UTILIZATION OF THE SKINS OF AQUATIC ANIMALS. 821 

 SEA-OTTER FURS. 



The sea-otter jnelds the most valuable of all aquatic furs. The skins 

 are of the j^-reatest value in the third or fourth year of age, when the 

 overhairs are scantv, exceedingly hue, and extend but little beyond 

 the fur, which is unusually dense; fine, and silky. There appears 

 to be little difference in the quality of the pelage at different seasons 

 of the year. The glossy, durable fur is about three-fourths of an inch 

 in length all over the l)ody, except that on the feet, head, and tail it is 

 rather shorter, liner, and with fewer overhairs. The under portion 

 of the liack, the nose, and the upper lip are the only naked parts. 



The color of the pelt varies considerably, the predominant shade 

 being lustrous brown brightened with silvery overhairs. Some pelts 

 are a deep brown or a brownish black, and are known in the trade as 

 "black." Others are brown, with a tendency toward bluish green or 

 dark-plum color, and are known as "dark." The fur is in all cases 

 lighter on the abdomen than on the back. The hair on the head is 

 iighter in color, and is light brown in the brown variety, but in the 

 black animals it is almost completely white, the effect of the large 

 number of white overhairs. The skins from British Columbia, Wash- 

 ington, and Oregon are frequently of a yellowish-brown hue, and 

 albino skins have been taken rarely. 



The choicest sea-otters have dense, brownish-black fur of silky, 

 shimmering gloss and extreme fineness, exhibiting a silver color when 

 blown open and with a reasonable number of white hairs regularly 

 distributed, too many white hairs depreciating the value of the pelt. 

 The skin of the male is usually more valuable than that of the female, 

 being more brilliant and velvety in appearance. After they pass the 

 age of perfection the fur becomes a dingy brown. 



The skin is remarkably loose, like that on the neck of a young dog, 

 and 12 inches or more of slack may be gathered in the hands from 

 most parts of the body, the pelt of an individual 3 feet long readily 

 stretching to 5 feet. A full-grown prime skin, which has been 

 stretched before curing, is about 6 feet long and 21 to 30 inches wide. 



The sea-otter belongs exclusively to the shores of the North Pacific 

 Ocean and the adjacent seas, its range extending from Bering Sea 

 southward to Japan on the Asiatic coast and possibly to Mexico on the 

 American coast. It was formerly quite abundant throughout that 

 region, but its numbers have been so reduced by excessive hunting 

 that it is now very rare and in great danger of extermination. 



The territory within which sea-otters are at present taken extends 

 along the American coast from the Aleutian Islands southward to 

 Washington, and on the Asiatic coast from Kamchatka to Japan. In 

 most of that region, however, the catch is exceedingly limited, the 

 annual product on the entire coast of the United States, exclusive of 

 Alaska, for instance, not exceeding one dozen. The bulk of the catch is 

 obtained now, as 100 years ago, among the islands of southeast Alaska. 



F. C. 1902 21 



