530 INVESTIGATION OT THE EUK-SEAL INDUSTRY OF ALASKA. 



an addition must be made to the London weights to get back to the 

 green-skin weights, because of depreciation of skins in salting. 



Mr. McGuire. I think you went over that. Now, then, with 

 respect to the measurements and weights taken on the islands, I will 

 ask you if you have any examples where you took both the length and 

 breadth of skin measurements and, if so, what did you find with 

 respect to the relative lengths and relative breadths of seals presum- 

 ably of the same age ? 



Mr. Clark. In 1912 I was charged in my instructions with the 

 determination of the question of the action of salting on weight of 

 sealskins because that was a question before this committee. Mr. M. 

 C. Marsh, the naturalist on St. Paul, Mr. Lembkey and myself, made a 

 killing of 205 animals — they were well-grown two-year olds — with a 

 view to laying a basis for this experiment. The full record is in my 

 1912 report. We had the animal struck down, stunned, and before it 

 was bled we had it weighed. We took the animal's weight, and then 

 we measured the animal from the tip of the nose to the root of the tail 

 and we took its girth behind the fore flippers. We took the green- 

 skin weight, and then put it into salt in the kench, where we took its 

 length and breadth. Then after 7 to 10 days, or whatever the period 

 of salting is, we took these skins out and shook them to get rid of the 

 extra salt and weighed them again. We again took their length and 

 breadth. We have that all recorded here for the 205 skins. 



I should not have complained about the Elliott-Gallagher report 

 here if those full dimensions had been given, but you see, the breadth 

 measurements were not taken for these 400 salted skins, therefore the 

 information is defective. 



We have the area of these 205 skins so that their size can be easily 

 determined. I have been interested since this discussion came up in 

 looking over these figures for 1912, and I have drawn out some ex- 

 amples to assist us in getting at an understanding of the matter. 



Mr. McGuire. Give the examples you have there. 



Mr. Clark. I find in this manuscript of 1912 that skin No. 38 — I 

 may say that these skins are tagged just as Mr. Elliott's are tagged. 

 This skin No. 38 came from an animal weighing 52| pounds. That is 

 a little less than the weight of an average 2 year old as fixed by Mr. 

 Elliott, which is 58 pounds. Skin No. 38 was 40 inches in length and 

 24+, inches in girth. The green skin weighed 5 pounds 12+ ounces. 

 No. 50 had a weight of 58+ pounds as an animal. That corresponds 

 exactly to Mr. Elliott's estimate of 58 pounds. Its dimensions 

 (salted) are 40+ by 25 inches and had a weight of 5 pounds 15+, ounces. 

 Now, No. 58 of this same list is of an animal weighing 49 pounds. I 

 have chosen here animals of varying weights, so that we will see that 

 these animals do vary and you can not fix on any one measurement 

 as characteristic of them all. This salted skin had a length of 41 £ 

 inches and a girth of 21 1 inches. Its weight 5 pounds and 1\ ounces. 

 Note that we have here three skins; the lengths are 40 inches, 40+, 

 inches, and 41 \ inches. The girth measurements are 24+, 25, and 21 J. 

 The weights are 5 pounds 12+ ounces, 5 pounds 5+ ounces, and 5 

 pounds 7+ ounces. You see there is not a very great variation in 

 weights, although there is variety in the size and weight of the 

 animals and some variation in width. 



The Chairman. There is no difference of 3 pounds, is there ? 



