118 



the entire herd, in any one breeding- sejvson, and put the proceeds of 

 the sale of their skins into its treasury. 



9. Neither in Bering Sea, nor in the North Pacific Ocean, does the 

 Pribilof lierd intermingle, to any appreciable extent, with the herds of 

 northern fur seals frequenting the islands on the Asiatic coast. The 

 migration routes of the latter are altogether in the waters on the western 

 side of the Pacific Ocean, while the Pribilof herd never have gone west 

 of the one hundred and eightieth degree of longitude from Green- 

 wich, and very few have ever been seen so far west. This fact is 

 conclusively established by the evidence, and is recognized in the 

 separate re])orts made by the commissioners who were appointed by 

 the two governments (two by each g'overnment) to investigate and 

 make report upon the facts having relation to seal life and the meas- 

 ures necessary for its i)roper protection and preservation. 



The American Commissioners, Profs. Merriam and Mendenhall, in 

 their separate report made under the authority of the treaty between 

 the two governments, say: 



" The fur seals of the Pribilof Islands do not mix with those of the 

 Commander and Kurile Islands at any time of the year. In summer 

 the two herds remain entirely distinct, separated by a water interval 

 of several hundred miles; and in their winter migrations those from 

 the Pribilof Islands follow the American coast in a southeasterly direc- 

 tion, while those from the Commander and Kurile Islands follow the 

 Siberian and Japan coasts in a soutlnvesterly direction, the two herds 

 being separated in winter by a water interval of several thousand 

 miles. This regularity in the movements of the different herds is in 

 obedience to the well-known law that migratory animals follow definite 

 routes in migration and, return year after year to the same place to breed. 

 Were it not for this law there would be no such thing as stability 

 of species, for interbreeding- and existence under diverse physiographic 

 conditions would destroy all specific characters." U. 8. Case, 323. 



The British Commissioners, Prof. Dawson, and Sir George Baden- 

 Powell, in their separate report, under the same authority, say: 



"Eespecting the migration range of the fur seals which resort to 

 Commander Islands, to Eobbeii Island, and in smaller numbers to 

 several places in the Kurile Islands, as more fully noted in subsequent 

 ])ages, comparatively little has been recorded; but the result of 

 inquiries made in various directions, when brought together, are suffi- 

 cient to enable its general character and the area which it covers to 



