ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN 



ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLE'lTX 



(". H. ToWSSKND. 



Birth 

 C. William BEF.nE. 

 Lee S. Crasdall. 



I'ublislieil hi-mmithly at llic OlXice of llu- Siii-icly. 

 U Wall Street. New York City. 



Yearly by Mail. $1.00. 



M.AII.Kl) FREK TO MEMBERS. 



Copyright. 191-'; by the New York Zooloyieal Socie 



Eaeh author is responsible for the scientific accurac) 



and the proof readiuK of his coiitribntiun. 



Elwin R. Sanborn, 



Editor and Official I'hotocraplier 



Wn.. XVIII. Xo. (i. 



NOVEMBER. I9i; 



alniiidant the salmon being numerous beyond all 

 jLirallel during their annual runs into the rivers. 

 Salmon became increasingly important commer- 

 cially until the annual value of the fishery 

 reached several million dollars. The fishing 

 w.is exhaustive and the supply of salmon de- 

 clined rapidly, but restrictive measures were 

 long in coming and were never po])ular enougli 

 to be very effective. Man had disturbed the 

 balance, but he jjlaccd the blame on the sea 

 lions. 



And so the sea lions were killed in consider- 

 able numbers b_v state authorities and fishermen 

 until they became rather scarce about the 

 mouths of certain salmon rivers. Permission to 

 kill them on Government lighthouse reservations 

 where they breed was fortunately refused by 

 tiie Treasury De])artment. In June and July, 

 1899, the late Prof. L. L. Dyche. of the Uni- 

 versity of Kansas, examined the stomachs of 

 twenty-two sea lions on the coast of California 

 without finding any traces of fish. The food 

 found consisted chiefly of squid. 



He also found good fishing for rock cod with 

 in a few yards of long established rookeries 

 inhabited by hundreds of sea lions which indi- 

 cates that they do not feed to anv great extent 

 on rock cod. 



The food habits of the fur se.ii are better 

 known than those of the sea lion. Tiie stom- 

 achs of 123 fur seals examined on the decks 

 of sealing vessels in 189.5 by C. H. Townsend 

 showed that squid is the favorite food, that 

 ^in;ill oceanic fislus come next, while salmon 

 uid cod .amount to very little. 



The food of the fUjili.int sc.il. so far as 

 known, consists cliieri\- of siiuid or other cuttle- 

 fish. 



,Se.i lions are fomid .ill .iloiig the west coast. 

 The California sea lion extends from the Gulf 



of C.iiifornia to the southern end of \'ancouver 

 Island, while the .Steller sea lion rjinges from 

 Centr.il California to Bering Sea. Both spe- 

 cies are common throughout most jiarts of their 

 respective ranges. 



They inhabit at some season of the year 

 practically all of the smaller coastal isl.-mds and 

 outlying rocks throughout their entire habitat. 

 Tiiey .arc little disturbed by man as their com- 

 mercial value does not warrant the labor of tak- 

 ing them. In some places they are of great 

 interest to the public as at the seal rocks off 

 San Francisco. Santa Catalina Isl.md .nul other 

 points along the coast. 



The extermination of supposedly noxious 

 wild animals by bounties is a measure that 

 sliould never be adopted except in rare case.s. 

 The Pennsylvania bounty on hawks and owls 

 was a disastrous example. Not only were use- 

 ful birds destroyed in large numbers, but a 

 great sum of money was wasted. 



The bounties paid by western states on coy- 

 otes, not only i)roved expensive and led to fraud 

 but created jjlagues of jack rabbits, that could 

 only be kept down by expensive wholesale 

 drives, when thousands would be killed in a 

 single day. 



The harbor seal, now comparatively rare 

 •ilong the North Atlantic coast, was destroyed 

 through bounties at the instigation of fishermen, 

 yet the animal is not specially harmful. 



The extremely valuable fur seal has been 

 s.ived to commerce only through the suppression 

 of i)elagic sealing by international treaty. 



The West Indian seal {Monachus tropicali.s) 

 once abundant throughout the greater jiart of 

 the \Vest Indian region and valuable for its oil. 

 is now approaching extinction, the survivors be- 

 ing restricted to a few small islets in the Gulf 

 of Campeachy. 



The Hawaiian seal, belonging to the same 

 genus, and known only from small islands north- 

 west of the Haw.iiian grouji. has been reduced 

 to small numbers, but may be saved as its habi- 

 t.it has been included in the Haw.iiian Islands 

 Reservation. 



The northern elepli.int se;il. once abund.-iul. 

 w.is killed in large numbers for its oil. It is 

 now restricted to Guadaluiu- Nl.ind oti' Lower 

 C.-ilifornia. where ])rob;ibly not more tli.in 100 

 still survive. 



.Ml the seals above referred to luloim- to tlu 

 North American faun.i. 



Sea lions are still common. l)iit we c.inuot 

 view exce])t with alarm. ,any wholesale slaughter 

 of them for the sake of doubtful advantages lo 

 the fisheries. 



