112 THE .lMi:i{f('.\.\ MCSKCM JOCliXAL 



fffo^Tiipliical (listi iliutioii inul its cfl'ccts on spcci<'s toi'iiiatioii, it' >ulliciciit 

 material coiiM he l)r()iight tojictlu-r for the work; hut sea elephants were 

 nearly exleriiiiiialed before exhaust i\c nuiscuin colleetions were made, so 

 that specimens are now rare. Tlic Anicrican Museum prior to 1911 had 

 in its relati\'ely large collection representatixc of the seals no single example 

 of this species, l)ut at just this time when word of the new material comes 

 from the Pacific, the institution has gained j)ossession of two skulls from 

 Krrguch'U Island in tlie Antai'ctic' 



Xo i)i_'tter instance than the elephant seal can he given of the extermina- 

 tion of a species through the wastefulness and commercial greed of man, 

 making clear the nccositx of conserxation as a principl" directing luiman 

 action. The eh pliant seal, unlike the fur seal, has a deep layer of hluhher, 

 sometimes six or seven inches thick, and the oil is superior even to whale 

 oil. Elephant seals existed in \ast lunnhers one hundrc(l or more years 

 ago and might still have heeii yielding a profitahle industry. One has only 

 to read the \ivid descriptions hy ( aptain Scannnon, hS7l. and hy H. \. 

 Moseley, Member of the S(i<'ntiHc Staff of the Challenger, 1S79, to realize 

 that here existed great wealth. Captain Scammon says of Heard's Island, 

 " There were remains of thousands of skeletons. Bones lay in curved lines 

 like long tide lines on either side of the plain ahoNc the i)eaclus marking 

 the rookeries of old time and tracks of the slaughter of the sealers." 



The case is only sexcral stages advanced beyond that of the fur seal. 

 \\'n]\ the latter there is still the chance to handle the herds in a restricted 

 industry and thus husband them until they can yield a larger industry 

 without fear of loss of the species. Such nuist be in future the order for all 

 industries dependent on wild animal life. For man has upon him at last 

 the responsibility of knowledge, not only of the limitations cf that life but 

 also of the relatixc rapidity with which a species succumbs. By conserva- 

 tion, the era of strict economy in this line, as in others, will he delayed for 

 coming generations, if not a\erted. Some species now approaching extinc- 

 tion can be restored through legislati\-e protection and artificial breeding, 

 some not yet (endangered can be transplanted fr<;m continent to continent 

 and domesticated; but no conser\ati<)n is likely ever to make up for losses 

 which have come through the actual extermination of whole races of animals 

 of economic value. The elephant seal is onlx one of the many examples 

 of extinct or nearly extinct fur-bearing or oil-jM-oducing animals or those of 

 high food \alue, but it stands recorded in the world's history a scathing 

 comment on the status of man's knowledge and of the development of his 

 ethical sense in the nineteenth century. 



M. C. D. 



1 Througli the offorts of Mr. Frank K. Wood of New Bedford, Massachusetts. 



