A'.4 TURE 



26r 



THURSDAY, JANUARY 20, 1881 



NORTH AMERICAN PINNIPEDS 

 History of the North American Pinnipeds : a Monograph 

 of the IValrttses, Sea-Lions, Sea-Bears, and Seals 0/ 

 North America. By J. A. Allen, Assistant in the 

 Museum of Comparative Zoology at Cambridge. 

 (Washington : Government Press, 1 880.) 



THIS bulky octavo volume forms No. 12 of the mis- 

 cellaneous publications of the Department of the 

 Interior, United States Geological and Geographical 

 Survey of the Territories, which is under the charge of 

 F. V. Hayden. It is a most important contribution to 

 the life-history of the species of American Pinnipeds, for 

 which the zoologist as well as the merchant may well 

 thank both Mr. Hayden and Mr. Allen. 



It is not an easy task to analyse a closely-printed volume 

 of nearly 800 pages, but still we trust to be able to give our 

 readers some notion of the general contents of this interest- 

 ing work. Of the mammais, leading an essentially aquatic 

 existence, the furred and fin-footed group have always had 

 an importance and interest for mankind. The e.xisting 

 Pinnipeds constitute three very distinct families — these 

 are the Walruses, the Eared Seals, and the Earless Seals. 

 The first two are far more nearly allied than are cither of 

 these with the third. The Earless Seal is the lowest or 

 most generalised group. The Walruses are really little 

 more than thick clumsy fat forms of the Eared Seal 

 group, with immensely developed canine teeth, and 

 skulls modified so as to bear these. All the Pinnipeds 

 have a high degree of brain development, and are easily 

 domesticated under favourable conditions ; they manifest 

 strong soc-al and parental affections, and they defend their 

 young with great courage. They are, almost without 

 exception, carnivorous, mostly feeding on fish, moUusks, 

 and Crustacea. While the Eared Seals are polygamous, 

 the males greatly exceeding the females in size, the 

 Walruses and the Earless Seals are thought to be mono- 

 gamous, and there is very little difference between the 

 size of the sexes. The polygamous species usually resort 

 in large numbers to favourite breeding-grounds, the young 

 are born on dry ground, and are at first unable to swim ; 

 while the monogamous forms do not so uniformly resort 

 to particular breeding-grounds on land, and they leave 

 the water only for short intervals. As a group the 

 Pinnipeds are very distinctly characteristic of the Arctic, 

 Antarctic, and temperate portions of the globe ; very few 

 range into tropical waters, and only one species can be 

 said to be strictly tropical. While the Seals, Eared and 

 Earless, are abundantly represented on both sides of 

 the Equator, the Walruses are only to be found within 

 the colder portions of the Northern Hemisphere. Of 

 the family of the Walruses but two living species belong- 

 ing to the genus Odobzenus are known, the one, O. 

 rosmarns, being the Atlantic Walrus ; the other, O. obesus, 

 the Pacific Walrus. The history of both species is here 

 given at length : first a full synonymy is given ; then 

 the general history, accompanied by figures ; then habits, 

 products, food, and enemies. Among the figures given are 

 those of Elliott of the head of the Pacific species, which 

 give an idea of the uncouth facial aspect and of the 

 Vol. xxiii. — No. 5S6 



strangely-wrinkled skin ; but it is a pity that none of 

 Elliott's representations of an adult form were reproduced 

 from his work on Alaska, published in 1879, and of which 

 only one hundred and twenty-five copies were printed. 

 Capt. Cook's description of this species is still one of the 

 best extant— a species that may soon disappear if the 

 annual slaughter of ten to twelve thousand animals is 

 allowed to continue. 



The number of genera and species among the group of the 

 Eared Seals has fluctuated immensely even within the last 

 ten years. The views of Gray and Peters have repeatedly 

 changed on this subject, " greatly," the author writes, " in 

 the case of Gray, out of proportion to the new material 

 he had examined." In Peters' latest enumeration he gives 

 thirteen species : five are Hair Seals, or Sea-Uons, eight 

 are Fur Seals, or Sea-bears. Mr. Allen enumerates nine- 

 two with doubt. Five are Hair and four Fur Seals. A good 

 deal of this discrepancy doubtless arose from writers not 

 having learnt to distinguish the sexes, and from their not 

 making due allowance for the great changes in contour 

 and details of structure that result in the skulls of these 

 animals from age. The most striking fact in respect of 

 the distribution of the Eared Seals is their entire absence 

 from the waters of the North Atlantic. The Fur and 

 Hair Seals have nearly the same geographical dis- 

 tribution ; but though commonly found frequenting the 

 same shores, they generally live apart. They are about 

 equally and similarly represented on both sides of 

 the equator, but are confined almost wholly to the tempe- 

 rate and colder latitudes. The Hair Seals have coarse 

 hard stiff hair, and are wholly without soft under-fur, 

 the abundant presence of which in the Fur Seals it is 

 which makes their skins so valuable as articles of 

 commerce. 



The Eared Seals are all gregarious and polygamous. 

 Their breeding-places have received the strangely in- 

 appropriate name of " roolceries." The strongest males 

 generally secure to their lot from twelve to fifteen 

 females. During the breeding season the males remain 

 wholly on land, and they will suffer deatli rather than stir 

 from their chosen spot. They thus sustain for a period 

 of several weeks a continual fast. Steller's account, 

 given nearly a century ago, applies still to nearly all the 

 species. The " sea-fur " of the furriers is obtained from 

 these Eared Seals with the under-fur. Fortimately the 

 destruction of the Fur Seals at the Aleutian Islands, where 

 at one time these seals were killed at the rate of 200,000 

 a year, has now been placed under rigid restrictions, and 

 the same systematic protection ought to be afforded to 

 them at all their stations. In 1877 Mr. ElUott calculated 

 that the number — owing to the Government regulations — 

 of Seals on the Alaska Islands had increased so as to 

 leave 660,000 breeding females to be added to the original 

 stock, and that the total number would not be much less 

 than 1, 800,000. 



The description of the Earless Seals forms nearly one 

 half of the volume. The technical history of the group 

 is given at length and is most interesting. The genus 

 Phoca of Linneus embraced four species now placed in 

 four distinct genera and in three families. Since then 

 103 distinct specific and varietal names have been be- 

 stowed upon what our author considers as sixteen species. 

 These are located in three sub-families and placed in 



