The Wichita daily eagle., 1894-02-20
NOMADS IN PARIS.
They Gather Living Specimens for the
Various Uses of Science.


It may seem impossible that without
leaving the department of the Seine
men born with the instincts of an Ar
kansas trapper should succeed in
satisfying their love of life in the open
air and their passion for hunting. One
type resolves this problem-men who
collect subjects for labora tories. In
the high schools, museums of natural
history, at the Sorbonne, the college
of France the medical college, and the
naturalists' rooms, new subjects are
constantly required. Frogs. snakes,
salamanders, insects of all kinds,
water beetles, crickets, grasshoppers,
and cats-specimens of these ami
mails are used every day, and,
with the exception of frogs and cats,
none is to be found in the market.
In addition, the horticultural gardens
and the garden of acclimatizatiOn, in
order to feed their insectivorous rep.
tiles and birds, must have a quantity
of living inscts, which are not easily
procured for them. Finally, the
aquariums, especially the Trocadero.
require infusorise and crustaceans of
an inferior species for the support OF
their Young fish: the young trout and
salmon have especially greedy appe.
tites. and active, energetic men must
work to keep them supplied.
There are many varieties of hunters
but they all have one quality in com
mon, horror of regular work and an
intense love of vaga bond life. The
collector for laboratories will start
out five or six times month
on excursions at certain seasons, will
remain away each time four or five
days, sleeping in the open air under
the stars on the edge of some ditcE
living on bit of dry bread which he
finds in the bottom of his canvass bag.
When an idle mood comes he will re.
main for three months with his hands
folded, begging to satisfy his necessi
ties from professors and students who
have been in the habit of buying their
specimens from him. The winter is
fatal time; he often manages at the
beginning of the cold season to com
NIT some trifiing crime, so that be can
live at the expense of the state until
warm weather. But he always
manages his affairs so that he can
have his liberty when the little ami.
mails come out in the spring from their
torpor.
In the coves on the borders of the
Seine or Marine gnats place eggs on the
surface of the water on aquatic plants
These eggs are disseminated in colonies
over spaces relatively restricted, which
gives fruitful harvest on one condi.
ton: the collector must know exactly
the day, as well as the place, where
they are placed. One day, too late. a
wave may carry them away or they
may hide in the mire and be lost.
Therefore, the hunter follows the
swarms with his eye and finds the
place where they drop down at evening,
and knows where the females have de.
posted the eggs. 1t is a very delicate
and careful piece of work when insects
as small as gnats are to be collected.
This merchandise is harvested in little
pots, and sells from four francs to eight
francs the litre. But gnats have only
one season, and buying and selling
must go on forever.
Another task that brings in money
to these men is the capture of bats. II
we wish to understand why procuring
these cheiroptera has become so lucra.
tive a business we must recall that a
few years ago the minister of public
instruction prescribed the formation
of natural history collections in all the
upper grades of the elementary schools
and in all establishments of special in.
struction, so that the pupils could
study not only the colored plates, but
the principal types of animals or in.
sects that the professor lectured bout.
Naturally, the bat, on account of its
distinct order and the interest which is
attached 10 its curious anatomy, has
very important place in these collec-
tons. They are required to have
specimen of each of the four kinds
called Partisan: that is, the grea,
horseshoe, the little horseshoe. the
murin or large-eared bat. and the
pipistrelle or dark-colored bat Eff.
teen hlndred collections were made.
and we can imagine the work done by
these bat hunters. - Popular Science
Monthly.