IV PREFATORY NOTE. 



was also examined, so that so far as the species of the northern 

 hemisphere is concerned the amount of material consulted 

 doubtless far exceeds that ever before studied by any single 

 investigator of the group. For the biographical part, to which 

 much space has been allotted, matter has been freely gathered 

 from all available sources. In addition to the results here first 

 published, the work may be considered as a compendium of 

 our present knowledge of the subject. 



In regard to the need i>f a work like the present, it may be 

 stated that with the exception of Dr. Theodore Gill's important 

 "Prodrome" of a proposed monograph of North American 

 Pinnipeds, published in 1866, there has been no general treat- 

 ment of the species since the excellent compilations of Drs. 

 Harlan and Godman appeared, now more than half a century 

 ago. Eespecting foreign works, nothing has been recently 

 published covering the ground here taken beyond a very gen- 

 eral synopsis of the technical phases of the subject. The best 

 accounts of the species occurring along the shores of Europe 

 are in other languages than English, while no general history 

 of the economic relations of the subject exists. In relation to 

 the important Fur Seal Fisheries of Alaska, the author has been 

 able to present in extenso the results of Captain Charles Bryant's 

 long experience at the Fur Seal Islands, where for nearly ten 

 years he was the government agent in charge of the islands. 

 Although not received until the article on this species had 

 been transmitted to the printer, it proves to be, to only a small 

 degree, a repetition of the account given by Mr. Elliott, also 

 reproduced at length. The history Captain Bryant gives of 

 the changes in the numbers and relations of the different 

 classes of these animals at the rookeries, under the present 

 system of management of the Fur Seal business, forms a valu- 

 able basis for generalization in regard to the future regulation 

 of this industry, and is also an important contribution to the 

 life-history of the species. 



The cuts, some thirty in number, illustrating the cranial char- 

 acters of the Walruses, were drawn for the present work by Mr. J. 

 H. Blake, of Cambridge, and engraved by Messrs. Eussell and 

 Eichardson, of Boston. The Survey is indebted to Professor 

 Baird, Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, for a series of six- 

 teen original figures, engraved by Mr. H. H. Nichols, of Washing- 

 ton, from photographs on wood, illustrating the skulls of Callorhi- 

 nus ursinus, Peale's "Halichcerusantarcticus," Cystophora cristata, 



