150 



ALASKA. 



grounds almost as quickly as they came. These suuuy, warm 

 days are, however, on Saiut Paul's Island, very rare indeed, 

 and so the seals can have but little ground of complaint, if we 

 may presume that they have any at all. 



I saw but three albino pups among the hundreds of thousands 

 on Saint Paul's and none on Saint George. They did not differ 

 in any respect from the other (normal) pups in size and shape. 

 Their hair, in the first coat, was, all over, a dull ocher; the flip- 

 pers and muzzle were a flesh-tone, and the iris of the eye sky- 

 blue. The second coat gives them a dirty yellowish-white 

 color, but it makes them exceedingly conspicuous when in among 

 the black pups, gray yearlings, and '' hoiluschukie." 



I have also never seen any malformations or "monsters'' 

 among the pups and other classes of the fur-seal ; nor have the 

 natives recorded anything of the kiud, so far as I could ascer- 

 tain from them. 



Another curious fact may be recorded, that, with the excep- 

 tion of those animals which have received wounds in combat, 

 no sick or dying seals are seen upon the islands. Out of the 

 great numbers, thousands upon thousands of seals that must 

 die every year from old age alone, not one have I ever seen 

 here. They evidently give up their lives at sea. 



Table slwiving the iveight, she, and growth of Ihe fur-seal, (CallorJdnus ursunts,) 

 from the imp to the adult, male and female. 



[The wei^'bts and measurements were taken by Mr. Sanmel Falconer and tbe writer on tlio 

 ^ killmir-sroundsat Saint George's Island, in 1873.] 



