METHODS OF COLLECTING AND PRESERVING VERTEBRATE 
ANIMALS 
CHAPTER I 
GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF ZOOLOGICAL COLLECTING 
INTRODUCTION 
The detailed and systematic study of animal life, which has advanced 
rapidly during recent years, necessitates extensive collections of specimens. 
The lower forms of life are most numerous, both in species and in indi- 
viduals. Insect life is abundant in most parts of the world and the science 
of entomology now lists its species by hundreds of thousands. Improved 
vessels and new methods of deep-sea dredging have brought to light multi- 
tudes of new forms of marine life. Among the vertebrates, or back-boned 
animals, birds have always been evident to the most casual observer and 
the ornithology of civilized regions was scientifically studied at a com- 
paratively early date. Collectors are continually bringing out new facts in 
regard to geographic distribution in all lands, and many new subspecies or 
geographic races are still being described from North America. 
In field collecting, the first important thing is to catch the animal, 
and to do this it is helpful to know as much as possible about what animals 
may be expected to occur in a given area. Under References (page 145) are 
given titles and notes on a number of manuals and faunal lists which may 
be useful to a collector. Most of them will not be in small libraries, but 
a local naturalist will usually have some of them, and most good manuals 
and scientific papers give citations of other publications in the same field. 
Where possible, a collector should read every available publication on the 
area before he goes into a new field. 
Mammalogy, or the study of mammals, though going far ahead in some 
lines, lagged for a long time behind other branches of systematic zoology. 
The anatomy, physiology, and pathology of the human race have been 
studied from remote antiquity and the results and technical names have 
been applied to the framework of the lower orders, but the lesser species 
were generally neglected. The principal reason for this backwardness is 
that, except for the larger mammals which are used for human food, or for 
their hides and fur, and others that are obvious pests, the majority of 
species of wild mammals are secretive in their habits and are seldom 
observed or taken unless vigorous and intelligent methods of trapping are 
used. 
Miller (1929, 405) 1 attributes the recent development of mammalogy to 
two factors, an awakened interest in the nature and history of the life that 
now exists in the world, and the finding of a technique by means of w r hich 
the study can be successfully carried on. The interest was aroused by the 
studies of Charles Darwin and the stimulating controversies that have 
1 The date following an author’s name will enable the reader to find the complete bibliographic 
reference in the lint of papers quoted at the end of this book. 
