452 EXTINCT AND VANISHING MAMMALS 



summed up lately what is known of its presence on the Atlantic 

 coast of Africa, where near Cape Blanco about 20 kilometers 

 north of Port Etienne is an area of cliffs, rather difficult of 

 access, the haunt of some numbers of these seals. In the 

 transparent waters here this author was able to look down and 

 see the seals pursuing fishes. They are seldom disturbed by the 

 natives. These seals formerly occurred in the Canary Islands. 

 Monod (1923) tells us that as long ago as 1341 skins of seals 

 are mentioned among things brought from the islands. Be- 

 tween the islands of Lanzarote and Fuerte Ventura is an "Isla 

 de Lobos" (Seal Island) formerly much frequented by them; 

 and there was a fishery for the seals organized in 1749 by Gadi- 

 fer de la Salle. At the present day they must be very few 

 indeed. 



WEST INDIAN SEAL 



MONACHUS TROPICALIS (Gray) 



Phoca tropicalis Gray, Cat. Spec. Mamm. British Mus., pt. 2, Seals, p. 28, 1850 (Ja- 

 maica). 



SYNONYM: [Phoca] ivilkianus Gosse, Naturalist's Sojourn in Jamaica, p. 307, 1851 

 (Jamaica). 



FIGS.: Allen, J. A., 1887, pis. 1-4 (animal and skeletal parts); Elliot, 1904, vol. 2, pis. 

 56-59 (skuU). 



Notwithstanding the fact that the West Indian seal was 

 known from the time of Columbus on, no specimens reached 

 museums until the middle of the nineteenth century, when 

 already its numbers were so depleted that it had become rather 

 rare. For summary accounts of its history and characters we 

 are indebted to J. A. Allen (1880, 1887) and to True and Lucas 

 (1884). 



Externally this species resembles its relative, the Mediter- 

 ranean monk seal, but is a nearly uniform "brown, tinged with 

 gray, caused by the hairs being light at the extreme tip. The 

 color becomes lighter on the sides, and gradually passes into 

 pale yellow or yellowish-white on the ventral surface of the 

 body" (J. A. Allen, 1887). It therefore does not show the 

 contrasting white belly of its eastern relative. Length of an 

 adult from nose to end of tail, 2,410 mm., or about 7.5 feet. 

 Adult females are but a trifle smaller than males. Skull, con- 

 dylobasal length, 280 mm. For a detailed description of the 

 cranial and dental characters and comparison with other seals, 

 see the paper by J. A. Allen (1887). 



