434 Biology in America 



States, and then proceeded to formulate regulations, govern- 

 ing 1 both parties to the controversy, and designed to furnish 

 adequate future protection to the seals. But, like most third 

 parties to any controversy, the seals were inevitably the 

 sufferers. The regulations prohibited pelagic sealing within 

 sixty miles of the breeding grounds, but since the female 

 seals wander far outside this limit, their destruction con- 

 tinued as before. Now the death of one female during the 

 summer means the destruction of three seals the mother, 

 her unborn young (for most females are gravid at this time) 

 and the young of the year, left to starve in its rocky home 

 on the breeding grounds. The matter was finally adjusted 

 by Russia and the United States, the owners of the rookeries, 

 granting to the Canadians and the Japanese, who had entered 

 the field in 1903, fifteen per cent each of the profit from land 

 sealing, in consideration of their abandoning pelagic sealing 

 altogether. As an additional protection the United States 

 declared a closed season on the Pribilofs from 1912 to 1917, 

 at which time the herd had shown some increase, numbering 

 over 450,000 individuals. Sealing was resumed in the latter 

 year and is being prosecuted at present under the direction 

 of the Bureau of Fisheries. 



In respect to the whaling industry, which formerly played 

 so large a part in our maritime industries, the Bureau has 

 done little more than publish annual statistics and some data 

 relative to the utilization of whale products. In the nature 

 of the case propagation of these animals is impossible and 

 the most that could be done is the imposition of a closed 

 season, which would be exceedingly difficult owing to the 

 cosmopolitan character of the whale. Only through inter- 

 national agreement could this be effected, and hitherto, so 

 far as the writer is aware, no steps have been taken in this 

 direction. 



The use of whales thus far has been limited mainly to the 

 skin, oil, " whalebone, " ambergris, bone meal, tallow, glue, 

 etc. The use of the meat has been restricted largely to 

 * * pemmican ' ' for the Esquimaux and arctic explorer, although 

 the Japanese have used it as food for some time, and it is 

 now finding a place on the tables of Europeans and Americans. 



One of the recent activities of the Bureau has been, as one 

 wag expresses it, to "knock H. out of the High Cost of 

 Living. " In so doing it is finding new food supplies among 

 our aquatic animals and educating a highly prejudiced and 

 fastidious public regarding their use. * ' What 's in a name ! ' ' 

 If offered ' * dogfish ' ' we are highly incensed at the indignity, 

 but "canned grayfish" sounds, and therefore tastes, much 

 better. Just as Milady takes greater pride in a beautiful set 



