APPENDIX— EXTRACT FROM FIELD NOTES. 



Beginning early in August, the harems begin to show signs of 

 disorganization; the majority of the cows have been served and are 

 free to come or go without serious let or hindrance; the idle and half 

 bulls roam about at will and the breeding season thus passes into its 

 last stage. From this time on observations producing no unwonted 

 disturbance are to be made only from some place of concealment, 

 such as are supplied by the cliffs of Ardiguen or Lukanin. To these 

 two spots T repaired practically every day in August, and for varying 

 lengths of time watched the life of the seal herd. It is unnecessary to 

 detail observations that have already been recorded by several stu- 

 dents of the subject, but I may voice again the general verdict that 

 such a show of mammalian life is to be met with nowhere else on the 

 face of the earth, 'and from several points of view it would indeed be 

 a calamity if the seal meets the fate of the manatee, the sea otter, or 

 the buffalo. 



Concerning other life on the islands, much has been said and much 

 remains to be investigated. For many years the bird life has received 

 the attention of the ornithologist and the more important phases of 

 the problems involved have probably been settled; yet there are 

 other matters of minor detail relating to stray migrants, nest mate- 

 rials, and construction and feeding that well deserve attention. 



The insects of the islands are numerous and of all the animals or 

 plants doubtless afford some of the most important and interesting 

 problems, if not the very greatest, of purely scientific character re- 

 maining to be solved. Owing to the brevity of the summer season, 

 some of the stages in the life history are completed in a surprisingly 

 short space of time, and a comparison of the life histories of related 

 insects in adjoining regions would be interesting to say the least. 

 Furthermore, the conditions under which they survive the winter 

 wall also be an interesting chapter in the life of the island organisms. 



The flowering plants have been the subject of much study, and it 

 is doubtful if many novelties will be recorded in the future. To a less 

 extent this is true of the lichens, but there are unquestionably small 

 species that have escaped detection; and again there are modifica- 

 tions due to habitat that make it altogether possible that superficially 

 similar forms may in reality be distinct species. Among the fungi 

 there are certainly new forms. On some of the upland slopes in the 

 early season I have found species that do not correspond to any 



described in the reports of the region. 



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