60 liULLKTlN OF THE UNITED STATES FISU COMMISSION. 



III-SEAL LIFE ON THE COMMANDER ISLANDS. 



HISTORICAL AND GENERAL. 



The iiorthei'n fur-seal {('(illotarid «/-.s/rt(() wii.s known to the natives of Kamchatka 

 and the invading Itussian j)roiuyslileniks long before tlie ishxnds to wliieh they resort 

 to breed were discovere(L The seals were seen to arrive in spring, on their way north 

 and east, and to return in autumn, and the correct conclusion was formed that the 

 seals went to some unknown coast to bring forth their young. 



The discovery of Bering Island revealed this unknown coast. Steller, the natu- 

 ralist of Bering's expedition, had a whole spring season on the island in which to study 

 their habits, and that he made good use of it is evidenced by the account he gave of 

 these animals in his famous nienioir, "De Bestiis MarinJs," published in 1751 in St. 

 Petersburg.' In this paper, writter in the Latin language and flnished on Bering 

 Island for publication, he established the salient points in the natural history of the 

 fur-seal. Two figures, one of a bull (fig. 1) and one of a female (fig. 2, jil. xv), prob- 

 ably made by the artist Berckhau, as shown by Dr. B. Biichncr (Mem. Ac. Imp. Sc. 

 St.-Petersb. (7), xxxviii, No. 7, i)p. 12-13), accompany the descriptions. Fig. 2, at 

 least, is a fairly characteristic representation of a bull, and superior to several figures 

 published much later. 



Steller described in some detail the external and internal anatomy of the fur-seal, 

 or sea-bear, as he called it, and gives a pretty accurate account of their migrations 

 and their habits on the island during the breeding season. He stated that they are 

 polygamous, each bull having "8, 15 to 50 females"; describes the harems aud the 

 bravery of the bulls fighting for the possession of the females; the birth of the one 

 pup shortly after the arrival of the mothers; the nursiug aud the play of the pups; 

 the long fast of the bulls on the rookery, etc. In fact, he covered nearly all the 

 essential features of their lives. Later researches have made but few corrections, aud 

 the additions have been those of detail and elaboration. 



Such detail and elaboration was to some extent furnished by the venerable 

 "ai)ostle of the Aleuts," Ivan Veniaminof, who gathered his information ou St. Paul 

 Island, Pribylof group, more than eighty years later than Steller. A very precise 

 and concise account, both of the natural history of the animal and of the sealing 

 business, communicated by Veniaminof to Admiral von Wrangell, tiien chief manager 

 of tbe Eussian-American Company, was published in 183!) by the latter in the German 

 language,'-' aud wiis thus made easily accessible to the scientific world of his day. His 

 somewhat more voluminous account in the Russian language did not appear until the 

 following year.^ He carefully distinguishes the various classes of seals — the sikaichi, 

 or old bulls; the polusikatchi, or young bulls; t\ie hoi iistialii, or bachelors; the matki, 

 or mother seals; the kutiki, or pups, and the yearlings. The sikatchi in spring arrive 

 first on St. Paul Island, about April 20 (old style; May 2 new style), "even if the 



' Novi Comment. Acad. Sc. Imp. Petrop., ii, pp. 289-398; pp. 331-359 relate entirely to the fur-seal. 



- Statistische und Ethnographische NacUrichten iiber die Russischen BcsitziinKcn an der Nord- 

 ■westkiiate von Araerika. Gesaiumelt von dem eliemiilifjen Oborverwalter dieser Besitzuugen, Contrc- 

 /Vdmiral v. Wiaiiffell. St. Petersburg, 1839, 8'-' xxxviii-|-332 pp. aud map; pp. 39-48 treat of the 

 " Seebiir. I'liora ursiiia." 



^ Zapiski ob Ostrovakh Unalashkiuskago Otdiela. St. Petersburg, 1840, 2 vols. 



