the fur-seal matter to the Bureau of Fisheries [from its inde- 

 pendent status under the Secretary] I had in mind the fact that 

 this bureau could provide the scientific inspection and control 

 necessary" (U.S. Congress, House 1911, Appendix A, p. 332). 

 Agent Lembkey countered Jordan's suggestion with a long 

 letter giving the history of the Pribilof Islands and the scien- 

 tific work done thereupon up to 1900, the last year that Town- 

 send was on the islands. Lembkey developed the argument that 

 "in matters pertaining to seal life practical experience is often 

 of greater importance than abstract biological knowledge" 

 (U.S. Congress, House 1911, Appendix A, p. 339). His assis- 

 tant, James Judge, concurred, pointing out that "the natural- 

 ists, according to their own statements, have already exhausted 

 the scientific features of seal life" (U.S. Congress, House 

 1911, Appendix A, p. 663). 



Nevertheless, Millard C. Marsh, whom we may regard as the 

 first "fur seal biologist," was assigned to the Pribilofs in 1906. 

 His main duties as outlined in a letter dated 28 April 1906 were 

 to "census" the seal population and to investigate pup mortal- 

 ity (U.S. Congress, House 1911, Appendix A, p. 347-348). He 

 arrived at St. George Island on 8 June 1906 and soon after re- 

 ported to Barton Warren Evermann, "In Charge, Scientific 

 Inquiry, Bureau of Fisheries" (Marsh 1911). In 1907 Marsh 

 published a popular account of the seal herd and its problems. 



During Marsh's first summer on the islands he found no 

 hookworms, though he evidently looked at no more than a 

 dozen pups. He sketched the harem outlines for most of the 

 rookeries and photographed on Ardiguen and Kitovi. He re- 

 corded fur seal body temperatures (Marsh 1911:364). He as- 

 sisted in the counting of harem bulls on both islands. The count- 



Figure 3.— Top: Kitovi Amphitheater when the seal herd was near its all-time low, photographed 

 by Walter f . Lembkey between 14 and 18 July 1905 from "Station 13" (photo by V. B. Scheffer). 

 Bottom: "Watch House and Native Guard, St. Paul Island" is the caption on this 1905 photo- 

 graph by Walter I. Lembkey. Some of these men killed five Japanese poachers at Northeast 

 Point in 1906 (photo by V. B. Scheffer). 



17 



