286 ARGUMENT OF THE UNITED ' STATES. 



practice for its sportsmanlike qualities, and to eulogize it because it 

 gives the seals a fair sporting chance for their life (Sec. 625). It is 

 really, they say, hunting as distinguished from .slaughter (ibid). It is 

 not easy to discuss these propositions with that patient and respectful 

 consideration which is due to the importance of the questions involved. 



VIII. — The Fur-Seal is a Polygamous Animal, and the Male 

 is at least four tlmes as large as the female. as a 

 Rule, each Male serves arout Fifteen or Twenty Fe- 

 males, but in Some Cases as Many as Fifty or More (Case 

 of the United States, p. 327). 



A groat diminution in the number of females making up a harem has 

 been noticeable in late years. Formerly there would be on an average 

 30 cows to a bull; now they will not average 15 (Case of the United 

 States, p. 344). The British Commissioners are in substantial accord 

 with the statements above quoted as to the service of the female by the 

 male. They cite from Bryant to show that the proportion is 1 male to 

 9 to 12 females; from Elliott, that the mean number is 5 to 20, and from 

 Mr. Grebnitzky, that the ratio should not exceed 1 to 20 (Sec. 54). This 

 is sufficient for our present purposes, especially as they add that it is 

 no uncommon event, during the last few years, to find a single male seal 

 with a harem numbering from 40 to 50, an<l even as many as 60 to 80, fe- 

 males (Sec. 55). With their deductions from these facts we are not at 

 this moment concerned. It is apparent, on the lace of the report, that 

 the Commissioners had a theory to support and that the facts were 

 read by them in the light of that theory. An amusing illustration, 

 aimmg many, is found in the statements on this very point. Bearing in 

 mind the severe criticism of earlier sections (54, 55, and 56) upon the 

 system of sacrificing males so that the bulls are forced to supply the 

 necessities of 40 to GO and even 60 to so females, read section 483, describ- 

 ing the condition of seal life as far back as 1S42: 



In the well-known Penny Cyclopedia, published so lately as 1S42 [half 

 a century ago], the seal is described as follows: * * * "When 

 these migratory seals appear off Kamtchatka and Kuriles early in the 

 spring, they are in high condition and the females are pregnant. They 

 remain on and about the shore tor two months, during which the 

 females bring forth. They are polygamous and live in families, every 

 male being surrounded by a crowd of females (from 50 to 80), whom he 

 guards with the greatest jealousy." (Sec. 483.) 



It would seem from this extract that the polygamous practices and 

 habits of the seal have not changed since 1842 and that the service by 



