Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1916-02-13
WHAT THE GOVERNMENT IS DOING

| to the conduct of their expeditions
from the governments expert biolo-
gists., In conference with Henry w.
Henshaw. chief of the biological sur,
vey. E. w. Nelson, assistant chief. and
other of the bureaus officials the
huntsmen have been instructed in such
matters as the most desirable portions
of the bodies of prospective specimens
to make their shots effective. the de-
careful notation of characteristic
markings. the taking of photographs.
the skinning of their quarry and the
preservation and care of the skins.
carrying on the work of the biological
survey in the out places OF
the continent are Prof. Theodore Lyman
of Harvard, whose work has been
expedition recently completed by him
was to the little known mountains
of Nevada. where he secured specimens
of the fast disappearing mountain
sheep.
The skins of other varieties of this
animal have been sent to Washington
from Alaska and British Columbia by
Lincoln Ellsworth of New York; from
the Mexican peninsula of Lower CALI
fornia. by the same collector and Charles
by Charles r. Cross, jr.. of Brookline,
Mass. and S. Prescott Fay of Boston.
and from other mountainous regions of
Canada by Haywood Cutting and Frank
Hay Nreeland. In addition to numer-
Gus small mammals birds and reptiles,
these volunteer assistants of the gov
eminent have also added to the sur
vey's collection such valuable speci-
mems as antelope, caribou, moose,
mountain goat, bear, elk and deer.
Each of the skins sent in by these
hunters, as well as those collected by
the specialists of the biological sur
tanners, so as to preserve the natural
texture. color and luster of the fur.
The specimens are not collected for
exhibition purposes, but for scientific
standards. They are not. mounted,
therefore, but are rolled into bundles
and fled carefully away in cool. dark,
insect-proof cabinets of metal, like
valuable documents.
But they are not left uselessly in
their dark cabinets. Instead. they are
Seldom day passes that the biological
survey does not receive from one to a
score or more of specimens from mu-
seums, naturalists and other interested
organizations and individuals with the
request that they be identified; for the
survey is the acknowledged court of
last resort in America on such ques-
tions. When there is doubt as to any
referred specimen, it is taken to the
surveys f1les-which are kept, by the
way, in the building of the National
Museum-compare with the standards
and it's identity scientifically fixed.
X
Uncle Sam has found that benevolent
Advertising he took up with
some trepidation -
Fighting the really pays, and he
C..n has gone still farther
A..
attitude that 1t was beneath his dig
nifty to popularize the constructive
activities of his various departments
by adopting follow-up methods as eff
ficient as those employed by many
large commercial concern.
Since inaugurating an anti-tick cam
paign in the south some months ago
by the use of colored posters the De-
partment of Agriculture has been pc
riodical1y distributing in the same way
other supplemental literature on the
same subject. This strives to tell. not
in the overcautious understatements of
scientists, but in the virile language
of the ad writer. that many millions
of cattle is literally being sucked out
of the south each year by the SEEM
ingly insignificant tick. The latest of
the departments literature to be issued
d
employing both black and red ink and
illustrated by marginal drawings in
the same colors, which aims to drive
home to the cattle owner the usually
disregarded fact that an animal will
lose as much blood through heavy in
festation of ticks as through a severe
wound.
In connection with the fight that is
being waged to free more and more
territory from fever ticks entomolo-
CT nd nfft ri lc 0f to n Iona rtr 70
interested In a report of a study by
the Tennessee experiment station show
ing the rapidity with which the insects
multiply and the long periods they
that the average female lays about 2s5
eggs a day and produces in all more
than 200 eggs.
Some prolific individuals were found
to lay more than a thousand eggs in
twenty -four hours. Eggs dropped in
midsummer Matched in twenty-four
days, while those dropped in the fall
did not incubate until the next spring.
The freshly Matched ticks. or seed
ticks" remain alive an incredibly long
period, it was found, while fasting and
awaiting animal host. The record
was 29S days.
What the United States coast and
geodetic survey and the lighthouse
service have done in the
Charting the many years of their es-
g, istence to make the
9oAu oeo' present navigation of
the coastal waters Of America safe is
emphasized in a way by the pioneer
work Of this sort that the two agencies
are carrying on in the long known but
little developed waters of the Philip
pines.
The vast Sulu sea, $4,000 square
miles in area, which is inclosed by the
southern islands of the archipelago and
British Borneo. has been practically
unused by ships in modern times be-
cause of the lack of elementary sur
veys and accurate chartings of it's
many reefs and shoals. In fact. mod
ern commercialism took a definite part
in preventing the use of the short cuts
afforded by the great body of water:
for shipping underwriters forbade the
vessels insured by them to sail the Sulu
sea. The result has been that all trade
routes originating near the here
tofore have been roundabout and have
lost as much $50 or 300 miles,
In the old days Of Spanish dominion
the royal Spanish mail used to strike