out between 1896 and 1903 in order to scar the pelts of females and thereby 
render them unatbractive to pelagic sealers. Around the turn of the century 
the United States Government was trying desperately to build up the Pribilof 
herd in the face of increasing losses of females at sea. After eight years 
had elapsed and after 25,000 seals had been branded, the program was dropped 
as infeasible. Of those branded, all but a few were pups. The brending 
irons were heated on coal or coke forges and were applied to seals held on 
the ground by native workmen, Electric cautery was also tried. It was clean 
and quick-acting but was not as practical under field conditions as the flame-~ 
heated iron (Jordan 1899(3): 325-338). 
(2) A second series of brandings was directed in 1912 by George A. 
Clark of Stenford University, to provide specimens of known-age animals for 
study of the growth rate. The findings were of great value, and the age=- 
length standards established in the course of the study are still in use. 
Clark used three branding irons heated in relays by a plumber's blowtorch, 
He was able to mark up to 1,000 seal pups in a day (Hanna 1917: 97). 
(3) <A third series of brandings was started in 1923 for the purpose of 
marking a definite number of male seals as breeding reserves. Altogether, 
5,047 bachelors estimated to be three years old were burned on the back of the 
body, or in some cases, on the back of the neck. Im addition, they were 
sheared on top of the head. Operations were carried out in June at the start 
of the seal=killing season. Thirty-nine seals died as a result of handling-- 
a mortality of 0.77 percent (Bower 1925: 118-119). Hot-iron branding was 
never again used as a means of marking breeding reserves. 
(4) Branding operations on a small scale were carried out in the years 
1925, 1927, 1928, and 1929 (table 1, p.G@). Altogether, 1,400 bachelor seals 
were treated, The brandings of 1925 were apparently for scientific purposes 
(Bower 1926: 149) but were not again referred to in official reports. The 
brandings of 1927, 1928, and 1929 were done in conjunction with tagging, as 
we shall point out on p. 8 They were planned as a means of gathering new 
facts on the fur seal, since Japan had asked, in 1926, for a review of the 
premises upon which the-treaty of 191] was based. Some of the seals branded 
in the late 'twenties apparently wandered to the Commander Islands, where 
Soviet workers reported that they saw "fur seals which were unquestionably 
marked (sheared spots in the fur, burned out brands), although the question 
was by whom and where?" (Barabash-Nikiforov 1936: 228, translation). 
(5) Introducing a new series of biological studies of the fur seal herd, 
branding operations were resumed in 1940 after a lapse of eleven years (fig. 
1*), Five thousand pups were branded, primarily to serve as a source of know- 
age specimens. Operations were carried out between September 17 and 28, 
although 95 percent of the pups were handled between September 24 and 27. On 
one day under good working conditions, a crew of 25 men branded 1,639 pups in 
four hours ° . 
The following tools were used: (1) an operating table 2 feet high, 2 

* All photographs by the author. 
2 
