92 PELAGIC SEALING. 



Great decrease following statements. Mr. Stanley-Brown, who 



of dead pups in 



1892. was also on the Islands in 1891, says: "Dead 



pups were as conspicuous by their infre- 

 quency in 1892 as by their numerousness in 

 1891." 1 Col. Joseph Murray, who has been 

 Assistant Treasury Agent on the Pribilof Islands 

 from 1889 to the present time, states: "I went 

 over the rookeries carefully in 1892 looking for 

 dead pups. The largest number on any rook- 

 ery occurred on Tolstoi; but here, as on the 

 rookeries generally, but few of them were to 

 be seen, as compared with last year. This 

 was the first time in my four seasons' resi- 

 dence on the Islands that the number of dead 

 pups was not greater than could be accounted 

 for by natural causes." 2 And Mr. A. W. Laven- 

 der, the Government agent in charge of St. 

 George Island, made an actual count of the 

 dead pups on the rookeries of that Island August 

 29, 1892. He found on the five rookeries 41 

 dead pups, "all of which were near the water." 3 

 Professor Evermann, the expert naturalist of the 

 Fish Commission, estimates the number of dead 

 pups on Polavina Rookery in 1892 at less than 

 250, and states that there were more dead pups 

 here than on all the other rookeries combined. 4 



1 J. Stanley- Brown, post p. 388. s Joseph Murray, post p. 378. 



* A. W. Lavender, post p. 263. * B. W. Evermann, post p. 271. 



