what the whole number is. There are millions of seals in the Pacific Ocean. You have no conception of the vast myriads of them.

Q. Then why is it of any importance to preserve the breeding islands? A. Because it is to furnish these seal-skins for fashion; that is actually all there is about it, gentlemen, so the ladies can have nice seal-skin coats; but I don't see that the poor man gets anything cheaper by it.

Q. The skin constitutes the sole value of the seal?-A. Yes, sir; that is all; it is not an article of food.

EXTRACT FROM "LIST OF REPORTED DANGERS IN THE NORTH PACIFIC OCEAN," COMPILED AND ARRANGED BY THE U. S. HYDROGRAPHIC OFFICE, WASHINGTON, D. C.,1871.

The U. S. N. P. Surv. Exp., when at San Francisco in 1856, found reports in circulation of the existence of an island, or a group of islands, in that part of the Pacific Ocean, to which the positions in the opposite column refer. It was said that a rookery of seals existed there, and the place was kept secret, in order to secure the exclusive exhaustion of it to certain parties. Subsequently Captain Kentzell, a San Francisco pilot, asserted to have seen the island in the position which he gave from actual observation, describing it to be about 20 miles long and very low; and the master of the bark Washington, reported in 1867, as follows: "On my passage from the Sandwich Islands to the northwest coast of the United States, when in latitude 40° 00′ N., in a dense fog, I perceived the sea to be discolored. Soundings at first gave great depths, but diminished gradually to 9 fathoms, when through the mist an island was seen, along which I sailed 40 miles. It was covered with birds, and the sea swarmed with seal and sea elephants." The flagship of the U. S. N. P. Surv. Exp., on her way home, searched for this island, and sounded close to the position in which subsequently Captain Kentzell placed it; bottom was thought to have been reached at 2,600 fathoms, but no indication of land was perceived in the vicinity.

In 1858 H. B. M.'s ship Trinconomale searched for fourteen days between the parallels of 39° 30′ and 40° 30′ N. and the meridians of 148° 30 and 152° 00' W. without finding anything. The mail steamer Colorado also has passed repeatedly near this region, looking out for the reported land without success.

In 1860 the Japanese sloop of war Candiu-manuh came over from Japan to San Francisco, guided by Lieutenant John M. Brooks, U. S. N., who had taken passage in her. The following extract from her log, kept by that officer, refers to this mysterious part of the ocean:

"March 8, 1860, noon. Latitude 41° 19' 29" N.; longitude 146° 29′ W. Fresh breezes from N. and W., with frequent squalls, heavy sea,

1 Pp. 8, 9.

color very much as on soundings. At 4 hrs., 30 m. had just computed longitude when Captain Tomogoroh and others rushed in my room in great excitement, reporting land in sight. I ran on deck, and one of my men, an American sailor, coming down from aloft, said he saw low land and breakers ahead, extending three points on the starboard bow; also on the weather bow. I therefore wore ship, and stoop on by the wind S. by W. I then went aloft with another of my men, who said that he could see low land and breakers on the lee; but I could not, although using an opera glass. The sea appeared rather white on the horizon; there were also some birds; the passing cloudy snow squalls, however, prevented seeing anything distinctly. After standing 24 miles S. by W. wore again and steered the old course, E. by N., which, if there had been a reef, would have brought us close to it. The sky became clearer in that direction, but nothing was to be seen like breakers or land; all admitted that if it were there we would have seen it. I supposed, when land was reported, it might be the island 'Hiawatha,' which Commodore Rogers had looked for, and was in hopes that we had made a discovery. I presume it was a snow squall; the clouds (cumuli) were very heavy and low down. From the noon position we had ran 17 miles on an E. by N. course when land was reported."

In June, 1867, finally, the schooner Caroline Mills, Captain Turner, was sent out expressly by San Francisco merchants to search for the reported land. On the 17th she was in a position 24 miles distant from its supposed NW. extremity, with a light breeze and a clear atmosphere, but there were no indications of land. On continuing she was at midnight within half a mile of that point. Approaching it the sea became discolored, resembling a bank, which appearance had already been observed when 5 or 6 miles northwest of the supposed island and continued for 200 miles to the eastward, extending 10 degrees of longitude up to 136° 00'. On sounding at noon on the 17th bottom was not obtained with 100-fathoms line; at 10 hrs. p. m., within 4 or 5 miles of the supposed land, no bottom at 55 fathoms; on the 18th at 4 hrs. a. m. no bottom at 90 fathoms, and at 4 hrs. p. m. no bottom at 100 fathoms. The course on that day was SW. up to 16 miles from the reported position of the supposed island, when the sea became blue again; then an eastern course was steered for, land appearing to be at a great distance. It was continued for 75 miles on the reported parallel, but nothing was seen. Everywhere sea birds (sand pipers) and numerous seal were found.

From all this it would appear that the reports of the existence of land in this part of the Pacific Ocean are unreliable, and the "discolored water" may also have been a delusion.

EXTRACT FROM A PAPER PREPARED BY WILLIAM PALMER.'

FATE OF THE FUR-SEAL IN AMERICA.

[Read before the Biological Society of Washington, D. C., October 17, 1891 and illustrated by lantern slides.]

The present condition of the Alaskan fur-seal islands is but another illustration of the fact that the ignorance, avarice, and stupidity of man have succeeded in reducing an overwhelming abundance of animal life 1 As published in Forest and Stream for October 29, 1891. 12364

-19

that, by careful and considerate treatment, would forever have been a source of immense wealth, to such a condition that it becomes a question of great moment to devise means to prevent its extermination and adopt measures to restore its former abundance.

In 1867 the United States purchased of Russia for $7,200,000 all of the territory known as Russian America and now as Alaska. At the time it was expected that it would prove a paying investment. Great tales were told of the fabulous wealth that was there in the shape of lumber, coal, precious metals, etc., and but little stress was laid upon the fact that fur-seals were found in abundance upon two small islands, but nowhere else in North America. Now, after the experience of over twenty years, what is the result? Alaska itself pays almost nothing into the National Treasury; in fact, it takes over $200,000 yearly to support its management, while the two little islands of St. Paul and St. George, with a direct yearly expenditure of less than $20,000, have almost returned to the National Treasury the large sum paid for the whole of Alaska. The net income from the seal islands for the past twenty years has been in round numbers $6,000,000. The net income for the next twenty years, based on the bids of the new company holding the lease, would be over $20,000,000, but the actual amount will be less than a million unless stringent measures are taken to prevent a further decrease of seal life and to provide for better methods of management.

It will be seen by this that the preservation of seal life on the Pribylov Islands is really deserving of the utmost consideration and that a proper enforcement of the best means and measures is demanded even from a purely business point of view.

Rainy, foggy, and cold, nasty weather is the rule on the islands, and to this fact is greatly due the residence and abundance of seal life during the summer. Wherever a rocky slope extends into the sea therǝ the seals haul out and form a colony. On St. Paul's there are nine of these places, the smallest having a sea margin of 750 feet, while the largest, that at Northeast Point, is 15,850 feet in length. On St. George's there are five, with an average sea margin of only 700 feet. The average width is 100 feet. The seals on the island are divided by name into four groups or divisions, which are well known to everybody there. The male seals of seven or eight years old and upward are known as bulls, and are the only males large and strong enough to maintain a position on the breeding grounds. The female seals are known as cows, while the young seal of the year is called a pup. The male seals one year old and upward are called "holluschickie," or bachelor seals, and it is from the ranks of these that the killable seals are taken. The breeding grounds are known as rookeries. In 1874 Mr. Henry W. Elliott, as the result of two seasons' work, estimated that there were on the rookeries 3,193,000 breeding seals and young. Last year, as a result of another survey of the rookeries on the same basis, it was found that less than 1,000,000 breeding seals and young were left.

About the end of April there appear about the islands a few old bull seals. These gradually increase in numbers until by June 1 all have arrived and occupied positions on the rookeries. This is only done as the result of continual fighting and bellowing, which is kept up incessantly. About June 10 the cows arrive and by the middle of July they have all landed on the rookeries.

Soon after the cow lands, sometimes the same day, she gives birth to a single young, and in the course of a week or two returns to the sea to

procure food. For this purpose they travel from 50 to 100 miles west, southwest, and northwest of the islands, where they only too readily fall a prey to the seal hunters, who have learned to await their arrival at these places in Bering Sea.

While the fur-seal is a quiet, shy, and easily alarmed animal, it has several peculiar habits which are taken advantage of by the seal hunters and render its capture almost an easy matter. Fur-seals are commonly seen scratching themselves while at the surface of the water. A seal, having satisfied its hunger and desiring to rest, will ascend to the surface, and with only the tip of its nose and a small portion of its back, with now and then a flipper, out of water, will sleep, though in a rather fitful manner, or, with closed eyes, it will roll over and over, keeping its body in a continual slow motion, with one flipper gently beating the water, and bending its body in every conceivable position. I had many splendid opportunities of observing this habit of the seals. On one occasion I waded out until I could have touched with my fingers a fur-seal floating on the surface. With its eyes closed it rolled over several times a minute, at the same time bending and twisting its body into every possible position, using one of its fore flippers as a paddle, and occasionally scratching itself with a hind flipper. I stood thus for more than fifteen minutes, and could at any moment have easily killed it. But suddenly, as it was slowly drifting to leeward of me, its great eyes opened, a look of astonishment seemed to pass over its face, and in an instant, with a great plunge, it had disappeared below the surface, only, however, as is the habit of the fur-seal, to rise again a few yards away, take a last look at the strange object that had alarmed it, and again disappear, this time for good."

It is to this habit of the fur-seal that the success of the pelagic seal hunters is due. On a calm day hundreds of the seals may be seen on the surface engaged in this manner. The poachers are provided with canoes, mostly manned with Puget Sound Indians, who stealthily paddle up to the unconscious seal from leeward and, shooting it through the head, immediately attempt to prevent its sinking by catching it with a pole armed with hooks. It is known that from five to nine of the seals out of every ten that are struck sink before they can be reached, so that the waste of seal life by the pelagic seal hunters is from 50 to 90 per cent. But there is to be added to this statement another fact. The greater number of the seals captured in the waters of Bering Sea are females which are on their way to or have left their young on the rookeries while they are seeking food. As it is a well-known fact that a mother seal will only suckle its own young, and that the young seal is unable until it is several months old to procure its own food, it necessarily obtains that the death of the pup follows that of its mother in a short time. The numbers of dead pups about the shores of St. Paul's began to attract my attention about the middle of July last year. On Aug. 2 I stood on Zoltoi Beach and counted 17 dead pups within ten feet of me, and a line of them stretched the whole length of the beach. Many of them starve to death on the rookeries, but by far the greater number sink in the deep water along the margin of the rookeries.1

The remaining portion of this article appears at page 187 of the Report of the British Bering Sea Commissioners.

EXTRACT FROM PRODROMUS OF THE ZOÖLOGY OF VICTORIA, DECADE VIII, BY SIR FREDERICK McCOY.

Having told my friends, Trooper Ardill and the sealer Ross, that I should like to have their observations on the creature in writing for publication, the former furnished me with the following interesting account, which I give in his own words, conveying Ross's observations and his own:

COWES POLICE STATION, 12th March, 1880.

In reply to your enquiries relative to the seals which frequent the seal rocks off Phillip Island: The seals come to the rocks about 1st October. The time of bringing forth the pups is between 10th November and 10th December. They do not commence to breed until they are three years old. The male (or bull) during the pupping season will ascend the rocks and stop for one or two months without food, and is extremely attentive to the female (or cow) and pups. When the females fight and quarrel he restores order.. The bull is very fat in the beginning of the season, and yields from five to ten gallons of oil, and in three weeks after will hardly yield one gallon, the yield, of course, depending on the age and size of the bull. The cows are seldom killed, as they have very little fat. It is against the rule of sealers to kill a cow or the pups.

They live on fish of various kinds. I have found the backbones of fish 2 feet in length. They eat leather-jackets, parrot fish, squid, etc. I found one backbone 2 feet 4 inches long; it may have been a barracuta or pike; I don't think it was a shark. I have found a few joints of a shark's backbone.

The bull is very furious at pupping season, and when disturbed will go into the water and return in a few minutes. Out of season they go to sea in the morning and return at night. When fighting they strike each other like the boar. Their teeth are about 14 inches long and cut terribly. I have seen cuts from 1 to 10 inches in length.

The usual color is a yellowish brown, although some have been seen that were spotted, and some a beautiful grey.1

They generally select flat, inaccessible rocks, or, where they are not disturbed, they select the grassy patches.

The cow generally brings forth one pup; sometimes two. They keep good watch and care affectionately for their offspring. They circle round them in rough, stormy weather, and keep them from any wash or sea that may come over the rocks. I have seen three pups washed off the rocks and the cows have immediately followed and brought them on the rocks again in an astonishingly rapid manner. I have also seen them catch a pup in their mouth and throw them 10 feet high and never hurt them.

The bull's voice or noise is guttural, and when angry sounds something like "oough, oough." The noise is much heavier than any animal I know. When trying to pacify the cows it sounds like "yah, yah," said quick and short. The noise of the cow is very much like a cow of the bovine species. The pup bleats like a lamb.

Their sight is not so good, so it is generally said. I think myself their sight good enough, but they not smelling man don't think he will harm them; when they get the least scent they are off like a shot.

During the pupping season they keep up an incessant noise during the night and generally keep quiet during the day. They look clumsy

This is the variety figured in Decade LV, Plate 31.