27 



fairly fresli for a weelc, and the odor of the killinji ground, with tbouBauds of decay- 

 ing carcasses upon it, is not usually noticeable to human beings a Iburth of a mile 

 away. Even at close range the smell is not putrid, but rather a tauyard-lilce smell 

 of blubber and oil growing rancid. Under no circumstances is the strong putrid 

 odor of southern latitudes to be detected. The rookeries have a strong musky smell 

 of excrement and urine, much like the breath of the angry bulls, but, while strong, it 

 is not very offensive." 



That the odor of the killing ground has produced no effect on the cows and 

 bulls is clearly shown by the uninterrupted occupancy of Lagoon Rookeiy during all 

 the time when the village killing ground, then the only killing ground on the island, 

 was situated just across the narrow chanu(d forming the entrance to the higoon, in 

 plain sight and only a f/w hundred ieet away. Today one of the favorite hauling 

 grounds of the bulls in August and September, and a place frequented during the 

 entireseasou by bachelors, is on Zolotoi sands, within a few hundred feet of the ]ires- 

 eut village killing yround. In the main the killing giounds are well away from the 

 hauling grounds and rookeries, but there is no evidence to show that were they 

 close it would have any effect on the actions of the seals. Late in the fall the odor 

 from the earlier dead pups becomes very offensive. This may annoy the cows and 

 pups lying on or near them, and this may have something to do with the backward 

 movenumt of these animals in September and Oc^.ober, but this is by no nic^ans cer- 

 tain, ;ind the senls withdraw not merely ifom the places where the dead bodies are 

 thickest, but from other places iis well. In fact, there is nothing whatever to show 

 that the seals themselves notice or pay any attention to such odors or to any odors 

 proceeding from objects at a distance from them. The great care often taken to 

 approach a herd of fur seals from the leeward side is usually unnecessary. 



REDUCTION IX NUMBEl! OF BULLS. 



Some slight alterations in the conditions of life necessarily result from the inter- 

 ference of man. Keduction of the number of bulls causes them to take their stands 

 farther apart. This in some measure reduces their turbulence. Killing at sea has 

 still more rapidly reduced the number of females, thereby c:iusiug a general thin- 

 ning out of the harems. This enables the individual bull to "round nj)" more easily 

 those cows he claims as his own, and witli less iuterl'erence fiom jealous rivals. 



NATURAL SELECTION. 



There is no evidence that the race of fur seals as a whole has been in any way 

 affected by the arbitrary selection or' males for killing. Only strong, vigorous males 

 can maintain themselves on the rookeries in any case, and those allowed to live are 

 not more or less \igorous than the others would have been. The variations in these 

 regards are not great, and effects, if any exist, would not appear lor many genera- 

 tions, j)erhaps not for centuries. Careful supervision might make an etfective arti- 

 ficial selection possible, and such experiments, wliether leading to practical results 

 or not, are worth trying, liut it is certain tiiat the character of tlie herd has not 

 been aHected by any act of man. It is to be remembered that a sti'ong selective 

 iniluence is exercised by the migrations in the sea. Only the vigorous members of 

 the herd survive the experiences of the winter. Xo decrepit individuals have been 

 known to come back in the s]iring. The rough sea of the North tells no tales, and 

 we know very little of the severity of the sorting i)roeess which esery year sends 

 back to the islands only those Ht to sur\ i\'e. 



^^'ith the fur seal, natural selection has to do mainly with the struggle against 

 conditions of life. 'I'he competitive struggle of individual against individual is a 

 very slight eh-ment. The success of the individual male depends rather on his loca- 

 tion than on his strength or prowess. The choice of place by females determines in 

 the main the size of the harem. From the ruthless natural destruction of all seals 

 in which the geograiihical instinct or the instincts of feeding and reproduction are 

 defective, results the extreme perfection of these few instincts which the animal 

 possesses. 



INSTINCT AND INTELLIGENCE. 



The life i)rocesses of the fur seal are as iierfect as clockwork; but its grade of 

 intelligence is low. Its range of choice in action is very slight. It is a wonderful 

 automaton, and the stress of migrations will always keep it so. 



I?y intellect or intelligence in this sense is meant the power to choose among dif- 

 ferent possible courses of action. The external intluenees and internal im]iulses i)ro 

 duce certain im])ressions on the nervous system of the animal. By the automatic 

 instinct the response which follows is directly related to the cause, and there is no 

 choice among resjtonses. So much influence; so much rebound. By the operations 

 of instinct each individual in given conditions will act just as any other individual 

 will. Intellect, however, implies individuality. One animal will choose to do this, 



