OCEANIC MAMMALS 447 



area. Strict protective measures over intervening years have 

 now built up the herds to an estimated 1,500,000 in 1935, and 

 there is an annual revenue derived from them through the kill- 

 ing of a certain proportion and marketing the hides under 

 governmental supervision. 



The fur seal offers an excellent example of a species once 

 reduced in some colonies to a mere remnant of its normal 

 numbers, which under protection and wise management has 

 been restored to an abundance that permits an annual harvest 

 of pelts, bringing in an excellent return. While many persons 

 may deplore the yearly slaughter of a proportion of these 

 interesting seals for commercial purposes, it must nevertheless 

 be admitted that this reasonable use of a natural resource is 

 far better than its wanton exploitation and eventual complete 

 destruction. 



For extensive accounts of these seals the reader is referred to 

 the four- volume report by Jordan and others, 1899; J. A. Allen, 

 1880. A brief and readable report on the more recent condi- 

 tions is that of G. H. Parker, 1917. 



"No one who has seen the great seal herds will hesitate to 

 reckon them among the chief bonders of the world, and there 

 is no naturalist who would not think himself well repaid for a 

 journey half around the earth by the sight of them." 



Family PHOCIDAE: Hair Seals 

 RIBBON SEAL 



PHOCA FASCIATA Zimmermann 



Phoca fasciata Zimmermann, Geograph. Geschichte, vol. 3, p. 277, 1783 ("Off the 



Kuril Islands"). 



SYNONYM: Phoca equestris Pallas, Zoogr. Rosso-Asiat., vol. 1, p. Ill, 1831. 

 FIGS.: True, 1884a, pis. 11-14 (skull and skeleton); Nelson, 1916, p. 438 (col. fig.). 



This is the rarest and least known of the northern seals, with 

 a range restricted to the Bering Sea and nearby waters. It 

 may therefore be regarded as a species to be afforded encourage- 

 ment and protection if it is not to dwindle and finally disappear. 



The species gets its name from the broad, yellowish-white, 

 sharply defined bands that give its otherwise dark brown body 

 the appearance of being wrapped with bandages. One such 

 band encircles the neck, extending forward to the middle of the 



