114 COUNTEK-CASE OF GREAT BRITAIN. 



This evidence is corroborated by tweiity-niue of the i^rin- 

 cipal dealers in fur of the world; and one of them, Mr. 

 Henry Poland, who, besides being a member of a far house 

 established 108 years, is a naturalist, and the author of a 

 work on " Fur-bearing Animals," makes the following 

 statement : 



Ibid., p. 250. That ill the differences I have observed between the Alaska 



131 and Copper Island seals, there are not the slightest grounds 



which would lead one to infer that they were a distinct species, 



the variations of climate, food. &c., would be, in my opinion, sufficient 



to account for the differences I have mentioned. 



In saying this, I speak from the point of view of a naturalist as 

 well as from that of a merchant, and I am of ojiiuion that the se.als 

 from the Pribyloff Islands must often migrate to the Commander 

 Islands, and rice versa. A seal would soon lose the ditiercnces in the 

 changed surroundings. 



AND EVEN INDICATES ITS AMOUNT, 



l^s'ine of the fur merchants give estimates of the number 

 of seals of each class found among consignments of the 

 other class, and state that this amount varies from 20 to 40 

 per cent. 



Thus, the existence of a slight average diiference recog- 

 nized by fur-dealers in their classification of skins, may be 

 employed as the means of showing the existence, and to a 

 certain extent even the amount, of the intermingling. It 

 "Island Life," is, moreovcr, quite in accordance with the known facts of 

 sl'oa^''^'^^^^'^''' geographical distribution to find, in different portions of 

 the range of the same animal, a preponderance of individ- 

 uals tending toward some difference in size, colour, or other 

 characters, which do not become absolutely peculiar to the 

 district, or constant, unless in the event of the creation of 

 some impassable barrier. 



PROFESSOR ALLEN BASES ARGUMENT IN SUPPORT OF 

 UNITED STATES CONTENTIONS ON EVIDENCE OF FUR- 

 DEALERS. 



In further support of the theory now endeavoured to be 

 upheld by the United States, according to which there are 

 entirely distinct seal '"herds" resorting respectively to the 

 Pribyloff and Commander Islands, and never commingling 

 to the slightest extent. Professor J. A. Allen (as already 

 mentioned) is also brought forward. In his Eeport specially 

 prepared in support of the Case of the United States, he 

 writes : 



United States As yet, expert naturalists have been unable to make a direct com- 

 'Case, Appendix, parison of the two animals [i. e., the fur-seals resorting to the two 

 Vol. i. p. 406. groups of islands], but the differences alleged by furriers as distin- 



guishing the representatives of the two herds point to their being 

 separable as sub-species, in other words, as Avdl-marked geographic 

 phases, and thus necessarily distinct in habitat and migration. 



Professor Allen does not speak from personal knowledge, 

 even of the kind possible from the examinations of salted 

 skins, but is guided by the commercial classification of 

 the skins by furriers, of which the nature and scope has 

 already been pointed out. He has not exi)ressed any similar 



