COUNTER-CASE OF GREAT BRITAIN. 149 



secure the "quota;" and as early as 1883 the standard 

 weight of skins had to be lowered, in order to enable the 

 "quota" to be maintained. On this particular symptom, 

 marking- a stage in progressive decrease, Dr. H. H. Mclntyre 

 writes : 



ADMITTED RKDUCTION IX STAXDAKD SIZK OK SKINS IN 1888. 



After 1883 the sizes decreased, and have constantly decreased ever ^ -^ 50th 

 since. Last year [1887] they [the London buyers] sent an urgent ^ong., 2nd Sesa., 

 ap]ieal to take hirger slvins, as the sizes were running down; but we Report No. [iSHS, 

 were unable to resjiond, and during the present season the catch aver- P- us- 

 ages still smaller in size. 



Further facts bearing directly on this point will be found British Com- 

 at pp. 23L', 233 of this Counter-Case, and in the Eeport oi:'^^^"^^^^ gt 

 the British Commissioners on this subject, so that it is^os. ' 

 unnecessary here to follow it at greater length. 



DECREASE IN SEALS IS ATTRIBUTED TO PELAGIC SEAL- 

 ERS ON UNTRUSTWORTHY DATA. 



In the endeavour made, in the Case of the United States, 

 to fix the whole responsibility for an observed decrease of 

 seals on the Pribyloft" Islands upon the pelagic sealers, the 



arguments advanced are founded on so long a train 

 171 of untrustworthy data, that it is not possible here to 



controvert them in logical order without passing in 

 review niearly all the topics relating to seal life which are 

 dealt with in this Counter-Case. The loss of seals killed 

 at sea is greatly exaggerated and hypothetical figures are 

 thus arrived at for tiie total number of seals killed at sea, 

 which, as elsewhere shown, are erroneous. The i)roportion 

 of females and the i)ercentage of those which are still car- ^p- ^^'^ «<««?• 

 rying their young are in like manner exaggerated, and the 

 fact that no corresponding decrease of seals at sea has 

 occurred is ignored or denied. 



BRIEF EXAMINATION OF THESE DATA. 



In order to understand the actual character of the con- 

 tention now advanced on the part of the United States, it 

 is necessary to bear in mind the following material facts : 



1. It is alleged that the seals killed upon the Pribyloflf 

 Islands are young males only, say, under varied conditions, 

 males of from 3 to 5 years of age. 



2. It is asserted in the Case of the United States that 

 almost all the seals killed at sea are females, and that a 

 vast majority of these are (to the south of Behring Sea) 

 gravid females and (in Behring Sea) nursing females. 



3. It has been shown above, and is elsewhere further 

 demonstrated, that the decrease on the Pribyloft" Islands 

 had reached serious proportions as early as 1879, and that 

 the date assigned in the Case of the United States (1884), 

 on the authority of retrospective statements only, is erro- 

 neous. 



4. It is further shown by the official Eeports of the United 

 States, that the decrease observed and c()m])lained of in 

 1879 aiul in following years occurred in "killable" young 

 males. 



