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BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF FISHEBIES 
Just what relation these figures bear to the official counts, the absurdity of 
which has been demonstrated above, can not be stated, but no system of calculation 
or interpretation can possibly produce credible figures for those years. Mr. Suvorof , 
after his visit in 1917, submitted the following figures " for breeding females: 
1911 4, 839 
1912 5,234 
1913 4, 860 
1914 4,872 
1916 4, 769 
1917 JiL-'-J 4, 982 ■ 
Mil 
He thus came to the conclusion that while the male life had progressed satis- 
factorily, the number of females practically remained stationary, and he tried to 
explain this alleged fact by the curious assumption that pelagic sealing had caused 
a great surplus of superannuated cows, which, after pelagic sealing ceased, died off 
as fast as new ones were born; but he failed to explain how old cows would have a 
better chance to escape the pelagic sealers than young ones.. The true explanation 
seems to be that the Russians reckoned with a lower mortality than experience has 
shown to occur. The whole history of the fur-seal industry of the Commander 
Islands seems to indicate that the normal mortality of the Russian herd during the 
migration season is even higher than that of the American herd; but if that is true, 
the expectation for 1917, based on Suvorof 's own estimate of the living black pups in 
1911, should not greatly exceed the number he reported having found in that year.'^ 
The total number of seals present on the Commander Islands rookeries in 
1917 according to his calculation was 13,267. It has already been said that his 
figures for 1911 probably were too low, and also that those given for 1917 are cor- 
respondingly low. This belief is based, first, on the conviction that the combination 
count-estimate of black pups, from the way it was undertaken, must have fallen 
considerably short of the actual number, and, second, on the fact that his calcula- 
tions, at least those of 1911, did not take into consideration the number of seals 
that remain at sea during the whole season. With these probabilities in mind, we 
have indulged in the following speculation : 
Assuming for 1911 an undervaluation of 10 per cent in the number of black 
pups alleged to have been on the Commander Islands rookeries at that time, viz, 
4,661, we start with a round number of 5,100, and accepting the count of 46 bulls 
at its face value we would be justified in estimating the total number of seals of all 
the other classes to have been, in 1911, including those absent at sea, as follows: 
Cows 5, 100 
Black pups 5, 100 
Bulls . 46 
Bachelors 1, 350 
2-year-old females - 1,200 
Yearling females 1, 275 
YearUng males--, 1,275 
Total 15,346 
Ik— ■ ■ ■ ■ 
" These figures differ somewhat from his tabulation given above. 
" His own estimate in 1916 as to how many might be expected in 1917 was 5,830 cows (Viestnik Rybopromysblennoskt, 
vol. 31, 1916, p. 448). 
