238 THE ASIATIC FUR-SEAL ISLANDS. 



ACKWOWLEDGMENTS. 



Special and grateful acknowledgment is due to Lieut. Oommander Jeff. P. Moser, 

 commanding the U. S. 8. Albatross, himself one of the Bering Sea Commissioners, for 

 ever-ready cooperation, assistance, and courtesies during the work too numerous to 

 mention, as well as for pleasant companionship during a long and often trying cruise. 

 Similar thanks are due the other ofi&cers. 



I wish to call attention to the valuable aid and information we received from the 

 Japanese authorities and especially to mention Dr. Fujita, director of the bureau of 

 agriculture in the imperial department of agriculture and commerce at Tokyo; Dr. K. 

 Kichiiiouye, chief of the scientific inquries of the fisheries bureau, and Mr, K. Otaki, 

 then in the same bureau; Profs. K. Mitsukuri and I. Ijima of the Imperial University, 

 Tokyo; and Mr. Nozawa, the naturalist and fisheries expert of the Hokkaido-cho, 

 besides a large number of scientific gentlemen connected with the departments and 

 scientific institutions in Tokyo. 



Thanks are also due to the then United States minister at Tokyo, Mr. Edwin Dun, 

 and to Mr. Mclvor, late United States consul-general at Yokohama, for courtesies and 

 assistance rendered. 



Very valuable aid and information has also been received from many private 

 persons iri Japan, among which it is a great pleasure to mention Oapt. H. J. Snow, of 

 Yokohama, for his invaluable addition to the authentic history of the Kuril Islands, 

 and Mr. E. J. King, of Hakodate, for detailed information concerning the pelagic 

 sealing and for many courtesies. Captains Hansen, Puncke, Petersen, and others 

 have also contributed to our store of information, and thanks are extended to them, 

 as well as to a number of other persons who have contributed in a minor way. 



