A New Fur-seal from Guadalupe Island. 177 



only three boat-lengths away when shot. The water was per 

 fectly clear and we could see the animal sinking when we reached 

 the bloody spot on the water. It began to sink immediately when 

 shot. With an extra long hook we might have reached it. We 

 remained in the neighborhood for an hour, but no more seals 

 were seen. While lying to with the vessel about two miles off this 

 point the Captain saw two fur-seals from the vessel, but was 

 powerless to try getting them. It was on the rocks at this point 

 that Capt. Hunt had killed a pup fur-seal the year before (1891)." 



In addition to his own observations Mr. Townsend collected 

 from California sealers some very important information respect 

 ing the abundance of the Guadalupe fur-seal and the numbers 

 killed in recent years. This may be summed up as follows : 



In 1880 Capt. Geo. W. Chase, of San Diego, made several trips 

 to Guadalupe for fur-seals, which he found "tightly packed in 

 the caves and holes [in the rocks]." He generally fired at their 

 eyes in the darkness of these places, but sometimes used candles. 

 His skins sold for $15 each, from which he made $2,200 in 1880. 

 The same man (Capt. Chase) stated that about a year earlier a 

 Mr. Borges sold his catch of Guadalupe sealskins at San Fran 

 cisco for over $20,000 (the rate being $10 to $15 per skin). 



In 1883 Capt. Geo. E. Wentworth killed about 2,000 fur-seals 

 on Guadalupe. Captain Wentworth states that several other 

 vessels were there at the same time, and that the Guadalupe fur- 

 seal was practically [commercially] exterminated that year 

 1883. 



In 1890 Capt. Nelson told Mr. Townsend that he had killed 

 fur-seals with more or less regularity every year on the exposed 

 shingle beach at the NW end of Guadalupe Island, where he 

 pursued them into the caves and killed them with clubs. 



In 1891 Geo. M. Hunt, of San Diego, visited Guadalupe in De 

 cember for the purpose of sealing and killed 5 fur-seals 4 adults 

 on the east side and one pup on the northwest side. A few 

 others were seen off shore. 



Recently I have compared the skulls collected at Guadalupe 

 by Mr. Townsend with a series of skulls of Arctocephalus australis 

 or phillipi from the Galapagos Islands, also collected by Mr. 

 Townsend, and find the two to be very distinct species. In view 

 of these facts it seems particularly appropriate that the new 

 species should bear Mr. Townsend 's name, which I take pleasure 

 in bestowing upon it. 



The material on which the new species is based consists of four 



