100 N1-:W \(_)KK ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



taken (»n llu'ir l)rco(ling places on the drifting;" ice, where the 

 crews land anil kill the younger animals by clubbing-. More than 

 ninety i)er cent, of the catch is made up of young seals, taken 

 before they are three weeks old, when they are large enough to 

 enter ihe water. Owing to the fact that this species is taken upon 

 the ice fields, and that the latter are at times greatly disturbed 

 bv storms, the catch of seals is subjected to certain natural lim- 

 itations. After the more etYective steamers had replaced sailing 

 vessels it became necessary to place restrictions u])on the slaugh- 

 ter of the animals. .\t the present time the season begins March 

 i6 and the ])eriod during which seals are taken upon the ice 

 lasts little longer than a month. The products utili/.ed are the 

 hides and oil. and the results of the industry from i89() to date 

 are as follows : 



Soiithrni Sra lilcphant. — One of the practically exhausted seal 

 fisheries is that based upon the sea-ele]ihant or elephant seal 

 ( Macrorhiiiiis Icoiiiinis), which once aboiuided on many of the 

 islands off the southern ])ortion of South America and on the 

 Antarctic islands generally. Sea-ele])hants existed on their natu- 

 ral breeding grounds in great numbers, where they were killed 

 for their oil. the skins having little value. No precatitions were 

 ever taken to preserve the race, and the species became scarce. 

 The taking of the sea-elephant as an industry ])ractically died 

 out a number of vears ago, which gave the scattered remnants 

 of the race an opportunity to increase. The killing of sea-ele- 

 phants in the .\ntarctic was revived about ten years ago at Ker- 



Caspian Seal. — Although seal fisheries arc naturally associated with 

 the great ocean.s, an important scaling industry is that of the Caspian 

 Sea, which has long been carried on in this inland brackish lake. The 

 seal which is the basis of this fishery (Phoca caspica), is a .species peculiar 

 to the locality, which jjrobably found its way to its present habitat in 

 very ancient times when the Caspian was connected with other seas. 

 About thirty years ago the average annual seal catch in the Caspian Sea 

 was slightly over 100,000, worth in skins and oil $350,000. There arc no 

 recent data at hand. 



Lake Hiiikal Seal. — Another seal (Phoea sibirica), remarkable chiefly 

 for its habitat, is that found in Lake Haikal in the heart of Siberia. Here, 

 however, the range of seals is restricterl to a l)ody of water only 400 miles 

 long, and their numbers are too small to lie of more than local importance. 



