markably uniform; they deviated only at random from a mean 

 of 50.9% males. 



In 1959, Allison M. Craig (Pacific Biological Station, Fish- 

 eries Research Board of Canada) began a study of the repro- 

 ductive cycle of the female seal with special emphasis on the 

 histology and histochemistry of tissues. She carried on where 

 the Pearsons had left off. Between 1959 and 1964, she ex- 

 amined many hundreds of tracts collected by Canadian and 

 U.S. biologists. Her first report was released in 1963 (Craig 

 1963 32 ). William Shapeero joined the staff of the Marine Mam- 

 mal Biological Laboratory in 1960 to carry on similar studies. 

 He left in 1961 after a fire destroyed his histological work 

 room. 



Live pup counts were made on 5 August 1959 on two sample 

 areas on St. Paul Island rookeries. From high vantage points, 

 2,147 pups were counted on a portion of Kitovi and 702 on a 

 portion of Tolstoi. The objective was to get a quick estimate of 

 pups without waiting 3 or 4 yr for tag returns. However, by 

 1963 it was evident that the annual counts were inconsistent. 

 The count for one area might go up and for another down over 

 the same 2-yr span. In 1964, therefore, a new and larger system 

 of study plots was designated; these are still in use (Roppel et 

 al. 1965a: 19). 



From 1959 to 1962, Scheffer and Bertram S. Kraus (Depart- 

 ment of Orthodontics, University of Washington) collaborated 

 on a study of the gross morphology and development of decid- 

 uous and permanent teeth of the fur seal (Scheffer and Kraus 

 1964). They examined the dentitions of approximately 200 

 fetal and older seals. They found that: "The deciduous teeth 

 are essentially nonfunctional; two-thirds of them are usually 

 shed in fetal life. The permanent teeth begin to calcify very 

 early; all have erupted from the jaw, though not all from the 

 gum, at birth. Root growth continues through life, especially 

 in teeth which retain an open pulp canal for 20 years. The 1st 

 premolar and all molars in each quadrant are primary perma- 

 nent teeth. A "lower 1st incisor" was presumably lost in the 

 evolution of the seal. Cusplets and a double root on certain 

 teeth suggest that modern teeth are derived from more com- 

 plex ones" (Scheffer and Kraus 1964:293). 



Three of Kraus' students, Bokstrom, Lamb, and Takano, 

 studied fur seal specimens while writing master's theses (see 

 literature cited by Scheffer and Kraus 1964). Kraus transferred 

 to the University of Pittsburgh in 1963. 



Annual reports in the series "Alaska Fishery and Fur Seal 

 Industries," started by Barton Warren Evermann in 1911, 

 were discontinued at the end of 1959. 



1960 



On 1 January 1960, the State of Alaska assumed respon- 

 sibility for its own fisheries, though the Federal Government 

 continued to manage the fur seal industry. 



In 1954, Kenyon et al. (1954, table 15) had published a life 

 table with a summary estimate of 1.3 million female seals alive 

 at the beginning of the year (15 June). In 1960, Abegglen et al. 



(1960, tables 27-29") erected three new tables with estimates of 

 1.2 to 1.4 million females. None of the tables proposed thus 

 far is regarded with great confidence; too many factors remain 

 unknown. 



Chapman (in Abegglen et al. footnote 33, p. 37) examined 

 tag recovery records, searching for significant runs of one sex. 

 He found no evidence that seal pups segregate themselves by 

 sex at time of tagging. 



On 7 August 1960, sealing was terminated by the Govern- 

 ment on St. Paul Island, partly on the advice of Fouke Fur 

 Company employees who judged that the proportion of 

 "stagy" skins had reached a critical level. In later discussion it 

 was agreed that a few standard sealskins in critical molt should 

 be processed and sent to the Pribilofs for the future guidance 

 of the men responsible for closing the sealing season. Six skins 

 in advanced molt were accordingly selected by Harry May 

 from the 1961 crop, two of which were sent to St. Paul Island 

 (Marine Mammal Biological Laboratory, File 8.05.01). 



At the conclusion of male killings in 1960 the practice of 

 counting "rejects," or animals released from the killing pods, 

 was abandoned. The counts had been made for at least 20 yr 

 but had never been published. 



The skulls of 24 bull seals were collected on St. Paul Island 

 in 1960 and were sent to Soviet fur seal biologist Se r gei 

 Vasilievich Dorofeev (in 1961). About 1963, bull skulls from 

 Soviet seal rookeries were received in exchange. Dorofeev had 

 proposed to make a systematic comparison of Asian and 

 North American seals. We believe that the project was drop- 

 ped after his death in 1962. 



In 1960 the "first recognized post-partum animal that had 

 delivered twins on land" was killed on Reef Rookery (Abeg- 

 glen et al. footnote 33, p. 27). She was a 4-yr-old taken in a 

 sealing drive; her pups were not identified. Another female 

 killed was carrying a full term fetus in her abdominal cavity; 

 the placenta was entwined among the intestines. This the only 

 record of ectopic pregnancy. 



In the summer of 1960, Chapman visited the Pribilofs in 

 order to familiarize himself with research operations, such as 

 tagging, upon which his statistical analyses for nearly a decade 

 had been based. Upon his return, he was in a position to dis- 

 cuss past and future statistical work with a new appointee to 

 the Laboratory, Ancel M. Johnson. Johnson transferred to 

 Seattle in 1960 from a background of statistical work for the 

 Fish and Wildlife Service in Denver. Chapman also developed 

 "a simple model ... on the premise that reduced survival [to 

 age 3] is due to pressure on the food supply around the islands 

 which affects the survival of the seal pups in their first year" 

 (Chapman 1961:356). He gave two equations, the results of 

 which were similar, for the relationship between pup popula- 

 tion and survival. 



Also at the Pribilofs in 1960 were three Soviet observers 

 representing the first U.S.S.R. -United States exchange of 

 visitors as provided for by the Convention of 1957. They were 

 P. G. Nikulin (who had written as early as 1937 about nor- 

 thern pinnipeds), T. K. Kostarnov, and L. V. Kostin. Scheffer 

 visited Robben Island that summer, though too late to see the 



"Craig, A. 1963. Key to the reproductive condition of female fur seals (Callo- 

 rhinus ursinus) and the reproductive cycle of mature female fur seals. Manuscr. 

 Rep., Biology 754, 25 p. Fish. Res. Board Can., Pac. Biol. Stn., Nanaimo, 

 B.C. V9R 5K6 Can. 



"Abegglen, C. E., A. Y. Roppel, and F. Wilke. 1960. Alaska fur seal investi- 

 gations, Pribilof Islands, Alaska. Report of field activities, June-October 1960. 

 Unpubl. rep., 165 p. Northwest and Alaska Fish. Cent., Natl. Mar. Mammal 

 Lab., Natl. Mar. Fish. Serv., NOAA, 7600 Sand Point Way NE., Seattle, WA 

 98115. 



46 



