82 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



The St. John's 'Evening Telegram' of the 26th April gives 

 an account of the second trip of the ' Diana,' and estimates her 

 catch of 12,657, mostly old ones, to represent an equivalent of 

 some 30,000 young seals ; she actually killed 3000 more than she 

 could stow away, heing only a vessel of 290 tons, and these were 

 brought home for her by the ' Falcon.' The only catch I can 

 call to mind which exceeded that of the 'Diana' was made in 

 1888 by the ' Neptune,' a vessel of 465 tons, which brought home 

 42,242 seals for one trip. In my notes for 1884 I made some 

 remarks on the objectionable practice of making second trips, 

 especially in the case of vessels already well provided, and there 

 seemed at that time a tendency on the part of the owners to 

 discountenance the practice ; it was agreed to close the fishery 

 on the 26th of April, instead of continuing it till the end of May, 

 and this arrangement has, I believe, been adhered to. Let us, 

 however, follow the ' Diana,' as reported in the St. John's paper 

 already referred to and see what is the result of continuing the 

 fishing even as late as the 20th of April. This, it must be 

 remembered, was her second trip, she having already killed 

 28,247 seals. On the 28th March the Captain put his gunners 

 on the ice, and took the handsome number of 1800 old seals. 

 " On the 30th they struck another small patch of seals, and took 

 2000, and at still another place captured. 200 more." On April 

 12th seals were again met with, estimated to number some 

 60,000 ; later in the day all hands went on to the ice, " and in 

 less than three hours the battle was won, to the tune of three 



cheers, fully 10,000 seals lying as they were slain on the ice 



It was midnight, and after snatching their well-won repose, the 

 crew were on the ice at daylight, each one bearing a knob of coal 

 and an allowance of provisions. They were followed by a detail 

 of cooks and stewards, who prepared meals on the ice. The work 

 of sculping and panning the seals went on through the day .... 

 At 6 p.m., the flags of the ship flying over each pile of seals, 



covering an area of a square mile At 2 p.m. on the 20th 



the steamer was loaded below and on deck with 12,400 old seals." 

 " Our informant," proceeds the St. John's ' Evening Telegram,' 

 " of these details — the best authority on board the ' Diana ' — is 

 frank and honest enough to say that these seals were all breeding 

 seals ; and in an outspoken spirit he admits that they were killing 

 the goose which lays the golden eggs. ' Second trips,' he adds, 



