ALASKAN HERD. 241 



and not only in Bering- Sea, but in the Nortli Dr. Merriam's 



•^ . . letter. 



Pacific as well."^ In replying to tins com- 

 munication, Dr. Raphael Blanchard, of France, Dr. Biuuciiard. 

 says: "By reason of tlfe massacres of which it is 

 a victim, this species is advancing- rapidly to- 

 ward its total and final destruction, . . . 

 and there is for our generation an imperious 

 duty to prevent the destruction of the fur-seal, 

 to regulate strictly its capture, in a word, to per- 

 petuate this source of wealth and to bequeath it 

 to our descendants." ^ Dr. Henry H. Giglioli, of Dr. Gigiioii. 

 Italy, in his reply, says: "It is both as a nat- 

 uralist and as an old Commissioner of Fisheries, 

 that I beg to say . . . that I most entirely 

 and most emphatically agree with you in the 

 conclusions and recommendations you come to 

 in your report on the present condition of the 

 fur-seal industry in the Bering Sea, with special 

 reference to the causes of decrease and the meas- 

 ures necessary for the restoration and permanent 

 preservation of that industry, which conclusions 

 and recommendations are fully supported and jus- 

 tified by the facts in the case." ^ Professors A. E. professors Nor- 

 Nordenskiold and W. Lilljeborg, of Sweden, unit- Liiijebor^ 

 ing in a reply to Dr. Merriam's letter, say: "As to 

 the pelagic sealing it is evident that a systematic 



' Vol. I, p. 417. 



2 Vol. I, p. 427. 



3 Letter of Dr. Henry H. Giglioli, Vol. I, p. 425. 

 2716 31 



