498 



THE AMERICAN MUSEUM JOURNAL 



for breeding purposes. It should be close 

 enough not to involve waste; sealskins are 

 worth approximately fifty dollars apiece. A 

 determination of the proper breeding reserve 

 naturally requires knowledge as to the breed- 

 ing life of the male, hence, of the normal life 

 period. To maintain a safe reserve and at 

 the same time to take advantage of the full 

 product of the herd requires a definite 

 knowledge of the number of three-year-old 

 males available in any given season. The 

 information cannot be obtained directly. 



The sexes are practically equal at birth 

 and subject to like vicissitudes. It may be 

 assumed that they Avill survive in equal num- 

 bers to the age of three years. This is breed- 

 ing age with the female. An enumeration of 

 the three-year-old females would give the 

 needed information, but these cannot be 

 enumerated directly. A full count of the 

 pups for two or more successive seasons would 

 give a measure of the herd's normal yearly 

 gain. This annual gain results from the in- 

 crement of three-year-old females but is not 

 a measure of this increment. The annual 

 loss in adult females through natural termi- 

 nation of life must be added to the normal 

 gain to give the full number of young breed- 

 ers. To obtain this annual adult loss re- 

 quires knowledge of the ultimate age of the 

 female. Under the conditions affecting seal 

 life we have no reason to assume that either 

 male or female survives breeding capacity, 

 and the breeding limit and age limit may be 

 considered identical. Thus the various prob- 

 lems affecting intelligent management of the 

 fur seal herd ultimately depend upon the 

 settlement of the question of average age or 

 normal life span. 



Fortunately we have certain accidental 

 sidelights on the problem of age. In 1891- 

 2-3, during the modus vivendi covering the 

 period of the Paris Tribunal of Arbitration, 

 land sealing Avas suspended, and a large body 

 of young males was left to grow up in these 

 seasons. These appeared as a conspicuous 

 body of idle bulls in 1896-7 and the years 

 immediately succeeding, outnumbering the 

 active or harem bulls three to one. In 1901- 

 2-3, these idle bulls disappeared as a class 

 so suddenly as to excite alarm lest the kill- 

 ing then in vogue had been too close. A 

 movement for the setting aside of a definite 

 breeding reserve of males resulted. But the 

 disappearance of these idle bulls had nothing 

 to do with killing conditions in the period 



in which they disappeared. They came into 

 existence as a class in an abrupt and arbi- 

 trary manner; they disappeared as abruptly 

 and arbitrarily. These animals were three 

 years of age at the time of their exemption 

 from killing. They disappeared ten years 

 later, suggesting thirteen years as an ap- 

 proximate average limit in the case of the 

 males. 



Again, in 189(3 and the years following, an 

 experiment was carried on in the branding 

 of female pups, to depreciate the value of 

 their skins with a view to discouraging pe- 

 lagic sealing. In the years 1900-1-2, a dis- 

 tinctive form of brand was used, no differen- 

 tiation being made for the three seasons. A 

 considerable number of these branded fe- 

 males was observed on the breeding grounds 

 in 1909, and again in 1912 and 1913, the 

 number being greatly diminished in 1913. 

 No record of observations on these animals 

 in subsequent years is available to the writer, 

 but the conditions as noted in 1913 pointed 

 to from twelve to fifteen years as the ap- 

 proximate age of the female. 



These tAvo incidents in the life of the herd 

 throw valuable light on oilr problem but do 

 not give exact data. In 1912 a beginning 

 was made toward securing more definite in- 

 formation. The time was favorable because 

 the herd was then at the lowest condition in 

 its history, and was on the point of increase 

 owing to the abolition of pelagic sealing, 

 accomplished the preceding year. All prob- 

 lems connected with the herd were in a con- 

 dition to be most easily handled. The matter 

 Avas someAvhat urgent, moreover, as the 

 agents of the government and of the former 

 lessees of the fur seal industry were then 

 under investigation on charges of illegal 

 killing of seals, the question turning upon 

 the yearling seals but iuA'olving considera- 

 tions affecting the Avhole policy of land seal- 

 ing. These charges Avere knoAvn to be untrue 

 but convincing data Avere not available for 

 their disproof. They nevertheless had their 

 effect upon Congress, and in 1912 legislation 

 Avas enacted suspending land sealing for a 

 term of years, although this action involved 

 an annual loss of approximately half a mil- 

 lion dollars for five years. The annoyance 

 and discredit to government employees and 

 the financial loss thus entailed Avere due pri- 

 marily to lack of adequate information on 

 the tAvo points Ave have under consideration. 



First, as to the annual breeding gain in 



