OCEANIC MAMMALS 443 



[= Callorhinus ur sinus cynocephalus]. On account of their 

 interest and value as fur bearers, these seals may be briefly 

 included here. 



The North Pacific fur seals are placed in a genus, Callorhinus, 

 distinct from that of the southern fur seals, from which they 

 differ in "the form of the facial portion of the skull, which in 

 Arctocephalus is narrower, longer, and much less convex, with 

 much longer nasals" (J. A. Allen, 1880). Otherwise, "in 

 coloration, character of the pelage, size, general form, and 

 dental formula" the two are much alike. The Commander 

 Islands animal has the head less stout and broad, the neck 

 slenderer, while "the females and young males are sooty, 

 rather than brown, the light and dark shades being for the 

 most part equally without ochraceous tints; the belly is 

 usually rather sharply paler than the back; the gray pup is 

 more brownish and less gray than in the Pribilof animal." 

 The fur seal of the Kurile Islands differs from both in the 

 whitish color of the under fur, instead of rusty brown. Prob- 

 ably all should rank as subspecies. Total length of an adult 

 male from Commander Islands, 1,930 mm.; of an adult female, 

 1,283 mm. 



At the Commander Islands the fur seals have been regularly 

 taken for a long period of years. Stejneger (1897, 1898) has 

 given a full account of the history of the industry there. From 

 his figures it appears that between 1870 and 1896 a total yield 

 of over 800,000 skins was obtained. In 1896 alone Bering 

 Island yielded 9,526 and Copper Island 6,893 skins. In 1877 

 the Russian Government appointed Grebnitski as adminis- 

 trator of the Commander Islands, and under his wise super- 

 vision the herds of seals continued to produce an annual and 

 well-sustained revenue. Only natives were allowed to work on 

 the rookeries, and there were heavy fines for killing female or 

 young seals. In the eighties, however, poaching parties made 

 heavy raids on the islands, so that it became necessary to 

 station a small force of soldiers there for their protection. 

 Later the natives were organized as armed guards. Soon it 

 became evident that the poachers had adopted new tactics, 

 lying offshore outside the 12-mile territorial limit and killing 

 the seals that came and went from the rookeries to the feeding 

 grounds. Since these were chiefly females with small pups on 

 shore, the result was a great destruction of both the breeding 



