374 AETICLE BY DR. J. A. ALLEN. 



island, and it was formerly a great resort for sea-elepliants and fur- 

 seals; but it now appears to be entirely abandoned by these animals." 

 {Ihid., p. 196.) On April 8 lie landed at Cenizas 



cenizas Inland. j^land, in about latitude IMP, in seareli of fur-seals, 

 but found only sea-leopards and sea elephants, about 400 of the 



Islands of St Clem- ^^™'6i' ^^^^^ ^^^^ t>f ^liG Litter. Later (April 23 to May 



ent! St. i;?iibara, St. 5) he "examined the islands of St. Clement, St. Bar- 



liosa, and St. Miguel. ^^^..^^ St. Eosa, and St. Miguel," for fur-seals, but, he 



says " without much success," although he saw a few sea-elephants 



and many " sea-le()]»ards." On May 11 he arrived at 



Faraiion Islands. ^^^^ Farallou Islauds, of which he says: "Many years 

 ago this place was the resort of numerous fur-seal, but the Eussians 

 have made such havoc among them that there is scarcely a breed left. 

 On this barren rock we found a Eussian family and twenty-three Co- 

 diacks, or Northwest Indians, with their bark canoes. They were em- 

 ployed in taking sea-leopards, sea-horses, and sea-elephants for 

 their skins, oil, and flesh, the latter being jerked for the Eussian mar- 

 ket on the Northwest Coast." {Ibid, pp.'^lOS, 110.) 



Captain Scammon refers to the former occurrence of fur-seals at San 



o T> x -r , 1 Benito Islands and on the "coast of California," where, 



San Benito Islands. , ,, -i -i ±^ t !■ j_- n- ' 



he says, " many beaches were lound Irontmg gullies, 

 where [fur] seals in large numbers formerly gathered ; and as they had 

 plenty of ground to retreat upon, the sealers f^ometimes drove them far 

 enough back to make sure of the whole herd, or that portion of them 

 the skins of which were desirable." (Scammon, Marine Mammalia of 

 the Northwest Coast, pp. 152, 154.) Unfortunately Cai)tain Scammon's 

 aL'Count gives no definite datv\s, but the period referred to must have 

 been prior to the year 1850, He also refers, in Mr. J. Eoss Browne's 

 "Eesourcesof the Pacific Slope" (p. 128), to Guadalupe and Cerros 

 Islands as having been formerly favorite resorts of fur-seals and sea- 

 elephants. 



8. Juan Fernandez Fvr-Skaj. Arctoce2)]iahis2)hilij)}ni CPeteTs). 



JTahitat: Islands of Juan Fernandez and Mas-a-Fuera, and probably 

 the coast of Chili and adjacent islands. Probably, also, the St. Felix 

 Group and the Galapagos Archipelago. 



The above name was given in 18()6 to the fur-seal of Juan Fernan- 

 dez and Mas li-Fuero. AYhether distinct from the fur-seal of Pata- 

 gonia, Tierra del Fuego, the Falkland, and other islands to the south- 

 ward has not as yet been satisfactoiily determined, owing to lack of 

 good series of s])eciinens fi)r comparison from these different localities. 



While formerly abundant at all the localities above named, it has 

 for many years been j)ractically extinct, commercially considered. 



9. Southern Fur-Seal, Arcioccphnluii australis (Ziram.). 



TJahHat : Southern coasts of South America, from the southern border 

 of Brazil and Chili southward; also Falkland Islnnds and Tierra del 

 Fnego, and jjiobably also the South Shetland and South Georgian 

 Islands and the Sandwich Group. 



Formerly immense rookeries of this species existed at many points 



Avithin the area above given as the habitat of the si")e- 



Excessivcimniing. ^.^^^^ ^^^^^ -^ ^^^^^ huntt'd" bv the scalcrs almost to extinc- 



tion duiing the half century ending about the yenr bS;>5. At the pres- 

 ent time too few are found anywhere to render the jnirsuit of the 

 animals profitable. 



