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SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. XXXI. No. 789 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES 



THE BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON 



The 464th meeting of the society was held Jan- 

 uary 8, 1910, in the west hall of George Wash- 

 ington University, with President T. S. Palmer 

 in the chair and a large attendance of mem- 

 bers. Vernon Bailey exhibited a skull and beak 

 of the water turkey (Anhinga anhinga), calling 

 attention to the peculiar adaptation of the barb- 

 lets on the sides of the beak. 



The following communications were presented: 

 The Muskrat Industry of Maryland: D. E. Lantz. 



The muskrat, because of its abundance and the 

 adaptability of its fur to a variety of uses, has 

 lately become the most important fur animal of 

 North America. The tide-water region of Mary- 

 land, Delaware and New Jersey furnishes a large 

 percentage of the entire catch of this fur, which 

 last year amounted to five and a half million 

 skins, bringing nearly $1,700,000 to the trappers 

 of America. Last March the speaker visited Dor- 

 chester County on the eastern shore of Maryland 

 and studied the methods by which trappers and 

 marsh owners carry on the muskrat industry 

 there. 



The marshes of that region are usually leased 

 to trappers for half the catch of fur. Measured 

 by the returns of last year, the marshes are 

 worth nearly as much as ordinary agricultural 

 lands adjoining them. About 250,000 skins were 

 taken in the county. These and the muskrat 

 meat sold brought into Dorchester County an in- 

 come of over $100,000, or more than was netted 

 from the vast oyster industry of the county. 



Muskrat meat is common on the tables of the 

 inhabitants of that region, and the surplus is 

 shipped to Baltimore, Wilmington and other 

 cities, where it commands a ready sale and is 

 eaten by all classes. 



Tlie eastern shore is noted for the large pro- 

 portion of black, or melanistic, muskrats, the 

 pelts of which command a higher price than those 

 of the common color. Some of the Dorchester 

 County marshes yield fully half of this variety. 



The importance of wise laws for the protection 

 of muskrats in sections where it is not destruc- 

 tive to dams and embankments was pointed out 

 and the common practise of trapping this animal 

 before its pelt is prime was condemned. The pro- 

 tective law for Dorchester County limits trap- 

 ping to the period from January 1 to March 15, 

 experience having shown that with this restric- 

 tion the supply of this fur is reasonably constant 

 from year to year. Tlie animals breed three or 



four times during a season, producing from three 



to twelve young at a litter. 



From Nairobi to Washington with a Collection of 



Living Animals: A. B. Bakee. 



While the Smithsonian African Expedition was 

 at Nairobi, Mr. W. N. McMillan offered to the 

 National Zoological Park through Lieutenant 

 Colonel E. A. Mearns, chief of the expedition, a 

 small collection of wild animals which he had at 

 his ranch, " Juja Farm," about 25 miles from 

 Nairobi. These animals, which included five 

 lions, a leopard, two cheetahs, a warthog and sev- 

 eral other animals and birds, had been in captiv- 

 ity for some time, most of them having been 

 caught when very young. The offer was referred 

 to Washington and an acceptance of the gift was 

 cabled back at once. 



Mr. Baker sailed from New York on July 24 

 and after stopping at London and Hamburg to 

 arrange for transportation, and visiting some of 

 the European zoological gardens, reached Mom- 

 basa, September 16 and Nairobi two days later. 



In addition to the McMillan animals several 

 antelopes, a zebra and a few other animals were 

 secured by purchase and as gifts. Shipping 

 boxes were made at Nairobi, much of the material 

 used for them having been sent out with the outfit 

 of the Smithsonian party. 



Much difficulty was experienced in obtaining 

 suitable forage, as it was not in the market at 

 Mombasa, and a two-years' drought about Nai- 

 robi had made forage extremely scarce there. A 

 supply was finally obtained from farther up the 

 country, where the rains had been less scanty. 

 The animals were shipped from Nairobi October 

 26, and after some delay, owing to a washout on 

 the railway, they left Mombasa, October 28, by 

 the steamer Melbourne, of the Compagnie des 

 Messageries Maritimes. 



Reaching Port Said on the night of November 

 8, the animals were kept on a lighter there until 

 the twenty-first, one of the conditions imposed by 

 the U. S. Department of Agriculture in granting 

 the permit for entry being that the animals 

 should not be landed at any place en route, un- 

 less it might be in England. Through the kind- 

 ness of Captain S. S. Flower, director of the Giza 

 Zoological Gardens, near Cairo, the assistance of 

 a trained animal keeper was had during the stay 

 at Port Said. The animals were forwarded from 

 there by a German freight steamer, and reached 

 Philadelphia, December 17. Favorable weather 

 was experienced throughout the journey. A pair 

 of gnus, and an impala died during the first four 



