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The Supply of Valuable Furs

1904; Nature Portfolio; Volume: 71; Issue: 1831 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1038/071115a0

1476-4687

R. LYDEKKER,

Ecology and biodiversity studies

FEW persons, other than those in some way connected with the fur trade of this country, or who have had occasion to make statistical inquiries on the subject, have any conception of its enormous volume and value. Yet oevery thoughtful observer who strolls along the fashionable shopping streets of the metropolis at this season can scarcely fail to be struck with the number of establishments for the sale of furs and the richness and variety of their contents, or with the great extent that furs are worn by ladies. Any real and comprehensive idea of the magnitude of the trade can, however, only be gained either by attending the great London quarterly fur sales, such as those of Messrs. C. M. Lampson and Co., or by a study of the catalogues and price-lists of such sales. By a perusal of these documents the inquirer will gain some conception of the immense number of skins of the more valuable kinds of fur-bearing animals imported into this country alone; and when the great Continental sales, such as the Leipzig and Nijni-Novgorod fairs, are also taken into consideration, he will marvel where the supply comes from, and wonder that a clean tsweep has not long ago been made of the chief fur-producing species. Nevertheless, the supply of most descriptions of furs seems to be well kept up, and, with the exception of a few species, such as the sea-otter, the beaver in many districts, the WTest African guereza monkeys, and certain kinds of fur-seal, it does not appear that any of the valuable fur-bearing mammals are in present danger of extermination, or even of becoming unduly scarce. The truth is that we have probably little real, conception of the abundance of such creatures in the more remote districts of North America and in the fur-producing countries of northern Asia.