RESULTS. 203 



Besides the testimony of the witnesses above Examination of 



'' pelagic catch of 



stated, 3,550 seal skins were shipped this year 1^92. 

 from Victoria, British Cohimbia, to Treadwell & 

 Co., of Albany, New York, being a portion of 

 the "spring catch," so called, of 1892, taken by 

 the sealing- fleet along- the Pacific coast. At the 

 request and under the direction of the Govern- 

 ment of the United States, these skins were 

 examined by an expert in handling seal skins, 

 Mr. John J. Plielan, for twenty-four years 

 engaged in the fur business, for the purpose of 

 determining the sex of the seals from which 

 they were taken. Such examinations resulted 

 in showing that of the 3,550 skins, 2,167 were 

 taken from female seals, 395 from male seals, 

 and the remainder, 988, from pups, seals under 

 two years of age,^ whose sex could not easily 

 be determined, which shows that tlie proportion 

 of females in the catch of a sealing vessel is to 

 the males as 11 to 2, or 84 J per cent. The 

 examiner of these skins also shows how the 

 difference in the sex can be readily determined.-^ 

 Mr. Charles Behlow, for thirty-four years 

 engaged in the handling and sorting of seal 

 skins, at the request of the Government of the 

 United States, examined, in June, 1892, four lots 



1 Vol. II, p. 520. 



