INVESTIGATION OF THE FUR-SEAL INDUSTRY OF ALASKA. 487 



guished from virgin females. The yearlings as a class come to the 

 islands in numbers only when the pups have reached an age when 

 they spend most of their time in the water. The branding of pups 

 in the fall of 1912 settled this question of the movements of the year- 

 lings. I want to emphasize the point that our knowledge on this 

 subject has been one of constant growth, and it was not until 1912 

 that these facts affecting our judgment concerning yearlings were 

 finally established. Consequently, when I call attention to what I 

 stated in 1896 and 1909 it must be taken with this understanding., 

 that our knowledge has been growing all along, and I know more 

 about the subject now than I did then. If I made mistakes before,. 

 I want to correct them now, because added light brings an added 

 willingness to remedy any defects which may be brought to light. 

 As I said, the branding of pups in the fall of 1912 settled this question 

 of the movements of the yearlings. Six thousand of these animals 

 were marked with hot irons, chiefly from Reef Rookery. Only one 

 of these branded animals was seen on the hauling grounds of Reef 

 Rookery, and three all told, in the killing season of 1913, and that 

 hauling ground was studied carefully to find out whether they were 

 there or not. We had them divided into pods and turned them off 

 one by one, so that we could make an exact enumeration of every 

 single pod. 



The Chairman. Did vou try to separate them in groups of two or 

 three ? 



Mr. Clark. No, sir; we would take a bunch of 15 or 20 seals and 

 watch them very closely to see all the different kinds of seals among 

 them. We did not look at them in a mass. 



Mr. Stephens. At what ages did vou brand them ? 



Mr. Clark. They were pups 2 to 3 months old. 



Mr. Stephens. Of what sex? 



Mr. Clark. Of both sexes. As I said, we did not find them. Their 

 absence prior to August 8 showed clearly enough that few of the 

 yearlings reach the hauling ground. The estimate of one in fifteen 

 would mean that about 1,000 yearlings for all the hauling grounds of 

 the Pribilof Islands in 1913, the last week in July, which is a mere 

 fraction out of the nearly 40,000 yearlings all told which must have 

 belonged to the herd in that season. That is the number of year- 

 lings that might be expected to appear on the hauling grounds and 

 that would be involved in any killing that might be undertaken. The 

 greatest number of yearlings alleged to have been killed in 128,000, 

 onlv half of which are claimed to be females, or 64,000. 



The Chairman. During what period? 



Mr. (lark. The period from 1904, I suppose, down to 1911, or 

 maybe from 1896 to 1911. 



The Chairman. I think that is from 1890 to 1909. 



Mr. Clark. "Well, whatever it is. 



Mr. Stephens. What is the number ? 



Mr. Clark. It is stated in the hearings. The number is stated in 

 the hearings as 128,000, and it is otherwise stated as 120,000. 



Mr. Elliott. That is my statement. 



The Chairman. Since 1896? 



Mr. Elliott. It was 128,000. since 1890. 



Mr. Clark. I criticized the killing of 1909 because it left prac- 

 tically no small animals. The percentage of animals killed, when 



