168 



THE FISHERIES OF THE UNITED STATES. 



done theoretically ; arid pointed clearly then to the advantage and effect which a revenne marine cutter would have, 

 employed for this purpose. By repeated and untiring appearance before the Committee on Appropriations in the 

 House and the Senate, I finally secured the legal authority and the money for the object in view. And the late 

 Captain Baily, in the " Bichard Rush ", made the first cruise in the season of 1877, that had been ordered and 

 sustained by the government toward the direct protection of the seal-islands, and its valuable property thereon 

 since 1809. 



The interesting Alaskan reports, which have arisen from the incidental cruisings of the " Rush " and the 

 "Corwiu", United States Revenue Marine, owe their origin to the above chain of circumstances, and this service, 

 so efficient and so valuable, will, I trust, be faithfully sustained by the government in the future. 



The author's closing presentation of the subject. — As I end this memoir, I am aware of one omission 

 which should not be overlooked. It is the absence of a concise and condensed table, which shall exhibit at a glance 

 the whole physical progress made by the fur-seal, from birth to advanced puberty. Therefore, I submit the 

 following presentation of that subject : 



Table showing the relative growth, weight, etc., of the fur-seals. 



[Compiled from the field-notes of the author, made upon the killing-grounds of St. George and St. Paul.] 



Note.— All male fur-seals, from yearlings to puberty, are termed •'bachelors", or "holluscbickie", and all male fur-seals, from the age of five years on, are termed 

 ("virile") bulls, or "seacatchio". All female fur-seals from one year and upward, are termed "cows", or "lnatkauiie" ("mothers"). All the young, under 

 yearlings, are termed "pups", or "kotickie" ("little eats"). 



In conclusion I desire to state that, as to the relative ages of the male and female Callorhinus, I have hitherto, 

 in referring to it, taken the general ground of estimation which is commonly accepted in rating the duration of 

 mammalian Ufe. Nevertheless, on this point especially, I feel that if the real facts of the comparative longevity 

 of the two sexes could be positively ascertained, the great discrepancy which the table above faithfully portrays 

 and suggests, would be so modified as to make the relative length of life for the female much greater, and that 

 of the male correspondingly less. 



In my discussion of the reproduction of these animals, I clearly show that the male is physically qualified to 

 procreate his race at the age of four years — but that he is not allowed to do so until he is six or seven. Also, 

 that the female becomes a mother at the expiration of the third year of her life, and the immediate opening of the 

 fourth. So, really, viewed from the point of sheer physical ability, if undisturbed, the male fur-seal wears the "toga 

 virilis" at the close of the third and beginning of the fourth year of his life, while the female comes out eager for 

 fecundation and prospective maternity at the end of the second and the beginning of the third summer of her 

 existence. 



Tabulated exhibit of method of killing, and seasons of the tear in which it is done, on the 

 Pribylov islands. — In order that the reader may the more clearly understand the time of killing, the seasons in 

 which it is done, and the relative selection of the different classes of seals for slaughter, food, etc., I take much 

 .satisfaction in being able to submit the following tabulation, which gives at a glance a succinct and comprehensive 

 epitome" of one entire sealiug-season and its work on the Pribylov islands. This table is literally brought down to 

 date, and the figures upon which it is based I have taken from the recent official report of Col. H. G. Otis, who is 

 the treasury agent in charge of the interests of the government therein represented. I ought, also, in simple 

 justice to the authority from whom I have taken these enumerations, to state that those specifications of fact are 

 evidently compiled from his field-notes with scrupulous attention, both in their original registration, and also in 

 their transcription. As I here arrange them, they present a photograph of the entire disposition of 107,000 fur- 

 seals slain upon the seal-islands during one whole year. 



