VIII.-THE EARLY HISTORY OF THE NORTHERN FUR SEALS. 



THE BEASTS OF THE SEA, BY GEORGE WILLIAM STELLER. 



Translated by 



Walter Miller, 



Profesgor of Classical Philology, Leland Stanford Junior University, 



and 

 Jennie Emerson Miller. 



PREFACE. 



Steller's work, published in 1751 in the memoirs of the Imperial Academy of 

 Sciences in St. Petersburg for the year 1749, is a posthumous publication. The greater 

 part of the work was finished in 1742, and Steller himself died, while on his way from 

 Siberia to St. Petersburg, in November, 1745. He was the naturalist (a volunteer) 

 of the Russian expedition sent oiit to explore the northwest coast of North America 

 and to ascertain definitely whether it was or was not joined to Asia, and to search 

 for the imaginary island known as Compagnie Land. 



The following pages contain a translation of those parts of Steller's report which 

 treat of the Manatee, or sea cow (Vol. II, pp. 289-330), and the natural history of the 

 sea bear (fur seal) (pp. 346-359), sea lion (pp. 361-366), and sea otter (pp. 382-398). 

 The measurements and descriptions of the last three are omitted, inasmuch as they can 

 be made better and with more scientific accuracy in our own times. But as the sea 

 cow is extinct, and as nearly all knowledge of it is to be obtained from Steller's 

 account, that portion of his work is given in full. 



Circumstances have combined to render the work of translation difficult; not 

 only is Steller's account written in the zoological Latin of the eighteenth century, but, 

 as printed, it contains errors and omissions due to the fact that it was published 

 after Steller's death, and consequently without revision. Finally, it has been necessary 

 to rely on a type-written copy, the original not being accessible to the translator. 



Thanks are due to President David Starr Jordan and to Professor Oliver Peebles 

 Jenkins for much kind assistance with the technical, scientific, physiological, and 

 anatomical parts of the work. 



SEA BEASTS.' 



No one who has studied various lands doubts that the vast ocean contains many 

 animals which to-day are unknown, and that there are very many regions in the ocean 



'The full title of Steller's work is as follows: De | Bestiis marinis | Avctore | Georg. Wilhelm. 

 Stellero | Novl | Commentaril | Academiae Scientiarum | Imperialls | Petropolitanae | Tom. II | ad 

 annum MDCCXLIX | Petropoli | Typis Academiae Scientiarum | MDCCLI. 



