bodies writhe and swell with exertion and | Pribilof Islands soon after the adult rage; furious lights gleam in their eyes; bulls, and endeavor to land upon the their hair flies off into the air, and their rookeries, but are always driven off by blood streams down. All this combined the old males, and are obliged to esmakes a picture so fierce and so strange tablish themselves in separate comthat, from its unexpected position and its novelty, this is one of the most extraordinary brutal contests man can witness.

The ways of the adult males, females, and young have now been shortly described, but there remains a fourth and most important class to be spoken of. When the breeding season is entirely This is that of the bachelors" or non-over, and the pups are grown up and breeding male seals, ranging in age from one to six years, after which they pass into the class of bulls." The bachelors arrive at their home in the

remainder of the herd-cows, bache- | are females." Worse than this, accordlors, and pups - pass on eastward and ing to the same authorities, they are appear off the coast of California about principally females heavy with young. the close of the year. Thence they Thus for every seal of this kind taken turn northwards along the coast of two lives are sacrificed. Moreover, as British Columbia in a long, irregular the seal, if shot dead, sinks quickly body, returning to their breeding quar- below the surface, many of the bodies ters, through the eastern openings of are altogether lost, and another considthe Aleutian Islands, in the following erable element of wastefulness is thus May and June. It is during their prog-attached to "pelagic " sealing.

the fur-seal being polygamous, males may be killed to a large extent without fear of injury to the herd, for, although nearly equal numbers of both sexes appear to be born, one adult male is sufficient for twenty or thirty females. But

and especially of males of the age required to make the best skins, can only be effected on land, where the assembling together of the younger male furseals on particular spots presents the necessary opportunity. I think, there

ress northwards along the coast that Now, let me ask, what owner of a what the American commissioners term deer forest in Scotland would consent "the pelagic sealing" - which in their to his hinds being killed, especially opinion has caused such havoc in the during the breeding season ? Is it not numbers of the fur-seals - takes place. likewise on a grouse moor absolutely From a remote epoch the native In- forbidden to shoot grey hens at any dians along the coast have been accus- time? In these, and in numerous other tomed to spear a few seals from their instances which might be mentioned, canoes, and thus to procure a certain the sanctity of female life is univernumber of skins for the market. Of sally recognized. On the other hand, late years, however, American and Canadian schooners have taken up the same trade, using vessels with crews of from twenty to twenty-five men, and provided with small boats for hunting. Formerly these vessels were manned almost exclusively by Indian crews, the selection of males from females, who adhered to the use of the spear. Of late years, however, since the trade has become more profitable and attained larger dimensions, the spear has been superseded by firearms. It is of course very difficult to ascertain the exact number of seals obtained by the "pe-fore, that if the fur-seal is to be prelagic sealers; but, according to the served for the use of posterity, every American commissioners, the number true naturalist will agree with the Amerhas been gradually advancing during ican commissioners that " pelagic" sealthe past ten years, so that in 1891 it ing ought to be altogether suppressedamounted to at least sixty thousand. in the first place because it necessarily The vice of "pelagic" sealing does involves the destruction of female life; not, however, depend only upon the and in the second place because of its numbers captured. If there were no wastefulness through the frequent failother reasons to the contrary, it would ure to recover seals shot at sea. It may be quite as fair that the "pelagic" seal- be very true, and probably is, as coners should catch sixty thousand seals in tended by the English commissioners, the open Pacific, as that the American that the Americans, of late years, have officials should slaughter the same num- worked their seals rather hard, and ber in the Pribilof Islands. But in the have unduly reduced the number of former case there is, of course, no pos- males. But this is a matter for the sibility of making a selection of age or Americans themselves to regulate, and sex. The" pelagic "hunter kills every looking to the great value of the furseal he can come across, whether male, sealeries, they will no doubt reduce the female, or young. According to the quantity of skins taken, if necessary. American commissioners, "at least It is hardly likely that they will "kill eighty per cent. of the seals thus taken the goose that lays the golden egg."

P. L. SCLATER.

Secretary of the Zoological Society.

But in order to attain this desirable "royalty" thus levied would no doubt object our American friends will have increase the price of seal-skin jackets. to come to terms with other nations. But seal-skin jackets are not a necessary Without going into the diplomatic ques- luxury, and an additional pound added tion of what rights passed to the United to their cost would not be of material States by the cession of Alaska, I have consequence to the ladies who wear sufficient confidence in the common them. As a naturalist, therefore, I sense of the arbitrators now sitting at think that the fur-seal should be considParis to believe that they will never ered in the light of a domestic animal, give in to the argument that Behring's and that all "pelagic sealing" should Sea is a mare clausum, and that Amer- be stopped, while the owners of the ica, by the cession of Alaska, has ac- sealeries should at the same time pay to quired the right to keep all other nations the other nations interested a reasonout of it. This is a position that can able compensation for the valuable hardly be maintained in the face of the privileges thus obtained. British evidence to the contrary. The absolute prohibition of "pelagic" sealing which is demanded by the Americans, and which ought to be carried out in order to ensure the continued existence of the fur-seals, can only be obtained by mutual arrangement among the parties interested. The fur-seal of Alaska (practically now the only remaining member of the group of furseals) should be declared to be, to all intents and purposes, a domestic animal, and its capture absolutely prohibited except in its home on the Pribilof Islands. Looking to the great value of who have been consulted on the subthe privilege thus obtained, America might well consent to pay to Great Britain and her colonists some compensation for the loss of the right of "pelagic" sealing; the amount of this compensation would be fairly based upon the number of fur-seals annually killed on the Pribilof Islands. The

P.S. Since this article was written I have been able to consult the "Appendix" to the "United States Case" on the Behring's Sea Arbitration Question, which for some reason has not been reprinted in the series of bluebooks presented to Parliament, although it contains the documents and evidence on which the "Case" is based. I find, with great satisfaction, that some of the most distinguished zoologists of Europe

ject (M. A. Milne-Edwards of Paris, Dr. G. Hartlaub of Bremen, Dr. R. Collett of Christiania, Professor Lilljeborg of Stockholm, Dr. A. T. von Middendorf of Dorpat, Count T. Salvadori of Turin, and Dr. Giglioli of Florence) agree nearly with me in the views put forward in this paper. - P. L. S.

THE COLORATION OF PRESERVED FOODS. -The time-honored method of imparting a beautiful green color to preserved foods consists in treating the articles to be colored with a solution of copper sulphate, which is quickly poured off and the last traces removed by repeatedly washing with water; the preserved articles are then boiled and the vessels containing them are soldered up. The coloration results from the formation of the copper salt of an acid derived from phyllocyanin. This body is very inert, is insoluble in water, hydrochloric acid, and acetic acid, soluble in alcohol, and indifferent to the action of light. As the quan

tity is quite small, only a few milligrammes in a hundred grammes, the author is disposed to tolerate the practice. The green coloring matter of leaves, etc., is extremely sensitive both to light and to acids of every kind. In order to hinder its decolorization, sodium carbonate is commonly added to green vegetables before cooking, by which treatment free acids are neutralized, and also such salts as potassium acid oxalate. Not only is the action of the acids upon the chlorophyl thus prevented, but a relatively stable sodium salt, green in color, is formed, enhancing the effect.

Scientific American.

For EIGHT DOLLARS remitted directly to the Publishers, the LIVING AGE will be punctually forwarded for a year, free of postage.

Remittances should be made by bank draft or check, or by post-office money-order, if possible. If neither of these can be procured, the money should be sent in a registered letter. All postmasters are obliged to register letters when requested to do so. Drafts, checks, and money-orders should be made payable to the order of LITTELL & CO.

Single copies of the LIVING AGE, 18 cents.

To flush their tips, till, to the warmer And some day when we sleep, her root will

Her voice brought memories of tears and Knee deep in the strand the paddock-pipes