INVESTIGATION OF THE FUR-SEAL INDUSTRY OF ALASKA. 533 



The Chairman. About 40 per cent larger than the yearling, would 

 it be? 



Mr. Clark. Yes, sir. But I want to state this in regard to the 

 39-pound limit. I should like to verify that, because Mr. Elliott 

 says that it is a mean of only six animals. 



The Chairman. Now, you just said that you did not know any- 

 thing about it except that you took Mr. Elliott's data. If you have 

 never weighed any yearling seals, why do you question this propo- 

 sition? 



Mr. Clark. I did not question it, you will remember. I just 

 called attention to the fact that it is based on 6 animals, and I 

 based my 2-year-old figures on 205 animals. If I was to say what 

 a yearling would weigh I would want to kill 200 of them and get an 

 average in that way. 



Mr. McGitlre. Now, we were through with your examples of the 

 measurements and weights which you took of seals; that is, your 

 comparisons ? 



Mr. Clark. Well, yes. 



Mr. McGuire. Now, then, in view of your experiments, would it 

 be possible to tell the size or weight of a skin by only talcing the 

 length and paying no attention to the width ? 



Mr. Clark. No, sir. I think you could not tell anything about 

 the skin on that basis, and I think these figures will show that. 



Mr. McGuire. Do you know whether Mr. Elliott was in possession 

 of the facts which you have just testified to as to the different lengths 

 and widths at the time that he refused to take the measurement of 

 the widths of the skins in 1913? I say, do you know whether or 

 not he was in possession of those facts ? 



Mr. Clark. No; I do not. 



Mr. McGuire. Were you in possession of those facts at that time ? 



Mr. Clark. I was. 



Mr. McGuire. Was that the reason that you wanted to take the 

 width measurements? 



Mr. Clark. Most assuredly it was. 



Mr. McGuire. From your knowledge of seals, were you satisfied 

 at that time that no accurate information could be had merely by 

 taking the length measurement of the skin ? 



Mr. Clark. No; I was definitely of the opinion that it was impos- 

 sible to do that, and this experiment as it progressed was not giving a 

 just measurement of the size of the skins. 



Mr. McGuire. And do you say now to the committee that no 

 reliability could be attached to the taking of only the length of the 

 skins? 



Mr. Elliott. And the weights ? 



Mr. McGuire. Without the breadth. 



Mr. Clark. That, in my opinion, gives no idea of the size of the 

 animal, and the dependence on length measurement alone is simply 

 untrustworthy. 



Mr. McGuire. You state that the seals are like other animals, that 

 the yearlings may differ in size. That is, seals of the same age may 

 differ in size and form like other animals. Is that a fact ? 



Mr. Clark. That is a fact. 



Mr. McGuire. Is that a conclusion that you reached by taking the 

 weights, the length, and breadth measurements of those 205 seals? 



