378 ALASKA INDUSTRIES. 



the gentlemen designated to assist you, reliance being placed upon 

 your judgment to utilize to the best advantage the means supplied for 

 accomplishing the objects of the expedition. You are authorized to 

 direct the members of your party to act conjointly with you on all mat- 

 ters, or you may assign them severally to the study of separate subjects, 

 or to different localities, as you consider most expedient. The advisa- 

 bility is suggested for your consideration of sending one of your party 

 upon the Albatross to the Kurile and Eobben islands. Should you 

 need transportation during such absence of the Albatross, the com- 

 mander of the Bering Sea patrol fleet, Captain Hooper, will be instructed 

 to render you every facility. 



Your final report will be expected to relate more specifically to the 

 group of seals which resort to the Pribilof Islands, but the Asiatic 

 herd may be investigated to such extent as seems advisable in order to 

 afford the opportunity for instituting comparisons from which important 

 deductions may be reached. 



The principal object of this investigation is to determine by precise 

 and detailed observations, first, the present condition of the American 

 fur-seal herd; second, the nature and imminence of the causes, if any, 

 which appear to threaten its extermination; third, what, if any, bene- 

 fits have been secured to the herd through the operation of the act of 

 Congress and act of Parliament based upon the award by the Paris 

 Tribunal of Arbitration; fourth, what, if any, additional protective 

 measures on land or at sea, or changes in the present system of reg- 

 ulations as to closed season, prohibited zone, prohibition of firearms, etc., 

 are required to insure the preservation of the fur-seal herd. 



Your inquiries should furthermore be extended, in so far as the time 

 and circumstances permit, to embrace the consideration of all important 

 questions relating to the natural history of the seals, both at sea and 

 on the islands, with special reference to their bearing upon the sealing 

 industry. 



Your attention is specially directed to the following questions which 

 should be treated in your report. 



(1) The effect of pelagic sealing in the North Pacific Ocean and Bering 

 Sea upon the fur-seal herd, due account being taken of the classes of 

 seals killed. 



(2) What effect, if any, has the annual removal of bachelor seals, 

 which has taken place on the Pribilof Islands, had upon the fur-seal 

 herd? 



The solution of these two questions involves a study of the entire 

 subject of the relations of the two sexes and the proportion of the male 

 seals required to be preserved in order to maintain the stability of the 

 herd. 



(3) Whether killing on land or sea has interfered with the regular 

 habits and occupation of the islands by the herd, or has operated to 

 reduce the strength of the seal race as a whole by a natural selection? 



(4) The propriety of existing methods of driving seals from the 

 hauling grounds to the killing grounds, culling, and other practices 

 connected therewith ? 



(5) The cause of the destruction of nursing pups upon the islands t 

 During the seasons of 1894 and 1895 about 20,000 and 30,000 dead pups, 

 respectively, were found upon the islands. You should specially con- 

 sider the causes of their death, whether from starvation or other cause, 

 preserving specimens whenever practicable. 



(6) The extent, date, and causes or mortality on the islands of seals 

 of all classes? 



