OCEANIC MAMMALS 451 



as studying measures to be taken for its protection. Fifty 

 years ago it was said by Trouessart to be often taken on the 

 Mediterranean coast of France, especially in the Gulf of Lyon, 

 at the lies d'Hyeres, and in the roadstead of Banyuls near 

 Port-Vendres, and is reported occasionally on the coasts of 

 Corsica. In 1910, however, the same author speaks of it as 

 rather rare in the waters of the French coast. 



On the northern coasts of Africa, this seal still occurs locally 

 on some of the sandy islands that are seldom visited. Formerly 

 an individual was reported now and then near or west of 

 Alexandria, but it is now almost never seen on the Egyptian 

 coast (Anderson and De Winton, 1902, p. 248). Maj. S. S. 

 Flower (1932), however, says that "seals formerly occurred in 

 some numbers along the coast to the west of Alexandria. 

 Admiral W. H. Smith . . . writing of the period 1810- 

 1824, said 'between Alexandria and Benghazi ... we 

 found fish and seals in abundance.' Several were said to have 

 been killed during the war (1914-1918). At least one was re- 

 ported to have been still living at Sollum [western border of 

 Egypt] in 1919. Col. R. S. Wilson . . . told me that this 

 animal was still alive there in 1*920 and that strict orders had 

 been issued that it was not to be shot at." Slightly farther 

 west, on the Isle of Birds in the Gulf of Gran Sirte, Cyrenaica, 

 Moltoni (1938, p. 16) mentions seeing a splendid specimen 

 hauled out on the sand at a distance of only 50 yards from 

 where he landed, in August, 1938. Westward again, "it occurs 

 on the north coast of Morocco and among the adjacent islands 

 . In 1919 and 1924 there were reports of individuals 

 killed in the Zafarines Isles (off the extreme eastern coast of 

 Morocco), and it has occasionally been seen near Ceuta" 

 (Cabrera, 1932, p. 197). In Spanish waters, Cabrera (1914) 

 speaks of its presence in the Balearic Islands and says that at 

 the beginning of this century some were still to be found on the 

 southeastern coast of the Spanish Peninsula, from the Gulf of 

 Almeira to the coast of Alicante, but had since completely dis- 

 appeared. However, it was still to be found on the islands 

 near the African shore. 



Among the Madeira Islands there are still a few. One from 

 there was sent alive to the London Zoological Gardens on July 

 16, 1894 (see Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1894, p. 749) and another 

 in April, 1910 (ibid., 1910, vol. 1, p. 768). Monod (1923) has 



