ALASKA riSHERY AND FUR-SEAL INDUSTRIES, 1922. 



91 



AGE CLASSES OF SEALS. 



Tlie method by whicli the sizes of male seals of the various age 

 classes have been determined has been described in previous reports. 

 For convenience the limits of these age classes are shown in the fol- 

 lowing table : 



Age standards of body lengths of male seals, Prihilof Isla7ids. 



Ages of seals killed on Prihilof Islands, calendar year 1922. 



> The few cows reported above, less than one-third of 1 per cent of the total taken, were accidentally and 

 imavoidably killed. FA'crv possible effort is made to avoid the killing of cows, but persons famiUar with 

 conditions at the islands will readily appreciate that in handling such a large number of seals a snitill number 

 of cows will be killed. 



BRANDED SEALS. 



Only one of the seals branded when pups in 1912 was secured in 

 1922. The animal was taken on St. George Island at North rookery, 

 October 20, 1922. Data were secured as follows : Length, T6f inches ; 

 total weight after bleeding, 283 pounds; dimensions of green skin, 

 80 by 51 inches; weight of skin, 41 pounds. 



WASHING AND BLUBBERING SEALSKINS. 



In 1922 the Fouke Fur Co. carried on its work of washing and 

 blubbering sealskins on St. Paul Island on a more extended scale 

 than in previous years. A permanent building, 70 by 42 feet, con- 

 structed for this work, was used. It is known as the washhouse and 

 contains five large wooden tanks, in which the skins to be blubbered 

 are first washed and cooled in salt water pumped from the beach 

 near by, facilities for 10 men to work at blubbering, and a power 

 wringer to extract surplus water from blubbered skins. 



The freshly taken sealskins are brought to the washhouse, where 

 they are placed in the tanks and quickly chilled by running sea water 

 to below 40° F. All dirt and other foreign matter are removed by 



