726 INVESTIGATION OP THE FUR-SEAL INDUSTRY OF ALASKA. 



Mr. McGuire. That had been the ques- 

 tion prior to that time? 



Mr. Clark. Yes. 



Mr. McGuire. If they came, then the 

 situation of 1909 was a serious one with 

 respect to that. If the yearlings came to 

 the grounds they must have been killed, 

 because there was no considerable num- 

 ber left not killed. The effect of the 

 branding demonstrated that the yearlings 

 did not come to the hauling grounds, 

 and therefore they were necesrarily not 

 killed in 1909, and the animals that were 

 killed were the 2-year-olds or above that 

 aare. 



Fur Seal Investigations, part 3, 

 page 337, 1898. 



Mr. Clark's notes (p. 339): The drive 

 from Lukannon showed a marked excess 

 of yearlings. In the earlier drives these 

 yearlings do not appear, and in the later 

 drives Lukannon sends in an overwhelm- 

 ing majority of them. (George A. Clark, 

 July 25, 1896, p. 340, Fur Seal Investiga- 

 tions, part 2, 1898.) 



Clark swears February 21, 1914, that the only yearling seal ever 

 identified by any one up to August 8, 1913, is the one he captured 

 July 24, 1913, that day on the Reef Rookery, St. Paul Island. 



Mr. McGuire. You know that was a yearling seal? 



Mr. Clark. Yes, that is the only yearling seal that anybody up to that time had 

 any right to swear to. 



Mr. McGuire. Do you remember its measurements? 



Mr. Clark. This one I caught in 1913, this branded animal, of which we are abso- 

 lutely certain, its length was 36^ inches. 



They knew what yearlings were, because they had branded pups in 

 1896: when he reported in 1897 they were there — he knew it, because he 

 saw them. But we are told here, by a man who ca^s himself a 

 " scientist ," that this was an original " experiment " of his own to deter- 

 mine the return of yearlings by branding! Six thousand pups were 

 branded on the tops of their gelatinous heads in 1912. We will find 

 out about all that when we come to it. 



The Bureau of Fisheries submits the sworn proof, April 24, 1912, 

 that Clark has made an untruthful statement in re yearling seal. It 

 weighed a live yearling seal (pup of 1909) all through 1910. These 

 weights agree exactly with Elliott's standard, officially published 

 June, 1875. 



Dr. Evbrmann. The bureau has obtained at various times certain reliable data 

 regarding the weights of seals, and I desire to put them on record in this connection. 



In the fall of 1909 two fur-seal pups (male and female) were brought to the Bureau 

 of Fisheries in Washington from St. Paul Island. Those two seals are still living, 

 and in excellent condition. They have been weighed on the 20th of every month 

 since they were received here in Washington. The following table shows the weight 

 of each at each weighing: 



Date. 



Male. 



Female. 



Date. 



Male. 



Female. 



1910. 

 Jan. 20 



Pounds. 

 28 



35.25 

 32.5 

 37 

 30.5 

 36 

 41 



41.25 

 44 



46.5 

 44.5 

 49.5 



50 

 44.5 



Pounds. 

 19.5 

 24.75 

 25 

 24 

 21.5 

 26 



31.75 

 30.25 

 32 

 34.5 

 34 

 34. 75 



34.5 

 30.5 



1911— Continued. 

 Mar. 20 



Pounds. 

 46 

 45.5 

 50.5 

 55 

 56 

 63 

 62 

 63.5 

 64 

 62 



63 



61.25 



62 



60.5 



Pounds. 

 30 



Feb. 20... 



Apr. 20 



31.5 



Mar. 20.. 



May 20 



32 



Apr. 20 



June 20 



38 



May 20 



June 20. .. 



Julv 20 



41 



Au?. 20 



41.5 



Julv 20 



Sept. 20 



41.5 



Aug. 20 



Sept. 20 



Oct. 20 



Oct. 20 



41.5 



Nov. 20 



Dec. 20 



43 

 43 



Nov. 20 



Dec. 20 



1912. 

 Jan. 20 







37.5 



1911. 



Feb. 20 



40.75 



Jan. 20 



Mar. 20 



38.5 



Feb. 20 



Apr. 20 



37 









