'////; iLMsiii:/) iin si:m. cnorr 



51 



killing ot t'cinalc m'mU Itcuaii, :iiul \\\\> ii;itiir;illv I'cMillcd in the rjipid i-cdiic- 

 tioii of the ln-ccdiiiu stock. 'I"\\(iity-(i\ c vcmi's jiji'o, witli i)ri-li;i|>v 1, 000, 00(1 

 seals in sii;lit. it was |)ossilil(' to kill aiiiiiially 100,000 male seals on the I'ri- 

 hilof Islands witlioiit iiijiiiy to tlie liefd. To-day with a herd of less than 

 IT"), (UK) seals reniainiiii:'. the island catch of males is seldom mofe than 

 10,000. 



The annual ocean scalini:,' catch consistin;;' chiefly of females has, in the 

 meantime, dwindled ffom an axcrauc of NO. 000 a yeaf tc a paltry 10,000; 

 while the sealint: tleet, which once mnnlx't'cd iL'O \-essels, now consi.sts of 

 few( f than ihifty ncsscIs 



The condition of the Asiatic seal hcfd is miieh wdrse, fof hotli the land 

 anil sea catch ha\e decreased to less than one-third of that <leri\"ed from tlie 

 American herd. The restoration of hoth herds to their h)r!iier ahundanee 

 and eoinmereial importance can he hroiiuht ahont only hy the eomph'te stip- 

 ])ressioii of ocean sealing'. 



As a result of the lonii' eontiimed inxcstiuations of the sealin.u' industry, 

 thie natural history of the fnr seal has keen worked out perliaj)s more tlior- 

 onglily and critically than that 

 of any other mammal. Science 

 has profited if the scaling indus- 

 try has not. and man\ important 

 discoveries ]ia\(' keen made re- 

 specting- the anatom>, h)0(l, aii'e, 

 hreedinji liahits ami mi,L':rations 

 of this important animal. 



Anion jr the prohleins sohcd. 

 we may consider hrieHy some of 

 those connected with the won- 

 derful migrations of the fur seal. Late in tlx' fall the seals leax'e tiieir 

 island homes in Herinu Sea and enter the Pacific Ocean. The .\inerican 

 herd mi,t;rates southeastward to southern ( 'alifornia, a distance of o\ er three 

 thousand miles, whence it moxcs northward along' the coast din-ing the 

 winter, to enter I'erinu Sea the next -.nmmer. The .\siatic herd migrates 

 southwestward to the coast of .lapaii, returning the h)llowing season hy the 

 same route. There is no commingling of the two herds either in leering Sea 

 or in the Pacific, lioth herds remain aHoat the entire winter, and neither 

 herd is known to touch (\y\ land an.\ where e\ee])t upon i-etm-n to its native 

 ishinds in Bering Sea. No other mammal follows with -trict reguhirity 

 .so extcnsixc a migration route. 



?l 



.\ l)<il).v Cur seal of the new •rroup 



