neighborhood of 94 percent. 
About as many pups are accidentally killed in tagging as in branding, 
The principal losses in either case are during the driving and herding opera- 
tions, 
Soviet workers applied silver tags to the ears of fur seals and found 
that they often tore the pinna. In 1946 and 1947 we applied small monel tags 
to the ears of sea-lion pups but recovered no specimens, The best time to | 
tag sea-lions on the Pribilof Islands is early June or early July. 
3. By means of hand, and power-operated wool shears, thousands of Alaska 
fur seals have been marked as breeding reserves. The practice has been dis- 
continued. The sheared spot remains visible for at least four months in the 
fall of the year, perhaps longer. 
4. Painting has been used as a means of temporarily marking young harp 
seals on the ice. It would seem practical only where the pelt of the animal 
is dry. We hope to experiment with spray paint for temporarily marking fur 
seals in order to study pelage changes, - 
5. Clipping of the ears of northern fur seals was tried on two occasions 
many years ago. Tagging of the ears would presumably serve the same purpose 
and would be more humane. Neither me&hod has been carefully studied. 
6. Punching the thin, black, interdigital web of the hind flipper is an 
easy method of marking fur seals. By varying the number and the location of 
the holes the method can be used to identify individually a series of animals 
totalling several hundreds. The punched holes are difficult to see on-living, 
moving animals... The holes are quite certainly permanent although we have the 
evidence of only two years as yet to support this contention, 
As regards the recovery of marked pinnipeds we have quantitative data 
only on the Alaska fur seal, and even these data are scanty, When 5,000 fur 
seal pups of both sexes are marked as pups on the Pribilof Islands, we expect 
tos see 800 to 1,000 marked bachelors on land three years later, The instinct 
to return to the exact birthplace is feebly developed in the juvenile (e.g. 
two-year old) and strongly developed in the adolescent.(e.g., five-year old). 
Over 90 percent of the adult males return to their native rookery. The homing 
instinct appears'to be as strong in the female as in the male. 
