486 INVESTIGATION OF THE FUR-SEAL INDUSTRY OF ALASKA. 



Dr. Eveemann. Yes; but it is no more unlawful to kill a branded 

 leal whose skin does not weigh 8J pounds than it is to kill a seal who 

 is not branded whose skin weighs 8J pounds. 



The Chairman. It is merely a question of identification. 



Dr. Evermann. Yes. 



The Chairman. Did you not say in your report, Mr. Clark, on 

 page 891, I think, that the sealing company took every seal that 

 they drove except a few small runts and a few half bulls ? 



Mr. Clark. At what point on the page ? 



The Chairman. I am not sure about the page. 



Mr. Clark. Well, page 891 is in my field notes and I want to call 

 attention to the fact that these observations are records of truthful 

 recollections of things that appeared from day to day on the ground. 



The Chairman. But did you not see them ? 



Mr. Clark. Yes, and when I said that they took all of the young 

 small seals except the very runts or the small ones, I meant, in the 

 light of my experience with the branding, that they took every 

 2-year-old, because now I know that the yearlings did not come to 

 the hauling ground. 



The Chairman. Then you drove some runts with the 2-year-olds, if 

 that statement is correct? 



Mr. Clark. Well, a runt means a very small animal. 



The Chairman. Well, not what it means, but do they drive some 

 of the runts with the 2-year-olds? 



Mr. Clark. There were some very small animals in the drive, but 

 they were exempted from the killing. 



The Chairman. On page 903 Appendix "A," special agent Lemb- 

 key states that you are not warranted in criticising the close killing 

 of 1909. I may be mistaken about the inference there, but I will 

 read what he did say : 



To sum up, we find that Mr. Clark's statement that all 2-year-olds were killed in 

 1909 is negatived by his own statement in another portion of his report that probably 

 6,000 of these animals survived; that it is shown that practically 6,000 young males 

 survived the season in question, when only 280 of these are required to mature as 

 breeders to preserve the herd of males at its present numbers, and that with the 

 enforcement of existing regulations, it was impossible to kill as closely in 1909 as it 

 was in 1889, however close the killing in that year actually might have been. 



How does your clear statement on page 861 and 866 meet with that 

 statement ? 



Mr. Clark. Of course, I think you ought to ask Mr. Lembkey about 

 that. I have not given attention to that, and I can not answer for 

 his criticism of my report. 



The Chairman. Were you present when the advisory board held 

 its session '. 



Mr. Clark. Yes, I was. 



The Chairman. Who was there? 



Mr. Clark. Dr. David Starr Jordan, of Stanford University, Dr. 

 L. Stejneger, of the Smithsonian, Dr. F. A. Lucas, now of the Ameri- 

 can Museum of Natural History, Dr. Charles H. Townsend of the 

 National Aquarian, myself. Mr. W. T. Lembkey, Dr. Evermann, and 

 Commissioner Bowers. That is my recollection, but I think that is 

 a matter of record, is it not \ It ought to be somewhere here. 



The Chairman. AYas your report published? 



Mr. Clark. In Appendix "A." 



