268 



THE PUR SEALS OF THE PRIBILOF ISLANDS. 



The Guadalupe fur seal formerly inhabited other islands off Lower California. It 

 may have been the species exterminated on the Farallones, near San Francisco, by the 

 Eussians. It is reported that 5 seals were taken on Eichardsons Eock, off San Miguel 

 Island, one of the Santa Barbara group, in 1890. Morrell, in 1825, found no fur seals 

 on this group of islands, but took 400 on San Martin, off Lower California, and 

 reported having seen about 20 fur seals, 300 sea leopards, and 1,550 hair seals at 

 Socorro Island. 



During my own visit to the islands of the Socorro group, in March, 1889, no seals 

 of any species were seen, but the shores were only partially examined. We saw no 

 seals at Alijos Eocks during the same cruise, but Capt. Charles Haritwen saw two sea 

 lions there in May, 1880. We found sea lions (Zalophus californianus) along both 

 coasts of Lower California, and they inhabit also the Tres Marias Islands. Although 



Fig. 2.— Left fore flipper of elephant seal, showing arrangement of claws. 



several species of the seal kind have always existed in this region and at the Gala- 

 pagos Islands, there are no records concerning the occurrence of any species of seals 

 off the west coast of Central America. 



We found no pinnipeds at Oocos Island, 300 miles off Costa Eica, during the cruise 

 of the Albatross in 1891. 



The lessees of the Commander Islands, Bering Sea, had the seals slaughtered 

 upon Eobben Island, Okhotsk Sea, in the vain hope of driving the remnant of the 

 herd to the Commander Island rookeries. There are no records to show that the 

 slaughter of seals upon the rookeries of Gaudalupe and San Benita islands ever 

 resulted in driving the animals to other localities. Prom the history of the smaller 

 seal rookeries of the Pacific Ocean it would seem that the fur seal can not be diiven 

 away to new islands, but stupidly lingers about its ancient haunts until extermination 

 overtakes it. If the remnant of the race remaining near or on the shores of Guadalupe 

 Island were protected by the laws of Mexico and by a resident guard upon the 

 island, its reestablishment would be quite within the range of possibility. 



After returning to San Diego, where we arrived on May 30, 1 obtained from a num- 

 ber of men who had formerly engaged in sealing at Guadalupe and the San Benita 

 islands information concerning the habits and capture of this species of fur seal, with 



