OCEANIC MAMMALS 439 



obtain, as has been the case for many years at other islands off 

 the Chilean coast. Hence there is little opportunity for the 

 recuperation of the seal herds." 



In the Galapagos group the story is much the same. On 

 these and perhaps the other groups just mentioned, the seals 

 were probably nonmigratory but were to be found the year 

 round and had an extended breeding period. Captain Fanning 

 in 1816 obtained here 8,000 fur seals. Wenman and Albemarle 

 Islands seem to have been favored resorts or possibly the ani- 

 mals were here more easily secured. They seem to have de- 

 veloped slightly different habits from those on the more 

 southern groups of islands, for instead of frequenting the more 

 accessible parts of the coast they seek shelter in the many 

 rocky caverns and under overhanging ledges or haunt the 

 roughest parts of the coastline where they are taken only with 

 difficulty. 



Dr. C. H. Townsend (1934) has given some further records 

 of catches made at the Galapagos Islands in former years. 

 Thus in four voyages made by Capt. Charles W. Read between 

 1872 and 1880, about 6,000 were taken; in 1880 another vessel 

 secured 261 on the islands Culptepper, Albemarle, Narborough, 

 Tower, and Wenman; and in 1882 there were 800 taken. The 

 last big catches were in 1885, when 1,000 were killed, and 1887, 

 when 1,200 more were secured. The last lot sold at $7 each. 

 About the last of the sealing vessels to make catches among 

 these islands was the schooner Julia E. Whalen, of San Fran- 

 cisco, which in 1897-99 took 224 seals. For a time the fur seal 

 was believed to have been quite exterminated in the Galapagos 

 Archipelago, until in 1906 R. H. Beck, while collecting there 

 for the American Museum of Natural History, secured a speci- 

 men. A remnant seems to have survived, however, for in 

 1932-33 six or eight were captured alive and given to the San 

 Diego Zoological Gardens, California. At least three of these 

 died after a few months in captivity and now form part of a 

 group at the American Museum. Still more recent information 

 reported to Dr. Harper in 1937 implies that the fur seals have 

 somewhat increased and are now "rather common in some 

 bays." If adequate protection can be maintained for this 

 herd, it should continue to build up. 



