OCEANIC MAMMALS 441 



occurrence at San Benito Islands and the California coast, 

 prior probably to 1850. 



In May, 1892, Dr. Charles H. Townsend made a special 

 visit to Guadalupe Island to ascertain if these seals were still 

 present there and to secure specimens. Arriving on the 16th, 

 he spent ten days in exploring the coastline but saw only 

 seven fur seals, though none of them on land, as it was appar- 

 ently too early for the breeding season to have started. Young 

 are not brought forth till June. It was here that he picked up 

 skulls on the beach that served for the description of the 

 species. 



On his return from this visit he made efforts to gather infor- 

 mation on the former presence of this seal, as follows: In 1876- 

 77 a few were killed on San Benito Island. These were said to 

 be accompanied by young. In 1877 several vessels were sealing 

 at Guadalupe, one of them having taken about 300 and another 

 some 500 skins, then worth only $2.50 apiece. At that time 

 one captain reported that the rookery numbered about 1,000. 

 In 1879 about 1,550 seals were taken on these two islands and 

 were sold in San Francisco at $10 to $15 each. In 1880 Captain 

 Haritwen took 104 fur seals on* Guadalupe in May, chiefly on 

 the west side where the largest rookery contained 600 or 700. 

 Another vessel secured 500 seals, staying longer than the 

 others, and reported that the young were born in June. Other 

 vessels also made catches. In 1880, the estimated population 

 was between 3,000 and 4,000 seals. In 1883 Capt. George 

 Wentworth made four trips to Guadalupe in November, 

 December, January, and February, securing about 2,000 seals 

 and seeing about as many more. In 1885, sealer James N. 

 Niles made six trips to the island, finding seals present during 

 most of the year; about 2,000 were seen and 200 were killed. 

 The colonies seem by this time to have been fairly broken up, 

 for in 1890 and 1891 sealers found them few and three reported 

 only 14 taken altogether. In 1893, however, A. W. Anthony 

 stated that 36 were taken, but in the following year only 15. 

 Between the years 1876 and 1894, the total catch from the 

 incomplete accounts obtained was thus about 5,575. Since 

 then no figures are available, but it seems that a few animals 

 still remain. 



At the present time this remnant is nominally protected by 

 the Mexican Government, and if poaching can be completely 



