NOTES ON SEALS TAKEN AT SEA. 405 



seems about right to use the 17.3 average per harein for the whole of it. This would 

 give the total of seals for the east side as 3,565; for the west side, 15,575. The 

 distribution of dead pups for the two sides is : East Northeast Point, 485; West, 1,808. 

 This corroborates the original estimates, which gave the proportion of the two sides 

 as 4,328 and 15,879. 



The division of the rookery is taken from the point itself. This throws the great 

 mass under Hutchinson Hill and to the southwest of it into the western part. The 

 western side we have called Vostochni; the eastern side, Morjovi. 



POLOVINA ROOKERY. 



As we passed this rookery on our way home almost the whole population, bulls, 

 cows, and paps, were down on the low reef of rocks which extends out into the sea from 

 the base of the cliffs off Polo vina Point, it being low tide. The pups and holostiaki were 

 playing in the pools, and the cows and bulls were lying around on the rocks or sitting 

 up, wet after their bath. They had evidently taken to the sea on account of the sun, 

 which shines brightly. A photograph of the rookery taken from the point of the 

 cliffs showing a scene like this one would be extremely picturesque. 



UNIT OF SPACE. 



An experiment was made with a view of determining the ground occupied by 

 closely massed seals. One of the pods of dead seal carcasses on the killing ground 

 at Polovina was measured. These seals are laid out on the average as closely together 

 as we have seen living seals in the thickest portions of the crowded rookeries. The 

 patch measured 285 by 31, or 8,835 square feet. It contained 650 bodies, which would 

 give an average space of 13 square feet to each. Mr. True's estimate gave 23. Mr. 

 Elliott's 4 square feet, including no space for pup. 



MR. LUCAS'S NOTES. 



At sea on Rush. The wind light; sea smooth; foggy. Sixteen seal bodies were 

 obtained 15 females and 1 male from the Canadian schooner Aurora. Three 2-year- 

 olds recently impregnated. The blood vessels of both ovaries and both branches of 

 the uterus were much congested. Both ovaries contained Graafian follicles in various 

 stages of development. It seems apparent that the first impregnation may occur in 

 either branch of the uterus, but that subsequently impregnation and delivery 

 alternates, as shown by Mr. Towuseud, whose statements regarding the condition of 

 females at sea are sustained in every particular. 



Cases of twins have been reported by sealers, and from the evidence at hand it 

 would seem that such cases, if real, must occur among females bearing for the first 

 time. There is a possibility that a female which bred early in the season might, if 

 not impregnated until late, become pregnant in both branches of the uterus. 1 



1 Such a course would, in the nature of things, tend to eliminate the animals following it, as 

 after allowing sufficient time for both branches to recover and be prepared for impregnation, the 

 period of gestation would throw the birth so late in the fall that the pups could not survive. It 

 seenis essential in the economy of the seal that one horn of the uterus be ready for impregnation 

 almost immediately upon the delivery of the other. 



