NATURAL SCIENCE 



A 3Ionthly Review of Scientific Progress 



No. 71— Vol. XII— JANUARY 1898 



NOTES AND COMMENTS 



The Behring Fur-Seals 



There are few animals of greater biological interest than the fur- 

 seals of the North Pacific, and all true naturalists are anxiously 

 watching the negotiations now in progress between the British and 

 American nations to prevent the complete sacrifice of these animals 

 to the demands of commerce. At present they live in two great 

 herds, frequenting respectively the Commander Islands off the 

 Asiatic Coast, and the Pribylov Islands near Alaska. The herds 

 have decreased in size during the last twenty-five years, and accord- 

 ing to the Americans the decline is so ruinous that these animals 

 have ceased to be of commercial value. For some years the 

 Americans have been clamouring for more effective protection of 

 the herds, and their demands led to the Paris arbitration, which 

 resulted in the institution of a series of regulations to save further 

 waste of seal life. This, it has been admitted, was merely a tem- 

 porary expedient, and during the past two years a detailed study of 

 the fur-seals on the Pribylov Islands has been carried on by an 

 American and British Commission of naturalists, who have now 

 come to a preliminary agreement as to the essential facts. The 

 agreement has not yet been published in full, but it appears to show 

 that the Americans have only too good reasons for believing that 

 the seal herds require more efficient protection. 



We are pleased to observe that the essential facts are summarised 

 in an article in the December number of the Contcmijorary Bcvictv, 

 iri which the case from the naturalists' point of view is clearly and 

 simply stated. It appears that the fur-seals live most of the year 

 at sea, but are compelled to resort to the land for breeding purposes, 

 as the young cannot swim for the first month. The animals, 

 therefore, land on the islands of the Behring Sea. There they sort 

 themselves into three classes — the breeding bulls or sea-catchie ; the 

 young bulls who have no chance of mating and live apart from the 



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