348 REPORTy OF BERING SEA COMMISSION. 



Man does not Now, let mail enter upoii tlie sceiie, and let him 



necessainly in- 

 crease death-riite. destroY annually a certain number of seals. Tlie 



deathrate is not necessarily increased, the time 



of dying only may be changed, seals being killed 



at the age of four years which would otherwise 



have lived to the age of fifteen or twenty. Tlie 



total number of seals living at one time may be 



much reduced while the number of births may 



remain the same. 



Reoniation of If mail is benefited by killing seals, in order 



killing. 1 1 • • 1 



that his gam may be as great as possible, it is 

 evidently important to so conduct tlie killing 

 that the dimensions of the herd may be main- 

 tained at a maximum. The larsfer the herd the 

 more he can take annually for his own uses. 

 Tliis maximum number is secm-ed, and is secured 

 only by bringing to and maintaining the number 

 of births per annum at the highest possible limit. 

 Interference We liavc goiic tlius iiito the details of this 



with birtli-rate in- . . 



jurious. argument m order that there might reiiiaiii no 



doubt as to its effect, and to emphasize the 

 simple but most important iiroposition that tcliat 

 ever interferes with the hirth-rate is injurious to the 

 seal herd. 

 Effect of a siu- It mav bc w^cll at this point to invite attention 



gle young a year. "^ ■*■ . 



to the fact that the fur-seal as a species is very 

 sensitive to influences which tend to disturb the 

 balance between births and deaths. Unlike 



