130 PATAGONIAN EXPEDITIONS: ZOOLOGY. 



parts of the skeleton (/. c, pi. vii). As, however, Dr. Turner's figures 

 are not altogether satisfactory, the teeth especially having been badly 

 drawn, the accompanying illustrations (Plates XV, Fig. i ; XVI, Fig. 2; 

 XVII, Fig. 2) may not be superfluous. 



Geographical Distyibntion. — This species is unrepresented in the collec- 

 tions of the Princeton Patagonian Expeditions, nor is any very definite 

 reference made to it in Mr. Hatcher's "Narrative." Mr. Barnum Brown, 

 however, observed it off the coast of Tierra del Fuego, and has kindly 

 prepared the following account of his observations. He says (MSS. 

 notes) : " Fur Seals were seen in considerable numbers on the south 

 coast of Tierra del Fuego, but they were not observed off the coast of 

 Patagonia. One herd, estimated to contain 1500 head, was seen near 

 Cape Hall, west of the Strait of Le Maire, and two smaller herds were 

 seen south of Lenox Island, having less than 200 individuals each. These 

 seals are poached by a few natives, but owing to the abrupt, rugged rocks 

 they are seldom found on shore and cannot be driven to a killing ground. 

 The Argentine Government sends a gunboat to these waters once a month 

 to keep off poachers." 



The species ranges northward along the Patagonian coast to the mouth 

 of the Rio de la Plata, where it has been long known to frequent the small 

 islands off Maldonado. An out-lying colony was also reported by Nehr- 

 ing^ in 1887 as found on the coast of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, at the 

 mouth of the Rio Tramanduhy ; and the same year, through Dr. Nehring, 

 Dr. Goeldie- made known the capture of specimens at Ponta Negra, in the 

 neighborhood of the city of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, — doubtless, however, 

 an exceptional occurrence. 



The breeding haunts of this species, as is well known, formerly included 

 the Falkland Islands, New Year's Island, Staten Land, Desolation Islands, 

 and other islands and coasts off the southern portion of South America, 

 and probably the more southern South Shetland, South Georgian, and 

 Sandwich groups. They doubtless still resort to most of these localities, 

 but only in small numbers in comparison with their former abundance. 



The material used in the present connection consists of a series of 

 skulls in the United States National Museum, from the Strait of Magellan, 

 which are, however, without definite localities. 



'Arch, fiir Naturg., 1877, pt. i, pp. 80-94, pi. ii ; Sitzungsb. Gesells. Naturf. Freunde zu 

 Berlin, 1877, p. 142. 



'Sitzungsb. Gesells. Naturf. Freunde zu Berlin, 1877, P- 207. 



