] 92 ON THE KUE-SEAL lf<LANDS. [Feb. 2, 



very little known and it was believed that more than one of the 

 specimens collected by Mr. Barrett-Hamilton belonged to species 

 new to science. 



The Commander Islands were reached on the 19th of July, 

 early on which day Mr. Barrett-Hamilton was left at JS^ikola by 

 the ' Spartan.' He passed six weeks on the islands, part of the 

 time being spent on the smaller Copper Island, which was about 

 40 miles from Bering Island. Much valuable information was 

 collected during this stay, not only with regard to the Seals, but 

 also with regard to the natives of the islands, the birds, and the 

 general fauna and flora. 



On the 25th of August, Professor Thompson and Dr. Jordan, 

 who had been sent out to the Pribiloff Islands by the U.S. 

 Government, arrived in H.M.S. ' Satellite,' and after a short 

 inspection of the Grlinka Eookery on Copper Island, the whole 

 party left for Unalaska, where they arrived on the 29th. 



On the 31st the party proceeded in H.M.S. ' Pheasant ' to 

 St. Paul Island, the largest of the Pribiloff Group, arriving at the 

 A'illage on the 1st of September. 



Professor D'Arcy Thompson, Dr. Jordan, and Mr. Lucas (U.S. 

 Commissioners) left the Pribiloff islands on the 8tli of September 

 for Seattle, via Sitka, but Mr. Barrett-Hamilton remained behind to 

 continue his observations on the Fur-Seal and to assist in the 

 count of dead pups, together with Mr. Macoun (Canadian) and 

 Colonel Murray and Mr. Clarke (Americans). He remained on 

 the islands in all for about six weeks, part of w^hich time was 

 spent on the smaller island of St. George. 



Pinally, he left the islands for good on the 22nd of October, and 

 returned to England by Unalaska, Port Townsend, Victoria, the 

 Canadian Pacific Railway from Vancouver to Ottawa and Mon- 

 treal, New York, Washington, and Queenstown. 



Mr. Barrett-Hamilton stated that it had been his good luck to 

 have had what for one season's work he thought must be an 

 unique experience among the Fur-Seals, having spent six weeks on 

 both the groups of islands, and haA'ing actually lived on each of the 

 Seal Islands except Eobben Eeef, and having passed over on foot 

 nearly every square yard of the Eookeries on all the four Seal 

 Islands in the North Pacific. There was onlj- one part of the 

 season that he had missed, and that was the earliest part of it. 



There was, of course, little chance of finding new species among 

 the higher animals of the North Pacific, but, besides the small 

 collection of fishes already alluded to, and which he believed 

 contained examples of some new species, collections had been 

 made of some of the smaller mammals met with, and the British 

 and other Museums had been enriched by additional specimens of 

 the Northern Pur-Seal, as well as by a set of skulls of different ages 

 and sexes of Steller's Sea-Lion (Otaria stelleri). This magnificent 

 northern species was, until now, very poorly represented in the 

 National collection, and a young male brought home by Mr. Barrett- 

 Hamilton was being set up for the Gallery now under re-arrange- 

 ment by Mr. Lydekker. 



