4 ALASKA FISHERIES AND FUR INDUSTRIES IN 1915, 
of loss. This year more than half of the seals in the herd have never been subjected 
to pelagic sealing and the changes in many percentages are marked. In 1916 it will 
probably be possible to formulate laws on increase of the herd, proportions of the dif- 
ferent classes which are ideal and desirable, and the number which may be killed 
from the herd for their skins, which will be effective as long as natural conditions 
prevail. 
Pups.—The majority of the pups are born between June 15 and July 25. A few 
of them begin to swim the first week in August, and the number increases rapidly 
thereafter until at the end of the month of August practically all have taken to the 
water, and some move along the shore from the rookery a mile or more. 
By the end of September the young have assumed the silvery gray pelage and go on 
long trips around the islands. They become very fat in September and October and 
many of them then exceed the yearlings in weight. They leave the vicinity of the 
islands in the latter part of November and early in December. On January 2, 1915, 
among approximately 1,000 seals on Sea Lion Rock, not one was of the young of the 
previous summer. 
Each year a few albino pups are born. Their eyesight is defective as a rule and 
they usually die at sea. Three were noted among the pups born in 1915, one on each 
of the following rookeries: Lagoon, Morjovi, and Vostochni. The flippers of albinos 
are light pink to chocolate color, and the fur is very light yellowish totawny. The eye- 
lids are white, in some cases, and black in others, but the iris is usually pink. They 
occasionally grow to maturity. In 1915 three were observed. An albino cow with a 
black pup was observed on Hutchinson Hill at Northeast Point. A 5-year-old albino 
bull roamed about from one rookery to another. <A 3-year-old albino male was killed 
on St. George Island and preserved as a specimen by A. H. Proctor. 
The pups on St. Paul Island were counted July 28 to August 3, and on St. George 
Island August 5 to 7. Because of the number of very young pups and pregnant cows it 
is not advisable to begin the count before July 28, and because the pups are taking to 
the water in considerable numbers after August 7, it is desirable to complete the count 
before the close of that day. But whether each rookery is counted on the same date 
as in preceding years makes no difference in the result as it would in the harem counts. 
In making the count the methods of the 1914 investigation were followed. A. H. 
Proctor and George Haley assisted on St. George Island on two days. Gunner A. J. 
Holton, United States Navy, rendered valuable assistance on the Reef Peninsula and 
at the Northeast Point rookeries on St. PaulIsland. The same natives were employed, 
as nearly as possible, from day to day in order to profit by their experience. 
The pups in each breeding mass were kept separate, corresponding to the masses of 
harems as plotted on the charts during the harem count. The average harem in each 
breeding mass is thereby obtained. 
