NINTH ANNUAL REPORT. 107 
guelen Island by a vessel from New London, Conn. In 1897 a 
vessel from Boston visited Kerguelen Island and secured about 
4,000 of the animals, which yielded 1,700 barrels of oil. A sub- 
equent voyage was made to the same locality when the supply 
of seals was exhausted. 
Northern Sea-Elephant.—An off-shoot of this species formerly 
existed along the coast of western North America from the 
islands of Southern California to the southern part of the peninsula 
of Lower California. It was for many years the basis of a seal- 
ing industry of no small importance, but was abandoned many 
years ago on account of the practical extermination of the species. 
In 1884 the writer visited Lower California in search of speci- 
mens of the sea-elephant for museum purposes. Although nearly 
the entire west coast of the peninsula was explored, only eighteen 
of the animals were found. In 1892 the writer visited Guada- 
lupe Island, off the coast of Lower California, where six more 
specimens were secured. This species, known as Macrorhinus 
angustirostris, may be considered practically extinct, althougn a 
few stragglers were taken in 1904 by Capt. J. R. Mullett, of 
Monterey, California. The sea-elephant is the largest of the 
pinnipeds, old males sometimes exceeding a length of twenty feet. 
Walrus—The walrus (Odobenus), which is of circumpolar 
distribution, is another pinniped which has been exterminated in 
all of its more accessible resorts. It is now obtained only in its 
scattered hiding places in the Arctic. In 1899 there were impor- 
tant numbers in Bering Sea along the north shore of the Alaska 
peninsula, where the writer met with a vessel which had killed 
1,600. The walrus is now seldom seen in that region. A cen- 
tury ago the walrus was sometimes found as far south as the St. 
Lawrence River in the Atlantic. Walrus ivory continues to 
reach the world’s markets, but the supply in quantities of com- 
mercial importance can no longer be depended upon. 
West-Indian Seal—The West-Indian seal (.Wonachus tropic- 
alis) was formerly abundant in the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf 
of Mexico, extending northeastward to the Florida Keys and the 
Bahama Islands. This species, valuable for its oil, was prac- 
tically exterminated over one hundred years ago. A few indi- 
viduals of the race still linger on the Triangle Islands in the 
Gulf of Campeachy, where occasional specimens are procured 
for museum purposes. A seal of this species lived five-and-a-half 
years in the New York Aquarium. 
Antarctic Seals—The various species of Antarctic fur seals 
(Genus Arctocephalus), were found about the southern shores 
