Februabt 9, 1917] 



SCIENCE 



141 



The sum of $100,000 has been given an- 

 onymously to the Higher Institute of Medi- 

 cine for Women at Petrograd for the founda- 

 tion of scholarships in the name of Count 

 Vorontzoff, who died in 1916. 



For the period from 1911 to 1915, inclusive, 

 the proportion of first places, according to re- 

 ports of state board examinations published in 

 the Journal of the American Medical Associa- 

 tion, the percentage of first places won by the 

 diilerent schools of medicine is: Pennsylvania, 

 5.1; Johns Hopkins, 4.9; Harvard, 4.5; North- 

 western, 4.4; Push, 4.3, and Jefferson, 4.1. 



Dr. Marion L. Burton, president of Smith 

 College, has accepted the presidency of the 

 University of Minnesota. 



Dr. EDC-iR P. McGuiRE, of Buffalo, N. T., 

 has been elected to fill the chair of surgery in 

 the medical department of the University of 

 Buffalo, which position was previously held 

 for thirty-one years by the late Dr. Eoswell 

 Park. Dr. McGuire was Dr. Park's assistant 

 for several years and has been acting head of 

 the department of surgery for the past two 

 years. 



A. C. Baer, instructor in dairy husbandry at 

 the University of Wisconsin, has resigned to 

 become head of the dairy department of the 

 Oklahoma College and Station. 



E. P. Taylor, professor of horticulture and 

 horticulturist at the Utah College and Station, 

 has resigned to become director of agricultural 

 extension at the University of Arizona. 



It is stated in Nature that Mr. Joseph 

 Yates, of the Blackburn Technical School, has 

 been appointed head of the chemistry depart- 

 ment of the Derby Technical College. 



DISCUSSION AND CORRESPONDENCE 



THE FUR SEAL CENSUS OF 1916 



I AM indebted to the Commissioner of Fish- 

 eries for the following detailed enumeration 

 of the fur seals of the Pribilof Islands for 

 1916: 



Breeding females 116,977 



Pups 116,977 



Harem buUs 3,500 



Idle buDs 2,632 



Yearlings, both sexes 67,291 



Two year olds, both sexes . . 48,460 

 Bachelors and young bulls . . 61,492 



Total 417,329 



This census is the work of Mr. G. Dalles 

 Hanna, a member of the island staff, who also 

 made the counts of 1915, given in the October 

 27 issue of Science. Mr. Hanna came to his 

 work on the fur-seal islands in 1913 and par- 

 ticipated in a considerable part of the work of 

 pup counting of that season, thus becoming 

 familiar with the methods employed. Com- 

 paring the two seasons for which he is respon- 

 sible we find for 1916 a gain of 13 per cent, in 

 pups, which is also the gain in breeding fe- 

 males. It will be remembered that in the two 

 counts by the writer for 1912 and 1913, in 

 which the personal equation was also the same 

 for both seasons, a gain of 12J per cent, was 

 found for 1913. These two sets of counts go 

 far toward fixing the normal rate of increase 

 in the breeding stock of the herd at approxi- 

 mately 13 per cent, per annum. 



A second significant thing about this census 

 of 1916 is the item, " bachelors and young bulls, 

 61,492." These are males of less than adult 

 age, three, four, five and six years. They rep- 

 resent the animals exempted from killing in 

 the past five years by the law of 1912, suspend- 

 ing commercial sealing. These 61,000 animals 

 have definitely passed into the reserve bull 

 class and will as they gradually attain ma- 

 turity constitute that dangerous overstock of 

 breeding males which is resulting from the 

 operation of the law of 1912. There were al- 

 ready present on the rookeries in the spring of 

 1916, 3,981 adult bulls in excess of the number 

 holding harems in 1915. Of these 1,349 forced 

 their way into the breeding grounds and es- 

 tablished harems. A normal increase in 

 harems would have been 280, equalling the 13 

 per cent, gain in cows. Even after these 1,349 

 had obtained harems there remained 2,632 

 adult bulls which were unable to obtain 

 harems. It is unnecessary to say that these 

 unsuccessful idle bulls as well as those which 



