NOTES FROM ST. GEORGE ISLAND. 347 



aiid tied in bandies of 2 skins each, ready for shipment to San Francisco, where they 

 are repacked in barrels for shipment to London. 



Mr. Macoun reported to night that pups were seen, by him playing in sheltered 

 pools of water at Polovina rookery to-day. The time of going into the water is 

 probably not dependent upon the age of the pup, except perhaps in the case of the 

 few that act as leaders. When these have tried the water doubtless pups of all ages 

 within sight follow their example. At least the pods seem to contain little fellows 

 as well as big ones. 



MR. LUCAS'S NOTES FROM ST. GEORGE ISLAND. 



I made a short visit to North rookery with Professor Thompson. It has spread 

 considerably, the extension backward and uphill being noticeable. Pups in two 

 places are playing in the water. This is in advance of St. Paul. 1 



One fresh placenta is seen. 



Are the bulls darker colored here than on St. Paul? 



The harem that contained 135 cows on July 9 now has only a moderate number. 

 Some distance inland and up the hill is a new harem with a considerable number of 

 cows. A bull in an adjoining harem who had only a few cows at the earlier date has 

 now a full share. 



There seeni to be several small fresh cows among the others. Are these the 

 virgin cows, or merely undersized! 3 



JULY 29. 



Dr. Jordan visited Zoltoi and the Eeef in the morning, and in the afternoon with 

 Mr. Macoun and Mr. Clark went to Tolstoi. 



The strong southwest gale continues with great surf. The air seems warmer than 

 usual, and it is difficult to see because of the blinding tnist. 



ZOLTOI. 



On Zoltoi numerous instances of excrement were noted. The normal excrement 

 of the bachelors is yellow, firm in texture, with no evident composition. One bull, 

 perhaps an old one, voided liquid yellowish excrement. It is ill scented, abundant 

 with many nematode worms 1 to 3 inches long. The worms are preserved in formalin. 

 Some examples of excrement have dark clayey colors, no texture. 



The surf is breaking very high on the beach of Gorbatch, where the pups were 

 swimming yesterday. None of the pups are in the water to day. The seals seem to 

 be simply putting in their time till the storm is over. 



ARDIGUEN. 



The bull in harem A is asleep on the flat rock. There are two cows and a large 

 pod of pups about them, rolling and biting one another in the neck and flippers. B 

 has 13 scattered cows. A "water bull" (Z) has come up and tried to establish 



1 See notes for St. Paul of to-day, both by Dr. Jordan and Mr. Macoun. The coincidence is 

 interesting. 



-See observations on St. Paul, which culminated on August 1 in proving these small cows to be 

 virgin 2-year-olds. 



15184, PT 2 7 



