492 ALASKAN HERD. 



I have followed with much attention the investigations which have 

 been made by the Government of the United 



Dr. A. Milne Edwards, States on this subject. The reports of the corn- 

 To?. i,p- 419. missioners sent to the Pribilof Islands have made 

 known to naturalists a very large number of facts 

 of great scientific interest, and have demonstrated that a regulated 

 system of killing may be safely applied in the case of these herds of 

 seals when there is a superfluity of males. What might be called a tax 

 on celibacy was applied in this way in the most satisfactory manner, 

 and the indefinite preservation of the species would have been assured, 

 if the emigrants, on their way back to their breeding places, had not 

 been attacked and pursued in every way. 



There is, then, every reason to turn to account the very complete in- 

 formation which we possess on the conditions of fur-seal life in order 

 to prevent their annihilation, and an international commission can 

 alone determine the rules, from which the fishermen should not depart. 



It is both as a naturalist and as an old commissioner of fisheries that 

 I beg to say once more that I most entirely and 

 Dr. Henry H. Giglioli, most emphatically agree with you in the conelu- 

 Vol. l. p. 1-5. sions and recommendations you come to in your re- 



port on the present condition of the fur-seal 

 industry in the Bering Sea, with special reference to the causes of de- 

 crease and the measures necessary for the restoration and permanent 

 preservation of that industry, which conclusions and recommendations 

 are fully supported and justified by the facts in the case. 



I am far from attributing to myself a competent judgment regarding 



this matter, but considering all facts which you 



Dr. G. Hartlaiib, Vol. have so clearly and convincingly combined and 



/, p. 4ii2. expressed, it seems to me that the measures you 



propose in order to prohibit the threatening decay 



of the northern fur-seal are the only correct ones promising an effective 



result. 



Eegarding the object of your researches, I indorse your opinion that 

 the decrease of the numbers of the fur-seal on the 



Dr. Emil UoJub, Vol. Pribilof Islands has been caused by pelagic seal- 

 T, p. 432. ing in the North Pacific and in the Bering Sea, 



and that this taking of the seals at sea has to be 

 stopped as early as possible. * * * 



If the pelagic sealing of the fur-seal is carried on still longer, like it 

 has been executed during the last years, the pelagic sealing as a busi- 

 ness matter and a "living" will soon cease by the full extermination 

 of the useful animal. 



Under such conditions I should say (looking at nothing but the 



preservation of the seals) that the best course 



Prof. T. R. Huxley, would be to prohibit the taking of the fur-seals 



Vol. I, p. 412. anywhere except on the Pribilof Islands, and to 



limit the take to such percentage as experience 



proved to be consistent with the preservation of a good average stock. 



The furs would be in the best order, the waste of life would be least, 



and, if the system were honestly worked, there could be no danger of 



overfishing. 



