June, and July 1944. The results suggested that maximum 

 numbers of harem bulls are on station by the end of June. 10) 

 A "cryptorchid" seal was collected for study. In later years 

 four others, ranging in age from 10 to 15 yr and in weight from 

 190 to 329 lb (86 to 149 kg), were examined (Scheffer 1951). 

 The name "cryptorchid" was not entirely appropriate. True, 

 the testes in such individuals fail to descend (cryptorchidism) 

 but they also fail to develop normally. Such individuals are 

 locally known as "big cows." 



1945 



Up to 1945, no naturalist had described an early fetus of the 

 fur seal. On 16 January 1945 a fisherman found a seal tangled 

 in his net off the Oregon coast. It was delivered to the Marine 

 Mammal Biological Laboratory in Seattle and found to con- 

 tain a fetus of 372 g (Scheffer 1946) (Fig. 7 top). 



Scheffer and the first of a long series of "summer biolo- 

 gists," Norman O. Levardsen, spent the summer of 1945 on 

 the Pribilofs, mainly in collecting, measuring, and photo- 





graphing material from known-age seals. On 24 and 25 August 

 they placed large tags, larger than either of those used in 1941, 

 on 973 pups on Tolstoi Rookery. The tags were later found to 

 be successful, though at the time of application, they seemed 

 too large (Scheffer 1950d, Tig. 5, p. 12). 



Hookworms obtained from a seal pup in July 1945 enabled 

 Baylis (1947) to redescribe Uncinaria lucasi Stiles 1901. "Un- 

 cinaria sp." had been sketched by Stiles and Hassal (1899: 165) 

 on the basis of five worms collected by Lucas in 1896. The 

 authors stated that additional specimens were collected by 

 Lucas in 1897, too late to be described in the (Jordan Commis- 

 sion) monograph. Later Stiles (1901) mentioned that he had 

 named the worm "Uncinaria lucasi" but gave no further 

 description of it. 



Seals with reddish patches on the guard hair are frequently 

 seen on the killing fields. In 1945 it was learned that the color is 

 caused by red algae. To date the following species of algae 

 commensal on fur seal hair have been identified: (Marine 

 Mammal Biological Laboratory, file 6.05/05) diatoms (Gram- 

 matophora sp. and Licmophora sp.), brown algae (Ectocarpus 

 (siliculosis 1 .) and E. sp.), and red algae (Erythrocladia subin- 

 tegra and E. (polystromatical)). 



The first planned attempt to use aerial photography as an 

 aid in counting seals was made on the afternoon of 9 July 

 1945. At the request of the Fish and Wildlife Service, the U.S. 

 Navy sent an amphibious plane (PBY) from Adak. The air- 

 craft flew at elevations between 300 and 500 ft (90 and 150 m). 

 A photographer shooting through a hatch in the floor of the 

 tail took at least 83 photographs of St. Paul Island rookeries. 

 Photoprints, but not negatives, are on file in the Marine Mam- 

 mal Biological Laboratory. They are unsharp and are not suit- 

 able for area mapping, since many of them represent oblique 

 shots. 



In July, Anne K. Wogan, food technician from Philadel- 

 phia, set up a small cannery and smokehouse on St. Paul 

 Island and experimentally preserved liver paste, sausage, 

 groundmeat patties, and other products from fur seal car- 

 casses. "The concensus was that products of a similar nature, 

 already on the market, were as good or better, and probably 

 far less costly to produce in quantity" (Ralph C. Baker, in let- 

 ter of 30 August 1965). 



1946 



In 1946, Georges Prefontaine (University of Montreal) and 

 G. Clifford Carl (British Columbia Provincial Museum) 12 rep- 

 resented the Canadian Government as observers. They were 

 the first Canadian biologists on the islands since Macoun and 

 Harmon in 1914. 



A newborn, 9-lb (4 kg) seal pup was placed in a tank of sea- 

 water. It swam vigorously for 20 min, disproving a longheld 

 contention that the pup must be taught to swim. 



Tapeworms, common in the fur seal, had never been identi- 

 fied. Specimens were collected in 1945 and were sent to Horace 

 W. Stunkard; others were collected in 1946 and were sent to 

 Robert A. Wardle. No satisfactory name for genus or species 

 resulted (Wardle et al. 1947; Stunkard 1947, 1948). Stunkard 



Figure 7. — Top: The first small fetus of a fur seal to be studied by the Pribilof 

 biologists; a female weighing 0.8 lb taken from a seal drowned in a shark net off 

 Depoe Bay, Oreg., 16 February 1945 (photo by V. B. Scheffer). Bottom: Gary 

 A. Baines counting dead seal pups on Polovina. 3 September 1957. He is mark- 

 ing each with a dash of while plaster (photo by F. Wilke). 



,J Prefontaine, G., and G. C. Carl. 1946. Report on a visit to the fur sealing 

 grounds, Pribilof Islands, Alaska, in 1946. Unpubl. rep., 30 p. with various 

 maps and blank record forms, also 36 photographs. Fish. Res. Board Can., Pac. 

 Biol. Stn., Nanaimo, B.C. V9K 5K6 Can. 



30 



