if one does not somehow keep track of seals that have already been counted 
< in the course of painting an animal, it usually sought the water, thus in¬ 
creasing the chance that it might haul out elsewhere.) 
No seals were observed at sea* Virtually nothing is known about the 
relative amount of time spent at sea* or the distances traveled by this species. 
COMPARISON 10 ELEPHANT SEAL * Mirounga angustirostris : 
The ratios in Table II of Adults to Pups* and Immatures + Adults to Pups 
show some striking similarities to comparable ratios found for the Northern 
» 
elephant seal on rookery and hauling out areas on certain Mexican islands. 
For example, when the figures for Laysan of Adults+Imma tures:Pups are compared 
with similar figures for elephant seals on hauling out and rookery areas (adults 
immatures, and pups) on Isla San Benito del Oeste, we find that the ratios are 
identical - 1:0.39. Likewise, the ratio of adult monk sealsspups (1:0.55) is 
almost identical to that of adult elephant seals to pups on the rookery areas 
v3 
(adults and pups only) on the northeast shore of Guadalupe inland (1:0.37.) 
The ratios for Lisianski island do not come as close, but the ratio for Laysan 
and Lisianski combined (1:0.3d and Is0*48 respectively) do come significantly 
close to those for elephant seals. Both species have made a comeback from 
near extermination by sealers in the Century. The elephant seal population 
on the before-mentioned islands appears to be leveling off after a half-century 
r. 
of repopulation. Is the monk seal population on these islands doing the 
same thing? dice observed approximately 300 monk seals on Laysan in the summer 
of 1937* essentially the same as our count of 242 this June.~ The monk seal 
could very well be at its optimum population level right now. 
Behaviorally and morphologically, the monk and elephant seals are very 
y 
lar. I think that, in all likeiyhood, data and observations obtained rrom 
