Maech 19, 1397.] 



SCIENCE. 



455 



protection for the yonng and no obstruc- 

 tion to the moTements of the adnlts, and in 

 consequence there is great loss of life 

 through the quarrels of the bulls and the 

 commotion thus caused among the others, 

 during which the small pups are trampled 

 under foot and many kOled. In rocky 

 places there is little loss, and about a fort- 

 night or so after birth the pups draw out of 

 the breeding grounds and are comparatively 

 safe. A few young seals are drowned and 

 a few die from disease or are killed by acci- 

 dents, and a few starve from the death of 

 their mothers and other unknown causes, 

 but the number is not great and there is no 

 evidence of any epidemic. All the dead 

 seals were counted between August 6th and 

 August 14th, or as soon as conditions would 

 allow, and there were found 28 adult males, 

 131 females and 11.W.5 young, over 10,000 

 of these latter having been killed by tramp- 

 ling. The old bulls are kOled in combat 

 and the females by being pulled about in 

 the struggles for their possession which 

 take place among the bulls. The vast ma- 

 jority of young are killed so early in the 

 season that by the time it is possible to 

 enter the breeding ground they are in an 

 advanced stage of decomposition. 



In October the dead seals were again 

 counted, and 14. 34.3 were found starved to 

 death, and 1,546 niore in a perishing con- 

 dition, all this being directly due to the 

 killing of females at sea. 



In regard to pelagic seaUng, and the 

 effects of the award of the Paris Tribunal, 

 the conclusions are emphatically expressed, 

 and. whUe there has never been any doubt 

 on these points in the minds of those who 

 have given them the least unprejudiced at- 

 tention, it is to be hoped that some im- 

 pression may be made even on prejudiced 

 minds. The closed zone of 60 mUes about 

 the islands affords lit tie real protection, 

 save against raids, since the majority of 

 seals feed at a distance of 75 to 150 miles 



from the Pribilofe, and all that the sealers 

 need do is to lie just outside the 60-miIe limit 

 and there await the coming of the seals. 

 The selection of August as an open month 

 is about the worst that could be made, as 

 during that month the weather is the finest 

 of the year and the most seals are going to 

 and coming from the feeding grounds. 

 The majority of seals taken at sea are 

 females, and nursing females at that, all 

 reports that the numbers of sexes are even 

 approximately equal being intentionally 

 or unintentionally false. 



The nursing females are obliged to go to 

 sea in search of food at times when the 

 males are safe on shore or in the vicinity 

 of the islands, and, as they are not allowed 

 to leave their harems until impregnated, 

 the killing of each nursing seal means the 

 death of her pup, as well as the loss of that 

 •which "would have been bom during the 

 succeeding season. 



It is evident that pelagic sealing and the 

 seal herd cannot exist together ; the continu- 

 ation of the one means the practical ex- 

 termination of the other, and nothing short 

 of the total cessation of pelagic sealing will 

 enable the seals to recuperate. The closure 

 of Bering Sea might possibly preserve the 

 seals in their present reduced condition, but 

 this is by no means certain, as they are ex- 

 posed to capture all the way from San Fran- 

 cisco to the Aleutian Islands during six 

 months of the year, and. so long as pelagic 

 sealing is permitted at all, the far-seal ques- 

 tion cannot be considered as settled. 



PROPOSED EXPLOEATIOXS OX THE COASTS 

 OF THE XORTH PACIFIC OCEAX. 

 The American ilusenm of Xatural His- 

 tory is about to undertake a systematic ex- 

 ploration of the peoples inhabiting the 

 coasts of the Xorth Pacific Ocean between 

 the Amoor Eiver in Asia and Columbia Eiver 

 in America. The funds for this important 

 undertaking have been very generously 



