356 REPORTS OF BERING SEA COMMISSION. 



Expiaiiiitiou of skins iiot inferior and of less value than those of 



diagrams. 



the young- males it would be impossible, under the 

 most favorable circumstances, to certainly distin- 

 guish them from their more fruitful sisters. With 

 males, however, the case is entirely different. It 

 is only necessary with those of the killable age 

 given above to allow enough to escape the club 

 to Hupply the annual deficit of virile males on 

 the breeding rookeries. In other words, if 100,000 

 breeding females were required to maintain a 

 given herd, rigorously speaking, and assuming as 

 a moderate estimate twenty females in each 

 harem, only 5,000 breeding males would be 

 required and it w^ould only be necessary to spare 

 enough to keep up this number. The diagram 

 assumes a much more liberal supply of males, 

 however, the ratio being assumed at twelve to 

 one. 



The diagram shows that the total number of 

 males in the herd would be oTcatly diminished 

 and the census of the whole herd correspond- 

 ingly lessened. But when once reached, the 

 new condition would be constant and self-sus- 

 taining; the same nrnnber of seals might be 

 killed annually forever without danger of 

 diminution, except from other causes. The 

 calculation on which the diagram is constructed 

 shows that the number of male seals woidd be 



