230 Fortieth Annual Meeting 



of its nose until the seal snapped at it when it would be 

 jx)ked down the throat and the string cut. 



By the first week in November both seals were eating 

 greedily. When the Bear arrived at San Diego late in the 

 fall and the commanding officer, Capt. E. P. Bertholf, re- 

 ported to Washington that the Bear had two fur-seal pups 

 on board and in good condition, steps were at once taken 

 by the Hon. George M. Bowers, Commissioner of Fisheries, 

 to have them brought to Washington. All necessary de- 

 tails were soon arranged and Boatswain Thurber arrived 

 in Washington January 11, 1910, with his precious pets. 

 They were hurried from the express car to the Bureau of 

 Fisheries where they were received with great interest ; for 

 no one at Washington except the few fortunate ones who 

 had visited the Pribilof Islands had ever seen a live fur- 

 seal. They were at once placed in the large pool at the 

 Bureau after being photographed, measured and weighed. 

 This pool contained fresh water and the effect upon the 

 seals was awaited with interest. If they showed any dis- 

 tress it was arranged to supply them with salt water. But 

 the fresh water did not appear to worry them in the least 

 and they have been kept in it continuously to the present 

 time. 



Although somewhat restless at first they soon quieted 

 down and appeared perfectly at home. They are fed 

 regularly twice a day on fresh fish which they take eagerly, 

 each eating from 5 to 8 pounds daily. When they were 

 first weighed (January 20), the male weighed 28 pounds 

 and the female 19^0. Since then they have been weighed 

 regularly on the twentieth of each month. On October 

 20 they weighed 46V^. and 34V> pounds respectively. 

 This is a gain of 66 per cent for the male and 77 per cent 

 for the female in nine months. Whether this is a normal 

 growth no one really knows, for never before were any 

 accurate observations made to determine just how much a 

 fur-seal six months or fifteen months old ought to weigh. 

 But those who are familiar with seal life on the Pribilof 



