OCEANIC MAMMALS 



455 



our bayous for quite a long period of time. The bathers here 

 seriously objected to their presence, and I believe that they 

 were finally turned loose and remained in the bay for a while 

 thereafter." 



From what little can be gleaned from the few observations 

 made it appears that the young are born in the first part of 

 December, for several of the females killed by Ward's expedi- 

 tion to the Triangle Keys had each a fetus nearly ready for 

 birth. The animals themselves seem to be remarkably slug- 

 gish and unsuspicious, allowing persons to come among them 

 without great alarm, so that numbers may easily be killed 

 without difficulty. No doubt it is this lack of suspicion and 

 fear that has been their undoing. Of the various stomachs 

 examined by Ward, none contained identifiable food. 



While conclusive information is at present unobtainable, it 

 nevertheless seems very likely that there may be a few seals 

 still resorting to the Triangle Keys, and possibly on rare occa- 

 sions individuals may turn up elsewhere, but clearly the 

 species was of restricted habitat, and within historic times has 

 been brought nearly to the verge of extinction. It would 

 appear to be a simple matter for the British Government to 

 pass protective regulations for the preservation of any that 

 may still exist in the Bahamas and for the Mexican Govern- 

 ment to prohibit their killing on the islands off Yucatan so 

 that they might breed up to numbers placing them less close 

 to the danger line. 



West Indian seal (Monachus tropicalis] 



