ALASKA INDUSTRIES. 43 



RTCI'LY OF DR. CARLOS BERG, OF BUENOS A.YRES. 



JUNE 4, 1892. 



SIR: In answer to your circular dated April 2, and directed to Dr. Hermann Bar- 

 meister, I regret to let yon know that same died shortly before the transmission of 

 your circular by D. N. Bertolette, esq. 



Having been named director of the national museum in the place of the deceased, 

 I have read with great interest your report and conclusions about the causes of the 

 decrease and the measures necessary for the restoration and permanent preservation 

 of the seal herd on the Pribilof Islands, in Bering Sea, and according to your wish I 

 have the pleasure to let you know that from the standpoint of a naturalist I per- 

 fectly agree with you in considering your conclusions and recommendations justified 

 and necessitated by the facts stated by you as a result of your special investigation 

 on the above-named islands. 



Very truly, yours, CARLOS BERG. 



REPLY OF PROF. DR. ALFRED NEHRING, ROYAL AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE OF BERLIN. 



BERLIN, April 21, 1892. 

 Mr. C. HART MERRIAM, 



United States Department of Agriculture) Washington, D. C. : 



HIGHLY ESTEEMED SIR: I have carefully read and considered your elaborate 

 and very interesting letter of the 2d instant, which I received yesterday through 

 Mr. John Brinkerhotf Jackson, secretary of legation of the North American legation 

 in this city, and, in reply, I send you a statement of my views with regard to its 

 contents. 



What you say concerning the mode of life, and especially the annual migrations of 

 the fur seal (Callorhinus ursinus), whose breeding places are the Pribilof Islands, is so 

 clear and convincing, and harmonizes so perfectly with what has been observed by 

 other reliable scientists, that I fully agree with your deductions. I am, like your- 

 self, of the opinion that the remarkable decrease of fur seals on the rookeries of the 

 Pribilof Islands, which has, of late years, become more and more evident, is to be 

 attributed mainly, or perhaps exclusively, to the unreasonable destruction caused 

 by the sealers who ply their avocation in the open sea. The only rational method 

 of taking the fur seal, and the only one that is not likely to result in the extermi- 

 nation of this valuable animal, is the one which has hitherto been employed on the 

 Pribilof Islands under the supervision of the Government. Any other method of 

 taking the northern fur seal should, in my opinion, be prohibited by international 

 agreement. I should, at furthest, approve a local pursuit of the fur seal, where it 

 is destructive of the fisheries in its southern winter quarters. I regard pelagic fur 

 sealing as very unwise; it must soon lead to a decrease, bordering on extermination 

 of the fur seal. 



With great respect, Prof. Dr. ALFRED NEHRING, 



Professor of Zoology in the Eoyal Agricultural College of Berlin. 



REPLY OF PROF. COUNT TOMMASO SALVADORI. 



ZOOLOGICAL MUSEUM, Turin, April 5, 1899. 

 C. HART MERRIAM, 



United States Department of Agriculture, 



Division of Ornithology, Washington, D. C. 



DEAR SIR: I have received your letter concerning the northern fur seal, on the 

 condition of which you have been selected as naturalist to investigate and report 

 by the Government of the United States. 



As a whole I agree with you as to the facts and conclusions drawn on your report, 

 although the increasing number of seal skins actually secured and sold, as a result 

 of pelagic sealing shown in your table, does not sufficiently prove, in my mind, that 

 we are already in the period of a decided diminution of the number of living seals. 

 Still, I quite admit that it is absolutely necessary to adopt some measures for the 

 preservation of the seal herds. 



No doubt the free pelagic sealing is a cause which will act to the destruction of 

 the seal herds, and to that it must be put a stop as soon as possible. But at the same 

 time I tli ink that the yearly killing of about 100,000 young males on the Pribilof 

 Inlands must have some influence on the diminution of the herds, especially pre- 

 venting the natural or sexual selection of the stronger males, which would follow if 

 the young males were not killed in such a great number. So that, with the stop- 

 ping of the pelagic sealing, I think, at least for a few years, also the slaughter of so 

 many young males in the Pribilof Islands should be prohibited. 

 I remain, very truly, yours, 



PROF. T. SALVADOR!. 



