OPINIONS OF NATURALISTS. 493 



As to the pelagic sealing, it is evident that a systematic hunting of the 



seals in the open sea, on the way to and from or 



around the rookeries, will very soon cause the Prof. Dr. Wilhelm nil- 



complete extinction of this valuable, and, from sci- 1?°*?, "" d '''"•/'• / /"7? 

 ,.}, . , ,, i ! . -, Adolf Jb. JSordcnslnola, 



entitle point ot view, so extremely interesting jr i/i «. 428. 



and important animal, especially as a great num- 

 ber of the animals killed in this manner are pregnant "cows," or "cows" 

 temporarily separated from their pups while seeking food in the vicinity 

 of the rookery. Everyone having some experience in seal hunting 

 can also attest that only a relatively small part of the seals killed or 

 seriously wounded in the open sea- can in this manner be caught. We 

 are therefore persuaded that a prohibition of pelagic sealing is a neces- 

 sary condition for the prevention of the total extermination of the fur- 

 seal. 



The only rational method of taking the fur-seal, and the only one 

 that is not likely to result in the extermination of 



this valuable animal, is the one which has hith- Dr. Alfred Nehring, Vol. 

 erto been employed on the Pribilof Islands under l,p- 421. 

 the supervision of the Government. Any other 



method of taking the northern fur-seal should, in my opinion, be pro- 

 hibited by international agreement. I should, at furthest, approve 

 a local pursuit of the fur-seal, where it is destructive of the fisheries 

 in its southern winter cjuarters. I regard pelagic fur-sealing as very 

 unwise; it must soon lead to a decrease, bordering on extermination, 

 of the fur-seal. 



No doubt the free pelagic sealing is a cause which will act to the 

 destruction of the seal herds, and to that it must 

 be put a stop as soon as possible. But, at the rrof. Count Tommaso 

 same time, I think that the yearly killing of about Salvadori, Vol. I, p. 423. 

 100,000 young males on the Pribilof Islands must 



have some influence on the diminution of the herds, especially pre- 

 venting the natural or sexual selection of the stronger males, which 

 would follow if the young males were not killed in such a great num- 

 ber. So that, with the stopping of the pelagic sealing, 1 think that, 

 at least for a few years, also the slaughter of so many young males in 

 the Pribilof Islands should be prohibited. 



Philip Lutley Sclater, ph. d., secretary of the Zoological Society of 

 London, being duly sworn doth depose and say 

 that in his opinion as a naturalist — Dr. Philip L. Sclater, 



1. Unless proper measures are taken to restrict Vol. I, p. 413. 

 the indiscriminate capture of the fur-seal in the 

 North Pacific he is of opinion that the extermination of this species 

 will take place in a few years, as it has already done in the case 

 of other species of the same group in other parts of the world. 



Seals are, unfortunately migratory animals, and set out on their 

 journeys during the winter months. This is es- 

 pecially true of the pregnant females. They are Dr. A. von Middtn- 

 then hunted with constantly increasing rapacity, dorff, Vol. I, p. 430. 

 and are killed in the open sea by freebooters from 



all parts of the world. It is evident that the only remedy for such a 

 state of things can be afforded by international protection. 



