244 THROUGH THE MACKENZIE BASIN 



Hudson Bay Lemming — Dicrostonyx richardsoni 

 Merriam. 



This species is decidedly more abundant than Lemmus 

 trimucronatus in Arctic America. A considerable number 

 of skins was collected in various conditions of pelage from 

 midsummer to midwinter, not only in the vicinity of Eort 

 Anderson, but also from the lower Anderson Kiver, the 

 Barren Grounds, and on the coast shores of Liverpool and 

 Franklin bays. Two females secured in the " Barrens " 

 on June 26, 1865, each contained five embryos, while a few 

 days later (June 30) a dead male example, perfectly white, 

 was discovered in the nest of a golden eagle, 2 or 3 miles to 

 the west of our usual summer crossing of the Wilmot Horton 

 River. 



Mtjskeat oe Musquash — Fiber zihethicus hudsonius 



Preble. 



Like most of the important fur-bearing animals, the 

 musquash greatly fluctuates in number. We have usually 

 several seasons in succession when they are very abundant, 

 followed by quite as many when they 'are comparatively 

 scarce, and then between these periodic fluctuations we have 

 a year or two when the retnrns are either above or below 

 the average trade, as will now be demonstrated. From 1853 

 to 1877, the Company sold in London 10,600,056 musquash, 

 or an average of about 424,000 skins a year. Outfits 1853 

 and 1854 exceeded this result. They yielded, respectively, 

 493,952 and 512,291; but the following nine sales (1855 to 

 1863) were all below the average, and ranged between the 

 period minimum (177,291 skins) in 1860 and 357,060 in 

 1863. There was a material increase in 1864 (509,769 

 skins), then three years of decline (418,370, 320,824, and 

 412,164 skins). However, 1868 gave as many as 618,081 

 skins, after which the two succeeding seasons fell 'below the 

 average (404,173 and 232,251 skins), and the statement of 



