CHAPTER IV. 

 FUR SEALS. 



The Northern Fur Seal (Callorhinus uesinus. Gray.) (Plate sxi, fig. 1, 2.) 



The Tur Seals have so wide a geographical range— extending nearly to the 

 highest navigable latitudes in both the northern and southern hemispheres— and 

 are found assembled in such countless numbers at their favorite resorts, that they 

 become at once a source of great commercial wealth ; and, among marine mammalia, 

 they are the most interesting we have met with. Captain Tanning- one of the 

 noted sealing -masters in early times — distinguished the different ages and sexes as 

 follows: "Full-aged males, called 'wigs;' the females, 'clapmatches ;' those not quite 

 so old, 'bulls;' all the half- grown of both sexes, 'yearlings;' the young of nearly 

 a year old, called 'gray' or 'silvered pups;' and before their coats are changed 

 to this shade, called 'black pups.'" 



The color of the full-grown males, or "wigs," is dark brown — with scattering 

 hairs of white about the head, neck, and anterior portion of the body — and, in 

 some instances, nearly approaches to black. At a distance, it is difficult to distin- 

 guish between an old "wig" and a full-grown male Sea Lion of the California 

 coast, the former being frequently found measuring nine feet from tip of nose to 

 extremity of posterior flippers. 



The "clapmatches" average fully one-half the length of the largest "wigs," and 

 the greater portion of them are of a silver- gray color; the very oldest, however, 

 are dark brown on the back and sides, with scattering white hairs over all. The fur 

 is reddish brown inside. The thick mixture of black, glistening hairs imparts the 

 dark hue to the oldest animals, and the white hairs on the younger ones give them 

 the silvery lustre. Both old and young are of lighter shade underneath, particu- 

 larly about the pectorals and posterior portions of the body. The layer of fat, or 

 blubber, between the skin and flesh, may average one and a half inch in thickness, 

 varying according to the time the animal has been on shore — it being very fat 



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