426 EXTINCT AND VANISHING MAMMALS 



to 148 mm. Like other eared seals, the neck is relatively long, 

 the fore limbs longer than the hind, which are capable of 

 turning forward. 



According to J. A. Allen (1905), from whose account the 

 foregoing details are taken, no adequate description of the 

 external characters of this fur seal has as yet been published. 

 Its breeding places "formerly included the Falkland Islands, 

 New Year's Island, Staten Island, Desolation Islands, and 

 other islands and coasts off the southern portion of South 

 America, and probably the more southern South Shetland, 

 South Georgian, and Sandwich groups. They doubtless still 

 resort to most of these localities, but only in small numbers in 

 comparison with their former abundance" (J. A. Allen, 1905). 

 It ranged northward along the Patagonian coast to the mouth 

 of the La Plata, frequenting the small islands off Maldonado, 

 Uruguay, and in 1887 was known to straggle as far north as 

 Rio de Janeiro, doubtless folio wing the cooler northward-flowing 

 currents. The Straits of Magellan were a favorite resort, 

 while on the west coast of Chile it ranged at least to the south- 

 ern part of the archipelago. 



The status of the fur seal about the southern part of South 

 America is somewhat difficult to make out definitely, but it 

 still occurs in some numbers locally. Dr. Barnum Brown (in 

 manuscript notes published by J. A. Allen, 1905), at the be- 

 ginning of this century saw "considerable numbers on the 

 south coast of Tierra del Fuego, but they were not observed 

 off the coast of Patagonia. One herd estimated to contain 

 1500 head, was seen near Cape Hall, west of the Strait of Le 

 Maire, and two smaller herds were seen south of Lenox Island, 

 having less than 200 individuals each. These seals are poached 

 by a few natives, but owing to the abrupt, rugged rocks they 

 are seldom found on shore and cannot be driven to a killing 

 ground. The Argentine Government sends a gunboat to these 

 waters once a month to keep off poachers." 



The rugged shores of the Magellan region probably now 

 offer a last stronghold for this fur seal, where the very nature 

 of the seas and shores affords it partial security against human 

 predation. Elsewhere, however, the species is largely gone. 

 Dr. Robert Cushman Murphy (1918) has given a summary of 

 the history of its pursuit. "Sealing on the coast of Patagonia, 

 the Falklands, and the islands north and east of Cape Horn 



