SUBJECTS FOR INVESTIGATION, 19 
7. The breeding habits of the seals, with special reference to the age at which the females begin 
or cease to breed, and the frequency of the breeding, whether annually or at longer intervals. 
8. The condition of female seals taken at sea, as to nursing and pregnancy. 
9. The distance which the several classes of seals go from the islands and the directions which 
they take in search of food or rest at different times during the season. 
10. The actual decrease, if any, in the number of seals in each class on the Pribilof Islands 
which has occurred during the past year, and also since the year 1890, and since the year 1870. A 
careful census of the rookeries should be taken this season for comparison with the enumeration 
made in 1895 and previous years. 
11, An examination of the question as to the character of the food of fur seals. 
12, Whether the Pribilof Island herd of fur seals intermingle with the Asiatic herds of the 
Commander or Kuril islands. 
13. Whether nursing seals nurse other than their own pups on the islands. 
THE INVESTIGATIONS. 
Acting under these instructions the commission of investigation have made a 
detailed inspection and study of the habits, condition, and needs of the Pribilof 
Islands herd, with a comprehensive and almost equally exhaustive study of the herds 
of the Commander and Kuril islands. The main results of our investigations for the 
season of 1896 have already been published by the Treasury Department in the form 
of a preliminary report.* 
‘The work during the season of 1896 was sufficient to prove the depleted condition 
of the herd and to point out the cause of its threatened destruction. It, however, 
showed clearly that all preceding calculations as to the number of seals resorting to 
the Pribilof Islands were useless for purposes of comparison, being grossly exaggerated 
‘in the early years of American control, and as largely underestimated in the later years 
through a misapprehension of the actual conditions of rookery life. It therefore 
became impossible to form an accurate estimate of the relative conditions of the 
breeding herd or of the rate of its decline. The work of investigation was therefore 
continued during the season of 1897, and its supplemental results have been embodied 
in condensed form in a second preliminary report} which has recently been published 
by the Treasury Department. It now remains for us to bring into the shape of a 
final report the completed results of our labors. In accordance with the broad scope 
of our instructions we have endeavored, so far a8 opportunity afforded, to consider 
“all important questions relating to the natural history of the seals, both at sea and 
on the islands,” and the work has therefore become very voluminous. 
THE REPORT. 
This report naturally falls into four parts or divisions. In Part I the main 
phases of the fur-seal controversy have been taken up and discussed at length, such 
historical matters as seem necessary for a clear understanding of the matter being 
added. In this general discussion the results of more detailed studies on ‘special 
topics, which appear in Part III, are freely used and the original studies referred to 
for more complete information. Part I, therefore, becomes a complete report in itself 
of the investigation so far as the general condition, needs, and possibilities of the 
Pribilof Islands herd of fur seal are concerned. 
* Observations on the Fur Seals of the Pribilof Islands, Jordan, 1896. 
+ Second Preliminary Report of the Bering Sea Fur-Seal Investigations, Jordan, 1897. 
