THE JAMAICA SEAL II5 



In captivity the Jamaica seal has always been 

 extremely rare. Mr. Richard Hill, the co-author of 

 " The Birds of Jamaica," had one which lived for 

 four months in good condition, though it obstinately 

 refused to eat. More recently (1897) Captain 

 Martin obtained a female specimen from the Red 

 Snapper Banks, near Yucatan ; the animal was 

 acquired for the New York Aquarium, where she was 

 exhibited alive for five-and-a-half years. "Nellie" was 

 tame and playful, and used to splash the visitors with 

 water. She fed well — perhaps too well- — for she 

 eventually died of fatty degeneration of the liver 

 and kidneys, probably induced by over-eating and 

 want of exercise ; the autopsy also revealed com- 

 mencing pneumonia in the left lung. Another 

 individual — companion to Nellie — lived two years 

 in the Aquarium. 



It but remains to indicate the present outlook of 

 this threatened species. In the first place, the West 

 Indian seal, unfortunately for itself, is of considerable 

 commercial importance — not for its fur, but for its 

 valuable oil. Mr. Hill's animal even after a 

 four months' fast was still sheathed in a casino- of 

 blubber four inches deep and yielded four gallons of 

 oil. Now the Caribbean has longf attracted numbers 

 of professional hunters who take turtle for the 

 Kingston market and crowd to the reefs to gather 

 sea-fowl's eggs. That such people should for merely 

 sentimental reasons stay their hand from the valuable 



