August 1, 1896.] 



KNOWLEDGE 



187 



its short face, with a nearly straight profile, and the 

 relatively weak dentition. The habitat of this seal is the 

 North Pacific, where it ranges on the Asiatic coast as far 

 south as the latitude of Tokio. The chief localities of the 

 seals in Behring Sea are the Prybiloff and Commander 

 Groups, the former constituting the head-quarters of the 

 East Behring herd and the latter of the western herd. In 

 the Commander Group, Copper and Behring Islands are 

 the seal resorts ; while in the Prybiloils, St. George and 

 St. Paul are the chief islands for seals. These latter were 

 formerly leased to the Alaska Commercial Company. 

 According to the terms of the lease, not more than 100,000 

 seals were to be killed annually on these islands ; and this 

 number was, as already stated, reached in 1889. Since 

 that date the limit has, however, been very much reduced, 

 the numbers killed in 1890 being 25,701 ; in 1891, 14,406 ; 

 in 1892, 7509; and in 1894, 15,033. No females are 

 allowed to be killed on the islands ; and this prohibition 

 has resulted in such a diminution in the number of males 

 that probably five-sixths or more of the fur-seals now 

 existing in the Northern Pacific are females. ' Indeed, to 

 such an extent have the males been killed ofi' that there 

 are not sufficient full-grown individuals remaining to attend 

 properly to the females landing on the islands. Large 

 numbers of females are, however, slaughtered by the 

 pelagic sealers cruising in Behring Sea during the months 

 of August and September. In this pelagic sealing, eight 

 out of every ten animals taken are shot whilst asleep on 

 the surface of the water. Most seals when shot will float 

 for some considerable 'time, and it is a curious fact that 



Cape Sea Lion {Otaria puailla). 



these sleeping seals hardly ever sink when struck. 

 Those that are lost by sinking — fi'om five to seven per 

 cent, of the whole number killed — are, as a rule, awake, 

 and when shot are struck in the throat. The reason 

 for their sinking is supposed to be the escape of the 

 air through the holes made by the buck-shot. Mr. Snow 

 remarks with regard to those seals shot in the open sea, 

 that they " all have pups on the ' rookeries,' which, being 

 unable to shift for themselves, die of starvation. The 

 fault lies with the regulations formulated by the Behring 

 arbitrators, who have made the close season from the 1st 



• For mucli of the information lierc given the author is indebted 

 to two cit<"enied correspondents — Dr. C. II. iferrinm, of Winhington, 

 and Sir. Snow, of Yokolianiiv— who have pointed out certain erroneous 

 etatements unfortunatelv made in tlie " Roval Natural llistorv." 



of May till the 1st of August. May is too early, and is 

 unfair to the pelagic sealers. Had the close season been 

 from (say) the 30th of June to the 80th of September 

 it would have been far better." 



The skins are packed with salt in casks, each of which 

 contains from forty to forty-five ; such casks being for- 

 warded to London in batches of from two to three hundred. 

 On arrival the skins are sorted according to size, the 

 largest being known to the trade as " middlings," while 

 the smaller are classed as " pups " of various descriptions. 

 k few years ago the average value per skin was seventy- 

 eight shillings. 



Regarding the process of preparation, after the remains 

 of the blubber have been removed and the skins trimmed, 

 Mr. Poland tells us that the pelts " are warmed on the 

 fur side in the stove room and placed across the unhairer'a 

 beams, and the top hair is then removed with a blunt 

 knife. The hair comes oft' in handfuls. The skins 



have to be kept warm during the whole process 



The skins now have only the fur left, which is of 

 a light drab colour. They are then tubbed — -generally 

 by machinery — in order to soften the leather, and 

 shaved (old process), repaired, or sent as they are 

 to the dyers." This dressing process occupies from one 

 to three months, and the subsequent dyeing is still more 

 complex. Although this part of the trade was formerly 

 almost exclusively in English hands, it is now largely 

 shared by the French. After dyeing, the skins are again 

 scraped or shaved, and cleaned by being put in a revolving 

 drum among a quantity of sawdust. Certain fine hairs, 

 technically known as water-hairs, have still to be removed, 

 this being effected by a special machine. Finally, the 

 skins are trimmed, and sorted ready for the ?iiarket. 



The yearly catch of seals in the Commander Group 

 is estimated at from forty to fifty thousand, the skins 

 being packed in much the same manner as are those 

 from the Prybilofi's, but they are not worth so much. Of 

 recent years a variable number of skins of this species 

 have been imported from Japan, the total varying from 

 two to twelve thousand annuiilly. 



The northern sea-bear is the only fur-seal inhabiting 

 the northern hemisphere ; but there are at least three 

 species found to the south of the Equator. The whole of 

 these southern seals difter from their northern cousins 

 externally in the greater length and narrowness of the 

 muzzle — which is also more depressed— as they do by the 

 smaller extent of skin projecting beyond the extremities 

 of the toes of the hind fiippers. In colour they are 

 generally more distinctly grey than the northern species. 



The finest skins from the southern seas appear to be the 

 product of the South American or Falkland Island sea- 

 bear ( Otaria auntratis ), which is found along the South 

 American coast from Chili on the western side, and the 

 mouth of the Rio de la Plata on the eastern side, to the 

 extreme south, and reappears in the Antarctic lands, such 

 as South Georgia and the South Shetlands. From the 

 coasts of continental South America, northwards of 

 Patagonia, these seals have to a great extent disappeared, 

 but arc more common on some of the adjacent islands, such 

 as the Galipagos Islands. It will be found stated in some 

 works that these seals occur on the coasts of Lobes (Seal) 

 Island, near Monte Video; but the species found there, 

 and also on some rocks closa to the watering-place of Mar 

 del Plata on the Argentine coast, is, we believe, the 

 southern sea-lion (O./nhiitii), which is a hair seal. In the 

 Falklands and South Shetlands, where they were formerly 

 so free from fear of man as not to attempt an escape when 

 their fellows were killed, they are more abundant. During 

 the voyage of the ChalUmjfr these seals were found in 



