Dan VanArsdale questioned whether museums solicit donations of natural histo
ry objects and subsequently seek to get criminal charges brought against the do
nor because the museum suspects that the specimen(s) came from public land.
Basically, that sounds like a rather agressive ilne of behavior for a museum
to take.  I believe a more common course would be for the museum to ask for
detailed information on when and how the specimens were acquired.  If the colle
ctor should have had a permit to take the specimens, the museum would ask for a
 copy of the permit. If the would-be donor cannot show that he or she is the la
wful owner for the offered gift, most natural history museums would refuse the
donation.  For the museum to ask that a would-be donor be investigated for poss
ible criminal charges, there would have to be a "smoking gun" of a reason that
caused the museum to believe that the donor had a criminal role in the illegal
taking of material from public lands.