osit our
spoil. Caldwell and I always spent the afternoon at the blue tiger's lair
but the animal had suddenly shifted his operations back to Lung-tao and did
not appear at Ling-suik while we were there.

Our work in Fukien taught us much that may be of help to other naturalists
who contemplate a visit to this province. We satisfied ourselves that
summer collecting is impracticable, for the heat is so intense and the
vegetation so heavy that only meager results can be obtained for the
efforts expended. Continual tramping over the mountains in the blazing sun
necessarily must have its effect upon the strongest constitution, and even
a man like Mr. Caldwell, who has become thoroughly acclimated, is not
immune.

Both Caldwell and I lost from fifteen to twenty pounds in weight during the
time we hunted the blue tiger and each of us had serious trouble from
abscesses. I have never worked in a more trying climate--even that of
Borneo and the Dutch East Indies where I collected in 1909-10, was much
less debilitating than Fukien in the summer. The average temperature was
about 95 degrees in the shade, but the humidity was so high that one felt
as though one were wrapped in a wet blanket and even during a six weeks'
rainless period the air was saturated with moisture from the sea-winds.

In winter the weather is raw and damp, but collecting then would be vastly
easier than in summer, not only on account of climatic conditions, but
because much of the vegetation disappears and there is an opportunity for
"still hunting."

Trapping for small mammal is especially difficult because of the dense
population. The mud dykes and the rice fields usually are covered with
tracks of civets, mongooses, and cats which come to hunt frogs or fish, but
if a trap is set it either catches a Chinaman or promptly is stolen.
Moreover, the small mammals are neither abundant nor varied in number of
species, and the larger forms, such as tiger, leopard, wild pig and serow
are exceedingly difficult to kill.

While our work in the province was done during an unfavorable season and in
only two localities, yet enough was seen of the general conditions to make
it certain that a thorough zooelogical study of the region would require
considerable time and hard work and that the results, so far as a large
collection of mammals is concerned, would not be highly satisfactory. Work
in the western part of the province among the Bohea Hills undoubtedly would
be