STUDIES OF MAMMALIAN LIFE HISTORIES 11 
CONCLUSIONS 
Any department of natural history, if studied with the proper re- 
search spirit, is replete with interest. But none, perhaps, promises 
a greater return in real satisfaction than the field study of the home 
life of wild vertebrate animals (8, 16, 17, 19). Reference has already 
been made to the practical importance of the investigations and their 
occasional direct bearing upon problems in other lines of inquiry.® 
It is universally conceded that the work throughout, to be done 
well, must be founded on an adequate taxonomic basis; but the time 
has arrived when a new emphasis may be placed on the intensive 
study of the living animal in its natural environment. 
The outline presented in this publication will indicate the rich; 
ness of the field. To do it justice, the work of many individuals and 
institutions throughout the country will be required. On the taxo- 
nomic side each State should have at least one representative collec- 
tion of the mammals and other vertebrates to be found within its 
borders. The building up of private collections should likewise be 
encouraged. There are still great gaps in the material representative 
of the larger groups of mammals and of most of the smaller ones, 
even in the larger collections in this country. 
But the incompleteness in our information regarding life histories 
is even more conspicuous. Universities, colleges, normal and high 
schools, State scientific surveys, national, State, and city museums, 
and national and State associations and commissions for the protec- 
tion of fish and game, as well as the United States Department of 
Agriculture, all have an opportunity to serve their respective constit- 
uencies and the country in this field.* 
LITERATURE CITED 
(i) “BArEEy,, Vv. 
1912. DIRECTIONS FOR FIELD WORK OF THE ASSISTANTS OF THE BIOLOGICAL 
suRVEY. U. S. Dept. Agr., Bur. Biol. Survey Form 69: 1-10. 
@) Bart. 
1883. THE CAUSES OF THE FERTILITY OF THE LAND IN THE CANADIAN NORTH- 
WEST TERRITORIES. Roy. Soe. Canada Trans. 1 (sec. 4) : 157-162. 
(3) CHAPMAN, F. M. 
1900. BIRD STUDIES WITH A CAMERA. 218 p., illus. New York. 
(4) CuHristy, R. M. 
1884. ON THE ABSENCE OF EARTHWORMS FROM THE PRAIRIES OF THE CANA- 
DIAN NORTH-WEST. Nature 29: 213-214. 
(5) Cougs, E. 
1877. [NOTE ON INFORMATION DESIRED REGARDING NORTH AMERICAN MAM- 
MALS.] Amer. Nat. 11: 505-506. 
(6) Farrow, E. P. 
1925. PLANT LIFE ON EAST ANGLIAN HEATHS; BEING OBSERVATIONAL AND 
EXPERIMENTAL STUDIES OF THE VEGETATION OF BRECKLAND. 108 p., 
illus. London. 
(7) GRINNELL, J. 
1923. THE BURROWING RODENTS OF CALIFORNIA AS AGENTS IN SOIL FORMA- 
TION. Jour. Mammal. 4: 137-149. 
3 These related lines of inquiry include problems in agriculture, forestry, range manage- 
ment, geographical distribution, phenology, migration, ecology, physiology, medical zoology, 
behavior, game protection and the conservation of natural resources, morphology, heredity, 
organie evolution, and economic zoology. 
4The Bureau of Biological Survey, U. S. Department of Agriculture, solicits corre- 
spondence from any individual or institution planning work on the relationship or life 
histories of mammals or birds, and will be glad to assist with advice or suggestions as 
opportunity may be given. 
