MAEINE ANIMALS OF NORTHWEST COAST. 685 



instincts in man, even of the hio-host civilization. For iiiinunil)en^d 

 centuries his subsistence depended upon his a))ilitv to kill, and his very 

 existence upon the power to restrain, by killing first, those who would 

 kill him. It is not to l)e expected that these instincts can l)e changed 

 or eliminated m a few generations. Nevertheless, the desire to kill 

 for the sake of killing- has l)een modified in the more intelligent of 

 civilized men to a desire to kill for some definite purpose, such as the 

 accunudation of property, the protection of domestic animals, or the 

 elimination of vermin. 



We may hope that the more intelligent lK)dy of those who make 

 and enforce the laws may so restrain the less intelligent, who kill in 

 wantonness or for a trilling gain, as to defer the extinction of the 

 sea animals indefinitely. It is entirely possible, though up to the 

 present time effective measures of protection have, so far as inter- 

 national law would admit, been carried out solely for one animal — the 

 fur seal. Others, like the sea otter and salmon, have l)een legislated 

 for, l)ut it is universalh' believed on the northwest coast that no 

 honest attempt to enforce this legislation has ever been made, and 

 certainly none has been efficient. The prospect would indeed he dark 

 if we could hope for nothing ))etter than the conditions which have 

 heretofore obtained. 



But there is no reason wdiy conditions should not improve, and the 

 writer believes that if the American public were fully aware of the 

 present state of things they would insist on a change; and if any 

 general appreciation of wdiat the present destructiveness im])lies could 

 be brought about, the merest conmiercial self-interest woidd force a 

 reform in the absence of other motives. 



The marine animals which may be considered in this connection are 

 as follows: 



The f?ea elephant, Macwrltiuits (i))(ju.':!tiri»<lri.'<; 



Tfie walrus, Rosmarus obesus; 



The sea lion, Eumetopias stelleri; 



The lesser sea lion, Zalophus caUfondanus; 



The fur seal, Callotaria nrsina; 



The hair or harbor seal, Phoca lar<j}ia; 



The ringed seal, Phoca fatida; 



The hai-p seal, Plioca granilandica; 



The saddleback seal, Histriophoca fasciata; 



The bearded seal, Erignathus Ixtrhntiis; 



The sea otter, Enhydris inariva. 



The fur seal has been the subject of so nuich writing and has excited 

 so much popular interest from its commercial value and other causes 

 that it will not be further referred to in this discussion, except to sa}" 

 that there is no question in the mind of anyone qualified to judge that 

 if the destructive pelagic sealing were stopped, the seals woidd, in 

 the course of eight or ten years, increase so as to restore th»^ valuable 

 industry' now approaching extinction. 



