~Seal, Fur.~--The sizes range from 24 × 15 inches to 15 × 25 inches, the width being the widest part of the skin after dressing. The most useful skins are the pups 42 inches long, the quality being very good and uniform. The largest skins, known as wigs, and ranging up to 8 feet in length, are uneven and weak in the fur. The supply of the best sort is chiefly from the northern Pacific, Pribilof Islands, Alaska, northwest coast of America, Aleutian Islands, and Japan. Other kinds are taken from the south Pacific regions. The dressing and dyeing of seal takes longer than for any other fur, but when finished, it has a fine, rich effect, and is very durable.
~Seal, Hair.~--This is chiefly used for its oil and leather, and not for its fur. It has coarse, rigid hair, and no under-hair.
~Skunk, or "Black Marten."~--15 × 8 inches. The under-hair is full, and fairly close, with glossy, flowing top-hair about 2-1/2 inches long. The majority of the skins have two stripes of white hair extending the whole length of the skin. These were formerly cut out, but more recently are dyed the same color as the rest of the skin. They are widely found in North and South America. The best are from Ohio and New York. The skunk is naturally the blackest fur, is silky and very durable.
~Squirrel.~--10 × 5 inches. This size refers to the Russian and Siberian types, which are practically the only kind imported for fur, other species having too poor a fur to be of great commercial interest. The back of the Russian squirrel has an even, close fur, varying from a clear bluish-grey to a reddish-brown, the bellies in the former being of a flat quality and white, in the latter, yellowish. The backs are worked up separately from the bellies. The pelts, though light in weight, are tough and durable. The tails are dark and very small, and considerably used.
~Tiger.~--The size varies, the largest measuring about 10 feet from the nose to the root of the tail. It is found throughout India, Turkestan, China, Mongolia, and the East Indies. Coats of the Bengal variety are short and of a dark orange-brown with black stripes. Those from other parts of India are similar-colored, but longer in hair, while those from the north and China are not only large in size, but have very long soft hair of a delicate orange-brown, with very white flanks, and marked generally, with the blackest of stripes.