298 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



prohibited ; it is quite sufficiently destructive for the sealers to 

 kill all the Seals which they can drag to the ship, but to bulk 

 Seals which from various causes, such as fog, drifting ice, or the 

 vessel being compelled by stress of weather or the tightening of 

 the ice, to desert them, so that possibly they may never see them 

 again, is a wasteful mode of proceeding which ought to be dis- 

 couraged by all means, and it is to be regretted that by mutual 

 arrangement amongst the sealers or otherwise it is not abandoned. 



The result of the Greenland Seal-fisherj', so far as the British 

 ships are concerned, was a take of 37,922, or an average of 2917 

 per vessel, against a total of 22,142 for the season of 1882. 

 Formerly, before the close time was enacted, the sealers took only 

 the skins and oil of the old Seals, the pups being too young to 

 yield oil and their skins useless, they were left to perish ; now, 

 however, as will be seen by the result of Capt. Gray's voyage, very 

 few old Seals are killed, and the pups being older and in fine 

 condition, not only is the yield of oil very good, but the skins 

 are equally valuable. 



Messrs. Stephen &. Son, of Dundee, exhibited at the late 

 Fisheries Exhibition a great variety of fancy leather manufactured 

 from the skins of Seals, and of the pelts of the young Harps 

 dressed with the long soft fur of the first coat, either of the 

 natural colour or dyed ; thus prepared they are now extensively 

 used b}' furriers in the manufacture of the fur capes so universally 

 worn. The consequence of this demand is that the value of the 

 skins has greatly increased, and they bring the importers about 

 6s. to 7s. per skin. The total value of the 1688 tons of seal-oil 

 brought home by the Scotch vessels from Newfoundland and 

 Greenland last season represents a sum of about £52,328, and 

 that of the 130,276 seal-skins, which may be taken at 6s. each, 

 another ^639, 082, a very fair average for this portion of the voyage. 



I fear, however, there are signs of the Greenland Seal-fishery 

 rapidly approaching the stage in which it will not pay to con- 

 tinue it. It is probable that none of the breeding pack escaped 

 detection this season, and that practically all the young brood 

 was killed off. In 1882 the jiack took the ice so far north that 

 some of the vessels missed them altogether, and possibly a portion 

 of the brood escaped, but in the past season the main body of the 

 fleet was up before the close time came to an end, and it is not 

 likely many young ones were left; indeed it is doubtful even now, 



