decided that the worms from the fur seal "represent 2 species, 

 one monogonadic, the other diplogonadic" (Stunkard 1947: 

 19). It is unlikely that a satisfactory name for the tapeworm of 

 the fur seal will be agreed upon in the near future (Vik 1964). 



Fur seals had long been known to have "worms." Stiles and 

 Hassal (1899:109) were first to identify the stomach round- 

 worm as "Ascaris decipiens Krabbe, 1878." After examining a 

 collection of worms sent to him in 1946, Baylis reaffirmed (in 

 letter of 25 November 1946) that "Porrocaecum decipiens 

 (Krabbe) 1878" is the common stomach worm. Myers (1959) 

 proposed the generic name Phocanema for the ascarids of 

 marine mammals, and Neiland (1961) found "Phocanema 

 decipiens (Krabbe, 1878) Myers, 1959" in the stomach of a 

 pelagic yearling fur seal at Valdez. 



At time of writing (1965) we believe that Phocanema deci- 

 piens is the only ascarid worm recorded from Callorhinus in 

 the eastern North Pacific. Others would be expected, particu- 

 larly Phocascaris osculata (Rudolphi) 1802, which was re- 

 ported by Baylis (1937:124) and Berland (1963:20) in many 

 northern and southern pinnipeds, including the South Ameri- 

 can fur seal, Arctocephalus australis. 



In 1946, the skins of 523 male seals were marked on St. Paul 

 Island according to "field length" in inches, and the skins 

 were followed through the factory in St. Louis to the final auc- 

 tion. In each of 1 1 classes there were approximately 50 skins. 

 The classes and the mean sale returns were as follows: 



Field 

 length 

 (inches) 



41 



42 



43 



44 



45 



46 



47 



48 



49 



50 



51 



Dollars 

 56 

 59 

 60 

 68 

 69 

 75 

 78 

 79 

 81 

 80 

 79 



The mean return of Group III skins (from 41- to 45-in (104-114 

 cm) seals) was $62.27 and from Group IV skins (from 46- to 

 51-in (117-129 cm) seals) was $77.97. The results were used as 

 an argument in favor of killing a greater percentage of large 

 seals each summer. 



Samples of fur seal liver were frozen and shipped to Seattle 

 in 1946, 1947, and 1948 for analysis of vitamin A content. At 

 that time, vitamin A had not been synthesized and natural 

 sources were in great demand. Over 400 lb (180 kg) of liver 

 were analyzed (Miyauchi and Sanford 1947; Sanford et al. 

 1949; Scheffer et al. 1950). The light, yellowish-brown livers 

 contained more oil and distinctly more vitamin A than did the 

 dark, reddish-brown ones. The content ranged on the order of 

 1 to 1,000. The biological reason for the variation has never 

 been explained. One liver contained $4.25 worth of vitamin A 

 at going prices. 



Clegg (1951) analyzed oil from cold- rendered seal blubber 

 collected in 1949. It was fairly unsaturated (iodine number 

 108) and had 1.58% free fatty acid. Wilber (1952) analyzed a 



sample of orange blubber. He was unable to identify the 

 carotenoid (?) responsible for the color. He found 0.24°7o 

 cholesterol and 4.3% phospholipid. 



A report by Enders et al. (1946) on the reproductive anat- 

 omy of the female seal was the first to be published since the 

 1890's. The authors examined preserved tracts collected on the 

 Pribilofs between 1940 and 1945. They discovered and de- 

 scribed the blastula. They reported that the post-parturient 

 uterine horn shrinks rapidly, within a week or so. They first 

 postulated delayed implantation; they estimated 2 mo, though 

 the delay is in fact about 4 mo. 



Fredericka Martin' s book ' ' The hunting of the silver fleece' ' 

 appeared in 1946. It pointed out inequalities between the treat- 

 ment of "natives" (Aleut-speaking) and "whites" on the Prib- 

 ilofs. As one result, a Government committee was sent to St. 

 Paul Island from 2 to 9 October 1949 to investigate living con- 

 ditions (Martin 1946b; U.S. Interior Department 1951). 



1947 



In 1947, after the war, plans to reactivate the Black Douglas 

 and to undertake pelagic fur seal research were laid. Congress 

 appropriated $62,500. Biologists William H. Sholes, Jr., Karl 

 Walton Kenyon, and Robert Zanes Brown entered on duty in 

 May and June. Raul Vaz-Ferreira, of Servicio Oceanografico y 

 de Pesca, Uruguay, was on the Pribilofs and on the Black 

 Douglas as an observer during summer and fall. He had stud- 

 ied South American fur seals on the islands off the Uruguayan 

 coast. 



In 1947, the Black Douglas cruised 17,256 mi (27,771 km) in 

 two trips out of Seattle. The first one took her to the Pribilofs 

 and return, with side trips, from May to August. The second 

 one took her to Attu Island, westernmost of the Aleutians, 

 from September to November. As a seal-hunting base the ship 

 was much too large. Biologists aboard her in 1947 shot and 

 recovered no seals. On the first cruise, on 6 June, they dis- 

 covered about 100 fur seals hauled out on Samalga Island, in 

 the eastern Aleutians. This was the first evidence that Alaskan 

 fur seals land outside the Pribilofs. On the second cruise in late 

 October and November, along the full length of the Aleutian 

 chain, the biologists saw only 10 seals. 



Marking operations were resumed in 1947 with the tagging 

 of 19,183 pups. For the first time, a "checkmark" was placed 

 on each pup when tagged: a small hole punched in the web of a 

 hind flipper. A checkmark of one kind or another is now 

 routine. Pups have been tagged annually since 1947 (Fig. 8), 

 when the "A" series tags were applied (except in 1950). We 

 will give only highlights of later tagging programs. 



Efforts were continued to photograph the rookeries for cen- 

 sus purposes. A camera was sent aloft on small captive bal- 

 loons (Fig. 9) in 1947-49 but the resulting pictures were un- 

 sharp. An infrared photograph taken from a ground station in 

 1947 was distinct, though little more so than an ordinary 

 photograph. 



An observation blind was built beneath one of the catwalks 

 on Polovina with the thought that a photographer could ob- 

 tain intimate, eye-level shots of seals. However, the approach 

 was via trapdoor in the catwalk and the seals took alarm at see- 

 ing a man above them. 



An "average harem" statistic was last published for the year 

 1947 (Johnston 1950:74). "The computed average harem con- 



31 



