874 THE FUE SEALS OF THE PRIBILOF ISLANDS. 



and the similar angle at Poloviua are " death traps " for pups. At these points the 

 greatest mortality of pups has been noted. It would be a good idea if in the winter 

 time a lot of bowlders from the slope above Tolstoi could be rolled into the sand flat. 

 The pups like to lie on the sand.^ Were there bowlders scattered about on it the 

 pups would be protected against the movements of the bulls. 



DEAD PUPS IN AVINDEOWS. 



A very heavy surf is breaking to-day on Tolstoi sand beach, and scores of dead 

 pups are being washed up. They lie in a wiudrow on the sands, while a mass of them 

 is thrown up and sucked back by the waves. Many of the pups are hairless, and all 

 are rotten, making dissection impossible. Most give external evidence of having 

 been crushed. ISTone are emaciated. Most, but not quite all, are very young. There 

 are 185 in all on the beach. The sands along the beach are strewn with the bones of 

 dead pups of other years. The pups have not been drowned. All give evidence of 

 having been dead a long time. This has been our first heavy gale. The pups are 

 evidently washed from the entire sea front of Tolstoi rookery. The southwest gale is 

 blowing squarely into English Bay. It strikes the front of Tolstoi rookery at the 

 headland, and the end of each wave sweeps the full length of the rookery front, 

 washing out and carrying to the foot of the bar all the dead pups lying below high- 

 water mark, finally throwing them on the sands. 



This is certainlj' a new phase of the dead-pup question, for none of these pups 

 are from those counted on the sand tract. This rookery must have a heavy percentage 

 of dead pups. When the gale subsides it may be possible to pass between the 

 harems and water and make further investigation of the condition of things. 



In addition to those counted there are probably 50 more dead pups in the surf at 

 the angle of the bay, all apparently in the same condition. One dead cow lies among 

 the pups on the beach. She, too, has been washed in from some point on the rookery. 

 She is too rotten for dissection. 



All these pups have probably been crushed. Many show the umbilical cord still 

 attached. One pup is seen with hair intact, but proves also to be rotten. At a little 

 distance is a small female pup, which is fresh. On examination the pericardium is 

 found suffused with arterial blood. The right auricle is ruptured. The pup is rather 

 small and lean. The stomach is empty. The lungs are normal, but very little inflated. 

 Probably an astray trampled in a rush of bachelors, for it lies in a place over which 

 many of them pass in going to the water. All the dead pups seen, except the one 

 examined, seem to have been dead from two to four weeks.^ 



THE seal's sense OF SMELL. 



In passing along the sand beach of English Bay opportunity was afforded for 

 further testing the seal's power of scent. The beach was lined with sleeping bulls. 

 Passing between them and the water brought us directly on the windward side. 



' The investigations of 1897 show that in the presence of the dangerous parasitic worm which 

 infests the sands these places become exceedingly fatal to the young pups'. 



■^The phenomenon of dead pups here witnessed on the beach of li^nglish Bay is that which was 

 noted by Tingle in 1886, and by Elliott in 1890, and erroneously charged to the effects of the "deadly 

 surf nip." The pups were probably not closely inspected. 



