February 1, 1894.] 



KNOWLEDGE. 



\^ AN ILLUSTRATED '^^ 



MAGAZINE OF SCIENCE 



SIMPLY WORDED— EXACTLY DESCRIBED 



LONDON: FEBRUARY 1, 1894. 



CONTENTS. 



Sealing in Open Waters. By Prof. JoHX IIilxe, F.E.S. ... 

 Some Extinct Argentine IVIammals. B_v E. Lydekkek, 



B.A.Cautul) 



Weigliing tine Earth. By J. J. Stewart, B. A., B. St;. 



The Coffin of the Builder of the Third Pyramid. By 



J. H. MiTCHixKB, F.E.A.S 



On the Probable Encounter of Brooks Comet with a 



Disturbing Medium on October 21, 1893. By 



Prof. E. K. Bakxard 

 Irregularities in the Tails of Comets. Bt A. C. Ranyaed 



Notice of Book 



Letters : — W. F. Dexxixg ; Edwix Hoiaies ; J. Walter 



Brown- ; W. T. Lynk 



Stinging Insects. — I. By E. A. Butlee 



Fossil Wood. By tho Eer. A. S. Wilson, M.A., B.Sc. 



~he Face of the Sky for February. By Heebebt Sadler, 



F.E.A.S 



Chess Column. By C. D. Locock, B.A.Oxon 



PAGE 



25 



26 



30 



32 



34 

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38 

 40 

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46 

 47 



SEALING IN OPEN WATERS. 



By Prof. John Milne, F.R.S., of the Imperial University, 

 Tokio, Japan. 



NEW laws and new mechanical devices have often 

 much in common. Both may appeal to us on 

 account of their apparent adaptability to the 

 purpose for which they were designed, but 

 before any definite conclusion as to their merits 

 can be reached it is necessary to test them by the results 

 of their operation. 



During 1893 England took part in a conference, one 

 object of which was to provide protection to the sealing 

 industry in the North Pacific, and, judging from the 

 comments of the press in England and America, the 

 finding of the arbitrators gave general satisfaction. The 

 award on the main point at issue, relating to the opening 

 or closing of the Behring Sea, was sound, and to all fair- 

 minded people the ditficulties of previous years seemed at 

 an end. 



How far the regulations intended to protect the sealing 

 industry, which were formulated at the conference, have 

 been efi'ective may be judged of by a consideration of what 

 these regulations were, and of what has occurred since 

 their promulgation. 



First, we find that sealing is entirely prohibited within a 

 radius of sixty miles of the Pribyloft's ; secondly, that nets, 

 fire-arms, or explosives are no longer to be used ; and 

 thirdly, that the Behring Sea is closed to hunters from 

 May 1st to the end of -July. Inasmuch as seals do not 



enter the Behring Sea before May, during August and 

 September there are but few seals which venture far from 

 the rookeries, and even of those that do so, in consequence 

 of the fur being " stagey," from fighting and clambering 

 over the rocks, the skins are no longer in good condition, 

 and finally, as the only weapon left to the hunter appears 

 to be a spear, we may conclude that the regulations have 

 indirectly but practically closed one portion of the 

 Behring Sea to a large fleet of English and American 

 pelagic sealers. The protection of seals, therefore, rests 

 with those who take them on the islands. 



Further than this, the regulations state that the close 

 season is to extend over an area north of B5" north 

 latitude, and eastward of 180° meridian of longitude, or 

 generally over the north-east portion of the Pacific Ocean. 

 As to how these regulations will be regarded by nation- 

 alities other than those represented by the contracting 

 parties we do not know, but the efi'ect they have had upon 

 those directly concerned has been to send to the Western 

 Pacific a fleet of between sixty and seventy vessels, 

 manned by at least fiiteen hundred men. 



Should the prohibited area be increased and the regula- 

 tions become law, it does not seem unlikely that_ vessels 

 may sail under flags other than those of America and 

 England, while the difficulty of enforcing the new laws 

 over an extensive area like the North Pacific will entail a 

 considerable outlay. Already there are sealers flying 

 German, .Jfipanese and Hawaiian flags, an example of the 

 latter being the steam barque " Alexander,'" which, with 

 some six or eight other boats, is owned by a syndicate 

 largely, if not wholly, composed of persons interested in 

 the North American Commercial Company, to protect 

 whose rights in the Pribyloffs the existing regulations have 

 been so eflective. 



If the object of the regulations is to prevent the exter- 

 mination of the fur seal the rules ought surely to be 

 extended over the whole of the North Pacific, the Okotsk 

 and -Japan Seas, and a definite understanding should be 

 arrived at as to the number which may be annually killed 

 on the known breeding ground.?. Such regulations would 

 afl'ect Americans, Russians, Japanese, pelagic hunters and 

 all who feel that they have a right to capture whatever 

 they find on open oceans and seas. 



The American rookeries, as we have already shown, are 

 now well protected, and all that is required is to definitely 

 fix a limit to the number that may be slaughtered on shore. 

 During the last three years it has been seven thousand, 

 but in previous years it was one hundred thousand, 



The Russian rookeries are guarded by an understanding 

 that himting shall not take place within thirty miles of any 

 place where seals haul up, or within ten miles of any 

 shore. How well this has been enforced may be judged 

 of from the fact that during 1893 no less than five British 

 vessels fell into Russian hands. The steam schooner 

 " Warlock '' had her papers, guns and ammunition seized 

 in the port of Petropaulovsky, whither she had gone pre- 

 sumably for some legitimate purpose. The " Maud S.," the 

 " Ainoko," the " Minnie," and the " Arctic " were arrested 

 off the Commander Islands, according to their captors 

 all within thirty miles of land. They were not found 

 hunting, nor does there appear to have been any attempt 

 at escape, believing themselves to be well outside the 

 prescribed limits. Inasmuch as these islands and the 

 neighbouring mainland — like very many other islands in 

 the North Pacific — are represented on charts as being ten 

 to fifteen miles out of their true position, and as foggy 

 weather often makes it impossible to obtain the necessary 

 observations for a true position, the investigation of 

 questions of this description is surrounded with con- 



