ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN. 



643 



sels have largely withdrawn from the unequal 

 contest with Japanese vessels, and the Govern- 

 ment land catch of surplus, non-breeding males, 

 has dwindled to a paltry fourteen thousand in 

 1909. Twenty-live years ago the island catch 

 of surplus males was 10U,000 a year without 

 detriment to breeding stock. Pelagic sealing 

 lias caused us losses, in one waj' or another, of 

 at least twenty millions of dollars. 



As the supply of lirst-class sealskins is now 

 so smallj the very business of manufacturing 

 sealskin garments is likely to die out, and the 

 expert workmen engaged in it be scattered, to 

 the great detriment of the fur trade. If sealskin 

 garments sliould pass entirely out of fashion, it 

 would take manj' years to train new workmen 

 and to re-introduce the fashion. 



If the cessation of pelagic sealing can be 

 brouglit about without delay, it will be possible 

 to preserve tlie very special art of sealskin man- 

 ufacture, as well as the seal race itself. 



It is the small catcli of prime skins of sur- 

 plus male seals from the Pribilof and Com- 

 mander Islands that is keeping the industry 

 alive, the pelagic catcli being inferior in many 

 ways. 



The fur-seal is a higlilj? polygamous animal, 

 wliicli habit naturally results in a large surplus 

 of males. It is from the "bachelor" class of 

 surplus males, that the catches on the Pribilof 

 and Commander Islands have always been made 

 by the United States and Russian governments, 

 respectively. The utilization of the surplus 

 males involves no more injury to the separate 

 and distinct class of breeding seals than the 

 utilization of the surplus male animals would on 

 a cattle ranch, whicli is none at all. 



With sealing vessels actively destroying fe- 

 male seals, the surplus male life would, if not 

 removed and utilized at maturity, fill up the 

 breeding grounds with an unnatural preponder- 

 ance of mature males, destroying both females 

 and young by their furious fighting. This is a 

 zoological fact. There could of course be no 

 injury to the lierd itself by a cessation of land 

 killing, proi'ided there be a cessation of pelagic 

 killing of females at tlie same time. 



The habits of the fur-seal have been studied 

 exhaustively for years by man}' of the foremost 

 zoologists of the country, whose views are unan- 

 imous respecting the surplus male life of the 

 breeding grounds. 



Tile fur-seal herds can be saved only by the 

 immediate and complete suppression of pelagic 

 sealing. No restrictions upon the killing of 

 surplus males on land can be of any benefit to 

 the herds. On the other hand, there would be 

 a loss of revenue to the Government, a loss of 



prime skins now serving to iieep alive the fur 

 dressing industry, a loss of occupation for hun- 

 dreds of resident natives on the islands, and a 

 larger catch of damaged pelts bj' pelagic sealers, 

 whose suicidal industry is on its last legs. 



The whole matter of the fur-seal industry, in- 

 cluding the administration of the seal rookeries 

 on the Pribilof Islands, as well as the workings 

 of the pestiferous pelagic sealing business, is re- 

 ceiving the most careful consideration at the 

 hands of the officers of the Bureau of Fisheries 

 .ind the advisorj' Board of the Fur Seal Service. 

 It is in the hands of men who understand tlie 

 matter in all its details, who have had personal 

 experience witli it both afloat and ashore — on 

 the vessels and on the seal islands — and who are 

 moreover familiar witli tlie international aspects 

 of the subject. 



At a meeting in Washington on November 

 23, 1909, various recommendations were made, 

 on each of which there was unanimous action. 

 While these recommendations included some 

 changes in the administration of the islands, 

 there was no uncertainty about the attitude of 

 the meeting on the subject of pelagic sealing, 

 which is alone responsible for the diminution of 

 the seal herd. 



The pelagic sealing question is unfortunately 

 one of jurisdiction over the high seas, and re- 

 quires international action. Any nation could 

 engage in it. Urgent recommendations for its 

 suppression have been made to the Department 

 of State, and everything depends upon the suc- 

 cess of the international negotiations now being 

 conducted. 



With Great Britain and the other governments 

 concerned, the Bering Sea controversy is no 

 longer a matter of maintaining pelagic sealing, 

 the fatal destructiveness of which they all rec- 

 ognize, but one of rights on the high seas. 

 Whenever we recognize those rights in full, and 

 announce our readiness to paj/ for their with- 

 drawal, the sealing fleets will be called off. If 

 we had done this twenty years ago, we would 

 have saved money and long since restored our 

 seal herd to its normal size. It is up to the 

 State Department. 



AN AQUARIUM IN INDIA. 



"Nature," a weekly journal of science pub- 

 lished in I-ondon, announces that a marine 

 aquarium has just been established at Madras, 

 India. It is described as being of small size 

 and stocked with marine species from the ad- 

 jacent coast. It is equipped with glass-fronted 

 tanks, a reservoir, filter, aeration jilaiit. elevated 

 cistern and one large open pool. 



