ALLEN : mammalia: phocid.*;. 97 



toire," afterwards renamed Phoca coxii by Desmarest. In 1875 Peters 

 proposed to call the Falkland Islands animal, the Loup marin of Pernetty, 

 Cystophora falklandica, and the Kerguelen animal Cystopiiora kerguelensis. 

 In this connection Peters recognized five species of Sea Elephant, as fol- 

 lows : I, CystopJioya leonina (Linn.); 2, C. falklandica, sp. nov.. Sea 

 Lion of Pernetty ; 3, C proboscidea (Peron) ; 4, C augustirostris (Gill), 

 California Sea Elephant ; 5, C. kerguelensis, sp. nov.. The two new names 

 are given in a footnote, without indication of any distinctive characters, 

 the record merely expressing the author's opinion respecting probable 

 species of Sea Elephants. Subsequent writers have almost unanimously 

 referred all of the Sea Elephants of the southern hemisphere to a single 

 species, leonina Linn.^ 



Geographical Distribution. — "Sea-elephants were formerly found 

 in great abundance at nearly all of the Oceanic Islands south of the thirtieth 

 parallel of south latitude. Kerguelen Land and Heard Island were espec- 

 ially favorite resorts for them.- They were also abundant at the Falkland 

 Islands, Staten Land, South Georgia, throughout the Tierra del Fuego 

 Archipelago, on the coasts of Patagonia, and as far north on the Pacific 

 coast of South America as Mas-i-Fuero and Juan Fernandez. They also 

 occurred in large numbers at the Tristan d'Acunha group, the Crozets, the 

 Prince Edward Islands, St. Paul and Amsterdam Islands, the coasts and 

 islands of southern Australia and New Zealand, and the numerous islands 

 to the southward and eastward of New Zealand. At most of these points, 

 however, they became long since practically exterminated, though still oc- 

 curring at Kerguelen Land, Heard Island, and at a few other points in suf- 

 ficient numbers to render sea-elephant hunting attractive to the few sealers 

 and whalers who still frequent these waters.^ 



" History of Sea-Elephant Hunting. — Sea-elephant hunting began 

 early in the present century, and for years, either exclusively or in con- 

 junction with whaling, proved a lucrative employment, largely monopolized 

 by Americans. From the incomplete statistics at hand, sea-elephant hunt- 



' " The evidence upon which Dr. Peters has based four supposed species of southern Elephant 

 Seal, viz., leonina, falklandica, proboscidea^ and kerguelensis, is still more shadowy ; but these were 

 only put forth by him as suggestions of possibilities, not as ascertained facts." — Flower, P. Z. S., 

 1881, p. 162. 



^To the above it may be added that Sea Elephants are not found in the high Antarctic latitudes, 

 appearing not to reach the pack-ice and the shores of the Antarctic lands, the favorite haunts of 

 the other southern Phocids. 



