HABITS. 341 



Fur Seal of noteworthy importance is Mr. Clark's colored plate, * 

 on which are represented a nearly full-grown male, a female 

 and a pup, prepared from skins sent to the British Museum by 

 the Alaska Commercial Company. In these the attitudes are 

 excellent and the coloring fair. 



HABITS. The habits of the Fur Seal of the north seem to 

 have been well known to Steller and his companions a century 

 and a quarter ago, and their seemingly marvellous accounts of 

 them prove to have been only to a slight degree erroneous. As 

 a matter of historic interest, and for comparison with our pres- 

 ent knowledge of the subject, as well as in some respects sup- 

 plementary to it, I herewith subjoin a few extracts from the ac- 

 count left us by Krascheninikow, based partly, apparently, on 

 his own observations, but largely on those of his fellow-trav- 

 eller, Steller. " The Sea Cat", says Krascheninikow, t " is about 

 half the size of the Sea Lion ; in form resembling the Seal, but 

 thicker about the breast, and thinner towards the tail. They 

 have the snout longer than the Sea Lions, and larger teeth ; with 

 eyes like cow's eyes, short ears, naked and black paws, and black 

 hair mixed with gray, which is short and brittle. Their young- 

 are of a bluish black color. 



" The Sea Cats are caught in the spring and in the month of 

 September, about the river Sheepano-va; at which time they go 

 from the Kurilskoy Island to the American coast ; but the most 

 are catched about the cape of Kronotzkoy, as between this and 

 the cape Sliupinskoy the sea is generally calm and affords them 

 properer places to retire to. Almost all the females that are 

 caught in the spring are pregnant ; and such as are near their 

 time of bringing forth their young are immediately opened and 

 the young taken out and skinned. None of them are to be seen 

 from the beginning of June to the end of August, when they 

 return from the south with their young. The natives were 

 formerly at a loss to conceive where such great herds of preg- 

 nant fat animals retired in spring, and why they returned so 

 weak and lean was owing to their fatigue. 



.... "The male and female differ so much in the form and , 

 strength of their bodies, that one who does not carefully exam- 

 ine them would take them for different species of animals ; be- 

 sides the females are wild and fearful. The male has from 



* Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1878, 271, pi. xx. 



1 1 use here Grieve's English translation from the Russian, published in 

 1764. 



