TUB FUR SEAL: FIGURES. 53 



Gallorhiiius ursimis. The skull he subsequently considered as that of a young A. monieriensit 

 {=]Sumetopias Sfelleri); and referring bis A. californianus to that species, he was consequently led 

 into the double error of regarding the Uumetopias Stelleri us a Fur Seal (as already explained under 

 that species and elsewhere in the present paper), and of excluding the Gallorhiniis ursinus from the 

 list of Fur Seals. To this I called attention in 1870, and in 1871 Dr. G-ray correctly referred his A. 

 monteriensis and A. californianus in part (the "skin only") to Gallorhinus ursinus.^ 



What may be termed the second or modern epoch in the general history of this species began 

 in 18'69, when Captain 0. M. Scammon published a highly important contribution to its biology,^ he 

 describing at considerable length, from personal observation, its habits, distribution, and products, 

 as well as the various methods employed for its capture. The following year Mr. W. H. Dall 

 devoted a few i)age8' to its history, in which he made many important suggestions relative to 

 the sealing business. During the same year I was able to add not only something to its technical 

 history,* but also to make public an important communication on its habits Idndjy placed at my 

 disposal by Captain Charles Bryant,* government agent in charge of the Fur Seal Islands of 

 Alaska. In 1874, Captain Scammon republished his above mentioned paper," adding thereto a 

 transcript of Captain Bryant's observations already noted.. Almost simultaneously with this 

 appeared Mr. H. W. Elliott's exhaustive Report on the Seal Islands of Alaska,' in which the present 

 species properly comes in for a large share of the author's attention. The work is richly 

 illustrated with photographic plates, taken from Mr. Elliott's sketches, about twenty-five of which 

 are devoted to the Fur Seal. The text of this rare and privately distributed work has been since 

 reprinted," with some changes and additions, and has been widely circulated. It contains very 

 little relating to the Fur Seal that is strictly technical, but the general history of its life at the 

 Pribylov Islands is very fully told, while the commercial or economic phase of the subject is treated 

 at length. A few minor notices of this species have since appeared (mostly popular articles in 

 illustrated magazines, chiefly from the pen of Mr. Elliott), but nothing relating to its general history 

 requiring special notice in the present connection, until the publication, in 1881, by the Census 

 Bureau and the Fish Commission, of the two editions of Mr. Elliott's elaborate monograph of 

 the Seal Islands of Alaska.^ 



Figures. — The first figures of the Northern Sea Bear were given by Steller, in his pr,per already 

 cited. They represent an adult male, in a quite natural attitude, and a female reclining on her back. 

 In respect to details, these early figures were naturally more or less rude and inaccurate. They 



' Gray; J. E. ; Supplementary Catalogue of the Seals and Whales, p. 15 ; Hand-List of Seals, p. 32. 



'Scammon, C. M., in the Overland Monthly, vol. iii, Nov., 18fi9, pp. 393-399. 



'Dall, "William H. : Alaska and its Eesources, 1870, pp. 492-498. 



■•Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology, Cambridge, ii, pp. 73-89. 



"Bulletin of the Museum of Comp.arative Zoology, Cambridge, pp. 89-108. 



^Scammon, C. M. : The Marine Mammals of the Northwestern Coast, &c., 1874, pp. 141-163. 



'Elliott, Henry W. : Eeport on the Prybilov Group, or Seal Islands of Alaska, 4to, unpaged, 1873 [1874]. 



^Elliott, Hbnry W.: Condition of Affairs in Alaska, 1875, pp. 107-151. 



9 1881. Elliott, Henry W. : Department of the Interior. | — | Tenth Census of the United States. | Francis A. 

 Walker, | Superintendent. | — | The history and present condition | of the fishery industries. | Prepared under Iho 

 direction of Professor S. F. Balrd, U. S. Commissioner of Fish and Fisheries, by G. Brown Goode, Assistant Director, 

 U. S. National Museum. | — | The Seal-Islands of Alaska, | by | Henry W. Elliott. | (Seal of Department of the Inte- 

 rior.) | Washington: I Government Printing Office: | 1881. Quarto, pp. 176. Two maps; twenty-nine plates. 



1881. Elliott, Henry W. : U. S. Commission of Fish and Fisheries. | Spencer F. Baird, Commissioner. | — | 170. 

 I Special Bulletin. | — | A Monograph | of the | Seal Islands of Alaska | by | Henry W. Elliott | — | Reprinted, with 

 additions, from the Report on the Fishery Industries | of the Tenth Census. | Washington: | Government Printing 

 Office. I 1882. Quarto, pp. 176. Two maps; twenty-nine plates. 



These two editions differ in the fact that in the census edition, pp. 102 to 109, relating to "The Reproduction of 

 the Fur Seal, Sea Lion, and Walrus," are replaced by "A Brief Review of the Official Reports upon the Conduct of 

 Affairs on the Seal Islands." 



