OCEANIC MAMMALS 467 



Government, in 1924, completely prohibiting the hunting of 

 these and other seals in the French possessions comprising the 

 Crozet Archipelago, the islands of St. Paul and Amsterdam, 

 Howe, McMurdo, and Briant, as well as part of the south coast 

 of Kerguelen, so far as the animals may be found on them. It 

 is reported that the elephant seals are now chiefly to be found 

 only on "the weather side" of Kerguelen. Heard Island, 

 somewhat to the southeast of Kerguelen, was in past times a 

 great resort of this seal and is said still to be frequented by 

 considerable numbers. How far the sanctity of these reser- 

 vations is preserved is not clear, but doubtless in the absence 

 of regular patrols it will be difficult to maintain. 



In the seas about southern Australian waters elephant seals 

 were formerly present and attracted British, French, and 

 American sealing vessels, which came first perhaps for the 

 abundance of fur seals and secondarily for the oil obtainable 

 from them and from the elephant and other seals. Between 

 the years 1798 and 1826, destruction of these species went on 

 apace (Le Souef, 1925, p. 113). The elephant seal was at that 

 time found in some numbers on King Island but became ex- 

 terminated in 1803. At the present time it occurs only as a 

 straggler in the waters off southeastern Australia and Tasmania. 

 Macquarie Island was also a former resort, but the herd there 

 was so often raided that it was reduced to the verge of extinc- 

 tion until with protection by the Australian Government it 

 has in more recent years gradually built up again. In 1933 a 

 "return to normal breeding was reported since protection, 

 which should never be relaxed" (E. LeG. Troughton, in litt.). 



Very little information is at hand as to the status of the 

 elephant seal in the South Pacific. It is known to have occurred 

 formerly on the island of Juan Fernandez, and in Anson's time 

 (1740-44) it was abundant there, and according to Molina 

 (1782) was common also on the coast of Arauco, southern 

 Chile. At present, however, it apparently is unknown in these 

 areas. Philippi (1892), in a brief summation of its former 

 status, says that according to information that he gathered on 

 the Chilean coast the last one killed was in 1840 (not 1870 as 

 appeared by misprint in an article in the German publication 

 "Der Zoologische Garten"), and during the next half century 

 was likely to disappear entirely! 



It is clear from this brief review that the elephant seal is a 



