144 
JOURNAL OF MAMMALOGY 
May 15, 1903; male; 
period of gestation, uncertain 
November 7, 1904; female; 
(( 
iC 
it 
it 
June 27, 1906; male; 
(( 
(t 
tt 
405 days 
October 13, 1907; male; 
({ 
(( 
ti 
395 “ 
February 28, 1909; male; 
(( 
(( 
it 
401 “ 
July 11, 1911; female; 
(C 
« 
it 
392 “ 
May 23, 1913; male; 
« 
iC 
ti 
403 “ 
August 4, 1915; male; 
(C 
It 
it 
396 “ 
February 22, 1918; female; 
(( 
if 
tt 
404 “ 
While there is, in two or three cases, a little uncertainty as to the exact time 
of breeding, 400 days may safely be taken as the average period of gestation. 
For the single birth from another pair the period was 401 days. 
The death of the male, September 17, 1917, closed the record, though it is 
probable that the female would have bred further, as she is still in vigorous 
health. 
Two of the young tapirs died, one from enteritis and the other as result of an 
accident. The rest, when from 9 months to 2 years old, were disposed of in ex- 
change for other animals. 
— A. B. Baker. 
THE FUR SITUATION 
The largest sale of furs which ever occurred took place in St. Louis during the 
first half of February, 1920. In the course of 12 days peltries to the value of 
$27,000,000 were disposed of. A week or two later a similar auction sale of some- 
what less extent occurred in New York. Next May a third auction sale of furs 
will be held in Montreal. Thus it appears that we have in North America three 
distinct corporations handling furs extensively. 
The center of the world’s fur trade is now beyond question located in America. 
Only a few years ago London was the main fur center of the world. Leipzig and 
Moscow were its satellites. Prior to 1914 the bulk of American raw furs were trans- 
ported across the Atlantic, sold, dressed, dyed, and resold in London and other 
European centers. Many of them were finally brought back to this country to be 
worn out. Now all this is changed. The raw furs produced in America and many 
brought from other parts of the world are sold at American auctions to American 
dealers, and dressed, dyed and manufactured in American establishments for 
American and foreign trade. 
While St. Louis is the greatest sales center. New York City is the center of fur 
dressing, dyeing and manufacturing. In greater New York there are approxi- 
mately 18,000 people engaged in the various branches of the fur industry. About 
500 of these are dealers. The capital invested there has been estimated to be 
about $200,000,000. The number of dressing and dyeing establishments in 
New York in 1918 was about 60. They handled in that year a total of more than 
39,000,000 skins. 
A National conference on the fur industry and wild life protection in Canada 
was held at the Windsor Hotel, Montreal, February 19 and 20, 1920, under the 
auspices of the Commission of Conservation and the Advisory Board on Wild 
Life Protection. The program consisted of papers and addresses followed by 
discussion on the following subjects: 
