ion the foxes, the polar bears, and
the seals. The first-named group affords at present about the dearest
furs of our markets. The silver-gray variety, which at present seems to
be a frequent individual variation, could doubtless be affirmed by
selection, and probably could be brought to a higher state of perfection
than it has as yet attained. The animals are, if we may judge from their
kindred, not untamable; at least they could be brought to live in a
sufficient state of captivity to permit selection. In time they might be
quite domesticated. Many of the islands of the high north and south are
well fitted for such experiments.

As is well known, the polar bears have a wonderfully developed hairy
covering; their coats, indeed, are among the richest that exist. These
animals subsist mainly on what they capture from the sea, so that it
might be possible to keep them at a small expense. They are, however, of
all their kindred the most indomitable; it would probably require a
long and costly effort to reduce them to anything like domestication.
Moreover, being strong, free swimmers, it would not be easy to maintain
them in captivity. Still, selecting such a well-inundated place as Bear
Island of the North Atlantic, it would be most interesting to make the
experiment, first of accustoming them to some human control, and then to
a selection which might serve to lift the quality of the kind. It would
be less difficult and perhaps more advisable at first to make a trial of
a similar sort with the black bear, which in less arctic conditions
flourishes and carries a fine pelt. The only difficulty would be in
finding a sufficient supply of food for such captives, for although they
will eat fish they have no skill in capturing them such as is possessed
by their more degraded, or perhaps we should say their less advanced
kindred, the polar bears. Still, as the form is even more omnivorous
than man, it might be practicable to feed them.

By far the most important of the carnivora in an economic sense are the
seals which dwell in the high northern waters. These creatures afford
the most interesting subjects for experiments in domestication from an
economic point of view that remain to be made. Of all the predatory
animals the seals seem to have the largest share of intelligence and
the greatest amount of sympathetic motives. No other wild animals,
except perhaps the monkeys, appear to be so human-like in their
qualities of mind as