IN BERING SEA AND NORTH PACIFIC. 85 



females in milk " (Sec. 649) does not destroy Grounds for the 



Report's state- 



tlie offspring of such females (Sees. 355, 356). ments. 



It will be seen, on an examination of the state- 

 ments of the pelagic sealers quoted in the Report 

 (Sees. 645, 646), that but eight refer to the num- 

 ber of females taken in Bering Sea, and these 

 give percentages which are practically the same 

 as those given for the catch in the North Pacific. 

 It is, therefore, conceded that the destruction of 

 female life in Bering Sea is as great as along the 

 Northwest Coast. The distinction is made, how- Pregnant fe. 



males. 



ever, that no gravid females are taken in Bering 

 Sea. It must be recollected, in this connection, 

 that the admitted period of gestation of the fur- 

 seal is "nearly twelve months" (Sec. 434), and 

 that, therefore, an adult female which has been 

 fertilized is pregnant at all times when found 

 in the water, and certainly so if the fact alleged 

 in the Report, that the female remains on the 

 rookeries from four to six weeks after giving 

 birth to her young, could be established (Sees. 

 306, 307). 



The designed implication that very few nursing Nursing females, 

 female seals are taken by pelagic sealers (Sec. 

 649) is based on pure assumption, no evidence capt. Hooper's 

 being advanced to support it. Capt. Hooper, 1892?" lsal 

 already referred to, states that of 29 female seals 

 taken by him in 1892 in Bering Sea, 22 were 



