496 
ILttrnoris NaturAL History SURVEY BULLETIN 
Vol. 22, Art. 6 
Table 20.—Calculated catch and value of Illinois furs for two seasons, 1938-39 and 1939-40. 
CaTcH VALUE 
SPECIES Per Cent Per Cent 
an bfirotal oe of Toca 
ate Catch CO Income 
Mislcra bee eee es tah re 1,549, 226 68.19 $1 3725287300 57.09 
IVE ri lec Reet resis: ae 98 ,977 4.36 647,585.00 26.94 
ReCCOOD Ee Se hit ee 76,989 3.39 153,978.00 6.41 
O)possuiigemese es eee ls 415,832 18.31 83,166.40 3.46 
SC heiri ce ee ec eer eben leate 8 x hx 86,321 3.80 73,911.00 3.07 
Redox et a ae ae sae 172362 0.76 50,414.00 2.10 
Gtay (Oss ee a eer 9,217 0.41 16,129.75 0.67 
Winacel Wea tint cts Merete Mae races 17,685 0.78 6,189.75 0.26 
AC OCA ee eee ee O22 LAOO9 100.00 $2,403 , 660.90 100.00 
consideration, the capital value of the Ili- 
nois wild fur resource is calculated to be 
about $35,000,000. 
ILLINOIS FUR TRADE 
During the 1939-40 fur season, 43 buy- 
ers and 5 large fur companies were visited 
in an effort to determine variations in fur 
quality, methods of handling and methods 
of selling Illinois furs. Fig. 32 shows the 
location of the fur buyers visited. Four of 
the fur companies are well known St. 
Louis firms; and the fifth, located in Chi- 
cago, does the largest fur business in [li- 
nois. Through the cooperation of both 
buyers and dealers, considerable informa- 
tion was obtained on various phases of the 
fur trade in the state. 
Quality 
Our data are based on general observa- 
tions, dealers’ estimates and many person- 
al inspections of furs. We are not able to 
give many of the causes for the variation 
found in quality. This attribute of fur is 
fundamentally concerned with food, in- 
jury, age and season, and could not be 
studied experimentally in the brief survey 
made. 
Fur quality is ordinarily indicated by 
several terms, among which “prime,” “un- 
prime,” “kit” and “damaged” are most 
common. Color has an important bearing 
on quality. Furs are usually graded ac- 
cording to a numerical series: “No. 1,” 
Nowe, ING) ands (NOs, aia, which 
size is usually expressed as extra large, 
large, medium and small. A No. I extra 
large pelt represents the highest grade and 
value. No. 1 furs are prime and well 
furred; No. 2’s are semiprime; No. 3’s are 
damaged and extremely unprime; and No. 
4’s are kits, summer pelts and trash. 
Illinois muskrats, as characteristic of 
the species in North America, do not be- 
come fully prime until January; hence, a 
large part of the catch is more or less un- 
prime and is graded as “falls.” Muskrats 
are frequently graded as “‘falls,’ “win- 
ters’ and “springs,” the last class being 
the most valuable. It is significant that 
on most of the large muskrat marshes 
under management in I]linois trapping 1s 
not permitted until mid December. 
Fall trapping for muskrats results in 
the taking of kits, which are immature 
animals usually worth only a few cents. 
Their pelts are graded separately and 
sold as “linings.” Kits made up about 8.5 
per cent of the total Illinois muskrat 
catch in 1939-40. In that year, kits com- 
posed about 15 per cent of the opossum 
catch, 10 per cent of the raccoon catch, 4 
per cent of the skunk catch and 2.5 per 
cent of the mink catch. Weasels, minks 
and skunks graded out the highest per cent 
of No. 1’s, followed in order by raccoons, 
gray foxes, muskrats, red foxes and opos- 
sums. 
According to dealers and fur buyers, in 
the years of the survey about 11 per cent 
of all Illinois furs were damaged. Of this 
volume, an undeterminable small _per- 
centage was trash. The per cent of dam- 
