APPENDIX TO COUNTER-CASE OP GREAT BRITAIN. 891 



No. 25. 



I, George Rice, of Nos. 32, 33, and 40, Great Prescot Street, in the 

 City of London, dresser and dyer, solemnly and sincerely declare as 

 follows : 



1. I am tlie same person as the George Eice who made a deposition 

 on behalf of the United States, which is dated the 15th day of June, 

 1892, and appears at p. 572 of the United States Appendix, vol. ii. 



2. I was formerly in the employ of Messrs. Oi)penheim and Co., the 

 well-known firm, who were at one time the sole imj^orters of Alaska 

 skins. When this firm ceased to carry on business I was with the firm 

 of Messrs. Martin andTeichmann, who at that period dressed and dyed 

 a considerable part of the Alaskan catch. 



3. Up to 1878 I never remember having seen amongst the Alaska 

 catch any female skins. In that year for the first time I noticed the 

 appearance of a few female skins, which I at once drew to the attention 

 of the firm. In the following year there were also a few of these skins, 

 but what percentage, or what number, I cannot at this distance of time 

 recall. Since that period I have always noticed amongst the Alaska 

 catch a certain percentage of skins which were female, and which per- 

 centage has slowly increased, and amounted to in my opinion (at a 



rough guess) in 1889 to from 10 to 15 per cent. 

 247 4. And I make this declaration conscientiously believing the 



contents to be true, and by virtue of " The Statutory Declara- 

 tion Act, 1835." 



(Signed) Geo. Rice. 



Declared at No. 40, Great Prescot Street, in the City of London, this 

 13th day of January, 1893. 

 Before me : 



(Signed) Walter B. Priest, 



A Commissioner for Oaths. 



No. 26. 



I, David Wotherspoon, Junior, of No. GO, Cheapside, in the City of 

 London, furrier, solemnly and sincerely declare as follows: 



1. I am a member of the firm of D. and J. Wotherspoon. My firm 

 are wholesale furriers, and have been established for nearly 100 years. 

 I have had a i)ersonal experience in the fur business of twenty-five 

 years. I am also a member of the Zoological Society, and have always 

 taken an interest in natural history, and have read all I could upon the 

 subject, although I am not a professional scientist. 



2. In my opinion the difference between Alaskas and Coppers is very 

 trifling, and the animals are of the same species. The differences, such 

 as they are, are as follows : 



(1.) The quality of the fur is closer or denser in the case of the Alaska 

 than the Coppers, and is also, in my opinion, of a more silky nature. 

 This difference is probably due to the difference of climate and food. 



(2.) The sizes of the skins from the Pribyloff Islands are on the 

 whole larger than those from the Copper Islands, showing that the 

 selecting and handling on Pribyloff' is better. 



There are no other differences that 1 know of between the two kinds. 



(3.) The wool perhaps is somewhat paler than in Alaskas, although 

 this is not invariably so. 



