. 587, 

 pp. 1 6, 24, 1923. 



5 Johnson, Roosevelt Wild Life Bull., in, 208-209, 1925. 



8 Dearborn, U. S. Biol. Surv. Circular No. 135, pp. 3-12, 1920. 



7 Dose, Kansas Fish and Game, No. 2, p. 67, 1928. 



8 Dearborn, Fur farming as a side issue, Yearbook U . S. Def>t. Aqric. for 1916, 

 pp. 489-506. Ashbrook, Mink raising, U. S. Biol. Surv. Leaflet No. 8, 1928. Lantz, 

 Economic value of North American skunks. Farmers' Bull., No. 587, pp. 15-22, 

 1914. Seton, Lives of Game Animals, n, Part I, pp, 360-366, 1929. 



