Among the northern carnivora there are several species which deserve attention for the reason that they may be brought to some degree of domestication which may enable us to make better use of their hairy coverings. Among these we may mention 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.