If we look at a lady’s Seal-skin jacket, we at once observe its rich brown colour, and the velvety softness and denseness of the fine hairs composing it. If this be compared with the coarse, hard, or salted dry Seal-skin as imported, or, still better, with the coat of the living Fur Seals, one is struck with the vast difference between them, and wonders how the coarse or oily-looking, close-pressed hair of the live animal can ever be transformed into the rich and costly garment above spoken of. Passing our finger among the hairs of the Cat or Dog, we may notice short fine hairs at the roots of the longer, coarser, general covering of the animal. This is the so-called under-fur. It equally obtains in most of the land as in the aquatic Carnivora. But in the greater number of these animals the short hairs are so few and often fine as to be comparatively speaking lost sight of among what to our eyes constitutes the coat. The remarkable feature, then, in the Fur Seals is its abundance and density. The operation which the skin undergoes to bring out, so to say, the fur may be briefly described as follows:--The skin, after being washed rid of grease, &c., is laid flat on the stretch, flesh side up. A flat knife is then passed across the flesh substance, thinning it to a very considerable extent. In doing this the blade severs the roots of the long strong hairs which penetrate the skin deeper than does the soft delicate under-fur. The rough hairs are then got rid of, while the fur retains its hold. A variety of subsidiary manipulations, in which the _pelt_ is softened and preserved. are next gone through. These we need not enter into, but only further state that the fur undergoes a process of dyeing which produces that deep uniform tint so well known and admired. We may, however, mention that it is the dyeing process which causes the fur to lose its natural curly character and to present its limp appearance.