AQUATIC COITION. 61 



water, 1 but that such act is of great frequency Affirmation of 



its possibility by 



when the males are insufficient in number on the the import, 

 rookeries (Sec. 297). This allegation as to the 

 possibility of pelagic coition is stated in the 

 Report to be established by " ample proof" 

 (Sec. 246). 



An examination of this "ample proof" shows. The evidence in 



L L favor ol aquatic 



that it consists of the following: The opinion of coltiou - 

 Capt, Bryant, contained in his report to the 

 Treasury Department in 1869 (which, as has 

 been shown, is entirely superseded by his paper 

 in the "Monograph of North American Pinni- 

 peds"), and two statements made by him in 

 the latter work (Sec. 295), the references being 

 to pages 385 and 405 (footnote, p. 52), both 

 of which clearly allege the possibility of coition 

 in the water. Besides these statements of Capt. 

 Bryant, the Report quotes Mr. W. H. Dall, who 

 made a statement to Prof. Allen that the female 

 seal receives the male in the water (Sec. 296, p. 

 53). The remainder of the "ample proof" con- 

 sists of "special inquiries" made by the Com- 

 missioners, which "have fully confirmed Bryant's 

 original statements, the evidence obtained includ- 

 ing that of four or five gentlemen who have had 

 long experience with the Pribilof and Com- 



1 Mr. Grebnitzki, an authority recognized by the Report, de- 

 clares that he believes copulation in the water to be impossible, 

 Post?. 364. 



