140 PATAGONIAN EXPEDITIONS : ZOOLOGY. 



herd, or that portion of them the skins of which were desirable.' (Scam- 

 mon, Marine Mammalia of the Northwest Coast, pp. 152, 154.) Unfortu- 

 nately Captain Scammon's account gives no definite dates, but the period 

 referred to must have been prior to the year 1850. He also refers, in Mr. 

 J. Ross Browne's "Resources of the Pacific Slope" (p. 128), to Guadalupe 

 and Cerros Islands as having been formerly favorite resorts of fur-seals 

 and sea-elephants." 



Dr. Merriam's account of the circumstances that led to the discovery 

 of the species, and his statistical history of Fur Seal hunting within a 

 comparatively recent period at Guadalupe Island,' complete the history 

 of a species that nearly reached extinction before its existence had become 

 scientifically known. He says : 



"During the recent international discussion respecting the seals of 

 Bering Sea, the matter of the distribution of the Northern Fur-seal {Cnl- 

 lorJiimis ursiuus) has received closer attention then heretofore, and ques- 

 tions have arisen as to the southernmost range of the species in the 

 past. 



"It had been known for many years that colonies of fur-seals inhabited 

 parts of Guadalupe and the San Benito Islands, off the coast of Lower 

 California, and these seals were commonly assumed to be the northern 

 species — the same that breeds in such numbers at the Pribilof Islands in 

 Bering Sea. But it seemed to me a violation of the known laws of geo- 

 graphic distribution that a species adapted to the arctic climate and cold 

 waters of Bering Sea, and even there requiring constant fogs to protect 

 it from the feeble rays of the sun, should be able to breed under clear 

 skies on the subtropical islands of Guadalupe and San Benito. 



"During the sessions of the Bering Sea Joint Commission in February 

 and March, 1902, I made bold to express the opinion that the fur-seal 

 which breeds on these islands would prove to be, not the northern spe- 

 cies belonging to the genus Callorhinits, but a southern species belonging 

 to the genus ArctocephalHS. No specimens were at hand for examina- 

 tion, but through the cooperation of the Department of State and Fish 

 Commission I was enabled to send a small boat, in direct charge of Mr. 

 C. H. Townsend, on a special mission to Guadalupe Island. 



' A New Fur-Seal or Sea-Bear (^Arctocephaliis townscndi) from Guadalupe Island, off Lower 

 California. By C. Hart Merriam. Proc. Biol. Soc. Washington, Vol. XI, pp. 175-178, July i, 

 1897. 



