126 



there is a superfluity of males. What uiight be called a tax on celi- 

 bacy was applied iu this way iu the most satisfactory uiaiuier, aud the 

 indefinite preservation of the species would have been assured if the 

 emigrants, on their icay hade to their breeding places, had not been 

 attaeled and pursued in every wayP TJ. 8. Case, Vol. 1, App. 419. 



The record contains the opinions of other scientific gentlemen of high 

 repute, iu answer to written inquiries on this subject made by Prof. 

 Merriam, of the United States Department of Agriculture, and based 

 upon a. full and accurate account of seal life. 



Dr. Nehriiig, Professor of Zoology in the Royal Agricultural College 

 of Berlin: "1 am like yourself of the opinion that the . remarkable 

 decrease of fur seals on the rookeries of the Pribilof Islands which has, 

 of late years, become more and more evident, is to be attributed mainly, 

 or i>erhaps exclusively, to the unreasonable destruction caused by the 

 seal-hunters who ply their avocation in the open sea. The oidy rational 

 method of taking the fur seal, and the only one that is not likely to 

 result in the extermination of this valuable animal, is the one which 

 has hitherto been employed on the Pribilof Islands under the super- 

 vision of the Government." U. 8. Case, Vol. 1, App. 420. 



Prof. Salvadori, of the Museo Zoologico, Turin, Italy: "No doubt 

 free pelagic sealing is a cause Avhich will act to the destruction of the 

 seal herds, and to that a stox) must be put as soon as possible." U. 8. 

 Case, Vol. 1, App. 422. 



Prof Von Schrenck, of the Imperial Academy of Sciences, St. 

 Petersburg: "lam also persuaded that pelagic sealing, if pursued in 

 the same manner in future, will necessarily end with the extermination 

 of the fur seal." U. 8. Case, Vol. 1, App. 422. 



Prof. Giglioli, director of the Zoological Museum, Eoyal Su])erior 

 Institute, Florence, Italy: " In any case, all who are competent in the 

 matter will admit that no method of capture could be more uselessly 

 destructive in tlie case of Pinnipedia tlian that called pelagic sealing; 

 not only any kind of selection of the victims is impossible, but it is 

 admitting much to assert that out of three destroyed one is secured and 

 utilized, and this for obvious and well-known reasons. In the case 

 of the North Pacific fur-seal, this mode of capture and destruction 

 is doubly to be condemned, because the destruction falls nearly exclu- 

 sively on those, the nursing and pregnant females, which ought on no 

 account to be killed. * * * I quite agree with you in maintaining 

 that uuless the malpractice of j)elagic sealing be prevented or greatly 



