138 PATAGONIAN EXPEDITIONS: ZOOLOGY. 



and 21° respectively, off the west coast of Mexico. In describing the 

 Chametly Islands he says: "The bays about the Islands are sometimes 

 visited with Seals ; and this was the first place where I had seen any of 

 these Animals, on the North side of the Equator, in these Seas." In 

 writing of the Tres Marias Islands he says: "The Sea is also pretty well 

 stored with Fish, and Turtle or Tortoise, and Seal. This is the second 

 place on this Coast where I did see any Seal : and this place helps to 

 confirm what I have observed, that they are seldom seen but where there 

 is plenty of Fish."^ Whether these seals were the California Sea Lion 

 [Zalophus califorinanus), the California Sea Elephant [Mirounga angiis- 

 tirostns), or a Fur Seal, he has left no means of determining. 



The early history of their presence on the coast of Lower California and 

 Mexico I have detailed in another connection^ and here transcribed. 



"Formerly large numbers of fur-seals were taken at the San Benito, 

 Cerros (or Cedros), Guadalupe, Santa Barbara, and other islands off the 

 coast of Lower California, and also on the coast of the mainland. Though 

 formerly abundant at all these points, they have become nearly extermi- 

 nated by the indiscriminate and persistent attacks of the seal hunters. 



"Until recently the fur-seals off the Lower California coast were sup- 

 posed to be the same as the Alaska species, but Dr. Merriam has recently 

 obtained skulls from the old killing grounds on Guadalupe Island which 

 show that it is not only a different, as yet a probably undescribed 

 species, but that it is referable to the genus Arctocephalus, not previously 

 known to occur north of the equator. It is resident the whole year off the 

 California coast, and resorts to the caves on the islands it frequents to 

 bring forth its young. In these respects it resembles the fur-seals of the 

 Galapagos Islands, to which it seems to be closely related. 



"The following historical notes may be of interest in the present 

 connection : 



"In 1825 Capt. Benjamin Morrell cruised along the west coast of 

 Mexico and California in search of fur-seals. Under date of May 20, 1825, 

 he writes that he arrived at Cape Blanco, in latitude 42° 49' N. ' Between 

 this cape and that of Mendocino, which is in latitude 40° 17' N. ... 

 there are many small islands and rocks, some of which lie 3 miles from 

 the main. On these islands or keys I expected to find fur-seals, whereas 



'A New Voyage Round the World, 5th ed., Vol. I, 1703, pp. 263, 276. 



^Fur-seal Arbitration, Appendi.x to the Case of the United States, I, 1892, 373, 374. 



