NINTH ANNUAL REPORT. 109 
and islands of South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, and the 
islands of the Antarctic generally. 
About the close of the eighteenth century a traffic sprang up 
in the skins of fur-seals, and as the result of the many voyages 
made to those distant regions enormous numbers of fur seals were 
taken. They exist to-day as mere remnants of the great herds 
that were once found in those regions. By 1830 the supply of 
fur seals in the southern seas was nearly exhausted. In this 
sealing no discrimination was made in the character of the seals 
taken; all animals whose skins were of any value were slaugh- 
tered, and the newly born young, usually left on the killing 
grounds, died in consequence. In the rush for seals to the Ant- 
arctic sealing grounds, the markets were frequently glutted and 
much of the catch wasted. 
There are few parts of the world where seals of some species 
do not occur. All seals breed on land or on ice floes, and return, 
after their migrations, to their accustomed breeding places with 
great persistence. They can seldom be driven entirely away, 
stupidly lingering until brought near to the point of extermina- 
tion. So certain are seals of returning to their breeding grounds, 
that the reestablishment of the different species soon follows 
the protection of these places. The safe-guarding of depleted 
sealing grounds would in fact be a good business proposition even 
at this late day, if they could be protected under the authority 
of the various governments laying claim to such lands. 
South African Seal——The South African fur seal (Arcto- 
cephalus delalandi), frequenting small islands off the west coast 
of South Africa, became very rare from indiscriminate sealing. 
It has, during very recent years, been protected by the Govern- 
ment of Cape Colony. The yield of skins from this source dur- 
ing the past three years has been as follows: 1902, 1,300; 1903, 
4,800; 1904, 7,400. (Data from Alfred Fraser of New York.) 
Galapagos Seal.—One resort of the genus 4Arctocephalus, the 
Galapagos Islands, lying on the equator, about 800 miles west 
of Ecuador, furnishes a striking illustration of wasteful sealing: 
Fur seals (Arctocephalus philippi) were taken from the Gala- 
pagos Islands in important numbers by early voyagers. Between 
1870 and 1882 these rookeries were again visited by sealers, and, 
as far as the meager records collected from the sealers still living 
who engaged in this fishery show, about 20,000 seals were taken. 
This is, of course, a trivial number as compared with the total 
catch made during that period, the records of which are not 
available. The later voyages to the Galapagos Islands resulted 
