decrees (it labour and in varying plenty ; l)ut lie professed himself unable to explain t.lii-s 



. Secondly, we may w* irom the ooatiooal laagthmuiu; out o( UM >om 'iiiin^ 



of tin- iiHTca-ini: difficulty experienced in the la- 1 : >tal; and tin- l.i 



numbers sir n red to tin- end (tha ! . o!' !8t>8 exivedin-.: that of am yi - nay 



perhaps be interpreted as showing how this great harvest --round was drawn upon to the 

 utmo-t in tbe -ir.j le to aebieve the whole quota of 100,000 for tbe islands during thelat 

 years of tbe Alaska Company's tenure. 



Conclusion 



Besides the tacts m statements that I have dealt with in the preceding pages, there 

 are still many other points, to which my attention was directed, concerning which I beg 

 have in the meanwhile to prretermit my report. Such matters as these are the dates of 

 arrival and departure of the various classes of seals, their manner of feeding and periods 

 of abstinence from food, their distribution at sea and the duration of their stay ashore, 

 the diet of tbe pup.- at weaning, the measure of virility of the bulls, and the phenomena of 

 pregnancy in tbe females. 



i tain of these matters are discussed in the Reports of my colleagues; certain of 

 tbe;n are matter- in regard to which the poverty of our knowledge invites suspension of 

 judgment and fre-h search for evidence. 



In the foie-oing account I have merely set forth my observations of the herd and 

 its pa-t history in so far as both together show that the alarming statements to which 

 utterance has been given in recent years, the accounts of the herd's immense decrease and 

 the prophecies of its approaching extinction, are overdrawn and untenable. But it is my 

 duty to state to your Lordship that there is still abundant need for care and for prudent 

 measures of conservation in the interests of all. A birth-rate which we estimate at 

 H3,000 per annum is not great in comparison with the drain upon the stock. From one 

 cause or another, a loss of over 20,000 is experienced among the pups ere they emigrate to 

 sea ; and though tbe dangers they there encounter are unknown to us, we may take it for 

 certain that tbe risks they run are great and the loss they endure considerable. When to 

 the measured loss in infancy and to the unmeasured loss in youth and age we add the toll 

 taken on the islands and the toll taken in the sea, it is not difficult to believe that the 

 margin of safety is a narrow one, if it be not already in some measure over-stepped. We 

 may hope for a perpetuation of the present numbers ; ^e cannot count upon an increase. 

 And it is my earnest hope that a recognition of mutual interests and a regard for the 

 common advantage may suggest measures of prudence which shall keep the pursuit and 

 slaughter of the animal within due and definite bounds. 



(Signed) D'ARCY W. THOMPSON. 



The Man | ness of Salisbury, K.G., 

 &c., &c., &c. 



