424 LETTERS OE NATtlRALlSTS. 



Henry W. Elliott; I liave since then taken a keen interest in the 

 wonderfhl life-historyof the ISTorth Pacific Fur Seal (CaUorlmius ur.sinm), 

 as best exemplified on the Pribilov Islands. Later on I liave carefnlly 

 read and commented on the various accounts whi(;h have appeared in 

 print on the subject; thns, in J. A. Allen's "North American Pinnijieds," 

 Washington, 1880 (p. 312 and sequel); but more especially the detailed 

 and graphic descriptions which have been published by Henry W. 

 Elliott in his masterly monograph "The Seal Islands of Alaska," in 

 that grand work by G. Brown Goode and associates, " The Fisheries 

 and Fishery Industries of the United States" (vol. i, p. 75 and sequel), 

 Washington, 1884, and again in his most intc^re sting volume, "An 

 Arctic Province, Alaska and the Seal Islands," London, 1886. 



After these precedents you can easily imagine how great an interest 

 I take in that " vexata (piicstio," theFur-Seal Fishery in the Bering Sea, 

 with what i)leasure I received through the United States Government 

 and Mr. Long, the United States consul in this city, your commnnication, 

 and how glad I am of the opi>ortunity thus afforded me of giving my 

 unbiased opinion in the case and aiding you in your noble eftbrt to pre- 

 serve from utter destruction one of the most interesting of living crea- 

 tures and to save at the same time a most valuable source of human in- 

 dustry and profit. 



I have read with great attention your condensed but very complete 

 statement of the salient points regarding the life-history of the North 

 Pacific; Fur Seal {Gallorhums urslnus); I have carefully considered the 

 results of your in^'estigation iipon the condition of the Fur Seal Eooker- 

 ies on the Pribilof Islands, your conclusions regarding the causes of 

 their decrease, and the measures you suggest as necessary for the 

 restoration and pernmnent preservation of the seal herd. And I am 

 happy to state that I entirely agree with you on all points. 



The first and most important point for consideration is evidently the 

 causeof the unquestionable decrease ascertained in the Fur-Seal Eooker- 

 ies on the Pribilof Islands during the past few years. The stringently- 

 enforced rules which strictly limit the killing for commercial purposes 

 to non-breeding males or "holluschickies," carefully selected, which 

 selection can only be made on land, entirely preclude to my mind the 

 suggestion that the lamented decrease may be attributed in any degree 

 to the killing of too large a number of such non-breeding males. Such 

 a decrease might have l)een in some slight measure attributed io the 

 former custom of killing each year a certain number of male pups to 

 furnish food for the natives, but that practice has been wisely prohib- 

 ited. Therefore, I feel positive that the notable decrease in the number 

 of Fur Seals resorting to the rookeries on the Pribilof Islands is not in 

 any way to be attributed to the killing which takes place for commer- 

 cial purposes on those islands. Here I may remark incidentally that 

 it might be of interest, as bearing on the question in a parallel way, to 

 ascertain whether any similar decrease has taken place in the fur-seal 

 rookeries on the Kurile Islands on Eobben Reef (Sagalien), and more 

 especially on the Ccminninder Islands, as being in \\\q Bering Sea. 



Having conclusively shown that the lamented decrease in the herd 

 of Fur Seals resorting to the Pribilof Islands can in no way be accounted 

 for by the selective killing of non-breeding niales for comnu'rcial ])ur- 

 poses, which takas place on those islands umier sj^eeial rules ami active 

 surveillance, we must look elsewhere for its cause, and I can see it no- 

 where but in the indiscriminate ,sl(( It ffhter, ])rincipally practiced on breed- 

 ing or pregmuit fenniles, as most clearly shown in your condensed lie- 

 port, by pelagic sealers. 



