erect in the sand, and it pushed itself along with its head down in the soft 
sand. The black juvenile pelt is coal black in color, with no lighter areas 
on the body, the pelage is very 30ft and silky, and I believe that it is longer 
than the adult pelage, which gives the impression of a thick wool pile rug very 
closex* cropped. When we released the pup it crawled about on the beach, but 
the female did not come out to it as we watched as we moved on down the beach. 
The color of the adults is basically a brownish-gray, with the venter 
frequently being a yellowish-white or gray, and sometimes as dark as the upper 
parts. The fur frequently ha3 large areas of greenish algae, and the size of 
the colony may be dependent on the length of time the animal has been in the 
water. As previously mentioned, it is not hard to sex the mimals when rolled 
* • 
over, and it is possible to feel the baculum beneath the skin of juvenile males. 
About 1130 we observed a large adult on the beach, and got a rope on it. 
It quickly proved too much for us to handle, and started dragging both of us into 
the water. V/e couldn't get the noose off and finally had to cut the rope to 
release it. This seal had a gray fresh wound on the right side of its body just 
under the foreflipper. The cut was as if done with a large butcher knife, and 
was about 6 inches deep on a diagonal and about 15 inches long. This whole flap 
of skin would fall back when the animal rolled, and appeared quite raw but was 
not actually bleeding. The seal was wet and had evidently only been out of the 
were 
water for a short time. There xss also several smaller diagonal, and evenly 
spaced cuts on its belly, and the right foreflipper was ripped and lacerated 
•-* 
along its trailing edge. 
