464 EXTINCT AND VANISHING MAMMALS 



of the cows. Pairing of the adults takes place shortly after the 

 birth of the single young. Stomachs of specimens lately come 

 ashore contained remains of squids and small fishes of about 

 25 cm. length, with occasional bits of kelp, apparently swal- 

 lowed incidentally, and often pebbles. While the southern 

 elephant seal is not a strictly Antarctic species, frequenting 

 more especially the seas between the Antarctic Circle and 

 about 35 of south latitude, nevertheless occasional individuals 

 wander much farther southward. It has been recorded from 

 McMurdo Strait, in latitude 77 50' S., where E. A. Wilson on 

 Scott's expedition mentions one they found asleep on a sandy 

 beach at Cape Royds. Its stomach "was empty of food, as 

 also were the intestines, which were contracted into firm, hard 

 cords, and contained only a few threadworms; yet the seal was 

 heavily blubbered, having upwards of two inches of fat under 

 the skin all over." 



A century ago the sealers were actively pursuing these and 

 other seals in Antarctic waters. Murphy writes (1918): "At 

 South Georgia persistent killing pushed it so near the verge of 

 utter extinction that in 1885 the crew of a Connecticut schooner 

 during ten weeks of the breeding season (September to January) 

 was able to find only two of the animals. From before that 

 date, however, until after the beginning of the twentieth cen- 

 tury, the seat of the 'elephant oil' traffic was transferred from 

 the South Atlantic to the fresher islands of the Indian Ocean, 

 and so the species was given an opportunity partially to regain 

 its foothold at South Georgia." In 1909, the Falkland Islands 

 Government passed the Seal Fishery Ordinance designed to 

 regulate the taking of these animals and other seals in the 

 Falkland Islands and their dependencies. Under the existing 

 regulations and with the strict limitation of the number of 

 licenses issued, the elephant seals have so recuperated as now 

 to be found "in large numbers," as described by Dr. Murphy, 

 thus vindicating the government's policy. The quantity of oil 

 taken, which in 15 months of 1914-15 is said to have been 

 850,000 gallons, is believed by Dr. Murphy to be more than 

 the species can stand as an annual toll and should probably be 

 reduced. For these seals, "slow, unsuspicious, gregarious 

 . can be hunted profitably until the last one has gone. " 

 Skottsberg (1911) voiced a similar warning, and remarked that 

 "American sealers do a good deal of poaching on the west side 



