without formal records.

Meetings held ence to persons, as related to views or opinions expressed by members of the Commission during the Conference, should be made.

tinued.

Meetings con- Meetings of the Joint Commission were held almost daily from the 11th of February until the 4th of March, on which day the joint report was signed and the Conference adjourned sine die.

Disagreement.

Article IX of treaty.

Early in the progress of the Conference it became evident that there were wide differences of opinion, not only as to conclusions, but also as to facts. It seems proper here to refer briefly to the attitude of the Commissioners on the part of the United States or to the standpoint from which they endeavored to consider the questions involved.

Application of Article IX.

The instructions under which we acted are contained in Article IX of the Arbitration Convention, and, as far as relates to the nature of the inquiry, are as follows:

"Each Government shall appoint two Commissioners to investigate conjointly with the Commissioners of the other Government all the facts having relation to seal life in Bering Sea, and the measures necessary for its proper protection and preservation."

This sentence appears to be simple in its character and entirely clear as to its meaning. The measures to be recommended were such as in

Article IX.

our judgment were necessary and sufficient to App ication of secure the proper protection and preservation of seal life. With questions of international rights, treaty provisions, commercial interests, or political relations we had nothing to do. It was our opinion that the considerations of the Joint Commission ought to have been restricted to this phase of the question, so clearly put forth in the agreement under which the Commission was organized, and so evidently the original intent of both Governments when the investigation was in contemplation.

Had the preservation and perpetuation of seal Result of such

life alone been considered, as was urged by us, there is little doubt that the joint report would have been of a much more satisfactory nature, and that it would have included much more than a mere reiteration of the now universally admitted fact that the number of seals on and frequenting the Pribilof Islands is now less than in former years, and that the hand of man is

responsible for this diminution.

application.

That our own view of the nature of the task Article IX inter

preted differently by British Com

before us was not shared by our colleagues rep-missioners.

resenting the other side was soon manifest, and it became clear that no sort of an agreement sufficiently comprehensive to be worthy of consideration and at the same time definite enough

Article IX inter-to allow its consequences to be thought out, preted differently

by British Com-could be reached by the Joint Commission

missioners.

Disagreement as to application.

Commission.

unless we were willing to surrender absolutely our opinions as to the effect of pelagic sealing on the life of the seal herd, which opinions were founded upon a careful and impartial study of the whole question, involving the results of our own observations and those of many others.

Under such circumstances the only course open to us was to decline to accede to any proposition which failed to offer a reasonable chance for the preservation and protection of seal life, or which, although apparently looking in the right direction, was, by reason of the vagueness and ambiguity of its terms, incapable of definite interpretation and generally uncertain as to Report of Joint meaning. In obedience to the requirements of the Arbitration Convention that "the four Commissioners shall, so far as they may be able to agree, make a joint report to each of the two Governments," the final output of the Joint Commission assumed the form of the joint report submitted on March 4, it being found impossible in the end for the Commissioners to agree upon more than a single general proposition relating to the decadence of seal life on the Pribilof Necessity of a Islands. It therefore becomes necessary, in accordance with the further provision of said

separate report.

separate report.

Convention, for us to submit in this, our separate Necessity of a report, a tolerably full discussion of the whole question, as we view it from the standpoint referred to above as being the only method of treatment which insures entire independence of thought or permits a logical interpretation of the facts.

be more

In order that this discussion may readily understood it is thought desirable to preface it by a brief account of the natural history of the fur-seal.

THE BERING SEA FUR-SEAL.

Callorhinus ursinus (Linnæus).

Divisions of

The carnivorous mammals are divided by mammals. naturalists into two principal groups, one comprising the terrestrial wolves, cats, weasels, and bears; the other, the amphibious eared-seals and walruses, and the aquatic seals. The second division (suborder Pinnipedia) is in turn sub-divided into three groups called families, namely, the eared-seals, comprising the sea-lions and seabears, or fur-seals (Otariida), the walruses (Odobenida), and the true seals (Phocida). The fur-seals and sea-lions form the connecting link between the terrestrial carnivores and the true seals, as recognized by all naturalists. The distinguished director of the British Museum, Pro

Professorfessor Flower, says: "The fur-seals or sea-bears

Flower.

form a transition from the Fissiped

[terrestrial] Carnivora to the seals

When on land the hind feet are turned forward under the body, and aid in supporting and moving the trunk as in ordinary mammals As might be inferred from their power of walking on all fours, they spend more of their time on shore, and range inland to greater distances, than the true seals, especially at the breeding time, though they are always obliged to return to the water to seek their food. They are gregarious and polygamous, and the males are usually much larger than the females."* He states further: "The resemblance between the skull and other parts of the body of the fur-seals and the Ursoid [i. e., bear-like] Carnivora is suggestive of some genetic relationship between the two groups, and Professor Mivart expresses the opinion that the one group is the direct descendDistinction be- ant of the other." All the fur-seals have contween fur-seals and hair seals. spicuous external ears, similar to those of most terrestrial mammals, except that they are folded lengthwise to keep out the water. The hair seals have no external ears. It may be added that

*Article Mammalia, in the Encyclopædia Britannica (1883, p. 442); and again in his most recent work on Mammals (Flower and Lydekker, Introduction to the Study of Mammals, London, 1891, pp. 593, 594).