ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN. 



("75 



WINDING A YEARLING ELEPHANT SEAL IN A 

 TRANSPORTATION TO THE SHIP. 

 Photograph by C. H. Townsend. 



We found the seals to be without fear of 

 man. and moved among them freely for the 

 purpose of taking photographs and capturing 

 the yearlings brought away alive. Daring the 

 process of skinning the large animals saved for 

 museum specimens, others equally large re- 

 mained undisturbed within a few feet of where 

 we were at work. 



The young seals were rolled up tightly in 

 separate nets like so many bales, to prevent 

 their crawling out of the boats. On board ship, 

 they were simply turned loose on the deck, 

 where they were at liberty to wander as they 

 chose. Later on they were penned up to keep 

 them from obstructing the gangways. Other- 

 wise they were not troublesome. 



On the beach the young animals frequently 

 squealed during their play, and we all noted the 

 resemblance of their calls to the scream of the 

 peacock. The old males frequently got into 

 rights, when the large proboscis would be drawn 

 well up onto the head, exposing the large canine 

 teeth with which they struck at each other's 

 necks. Their necks were all in a more or less 

 damaged condition from fighting. 



Guadalupe Island lies about 

 150 miles off the coast and is 

 uninhabited. The seals occupj' 

 a beach under the cliffs on the 

 northwest side which is not 

 accessible from the island. The 

 beach is well protected on the 

 seaward side by a heavy surf 

 which usually prevails there. 

 During our voyage we called 

 at San Cristobal Bay on the 

 mainland, a locality once much 

 frequented by elephant seals, 

 but saw no signs of them. 

 Guadalupe appears to be the 

 last stronghold of the species. 



A plan for the protection of 

 the remnant at Guadalupe, 

 through our Pacific coast Cus- 

 tom Houses has already been 

 presented to the Secretary of 

 State. If this plan is approved 

 by the Mexican Government, 

 it may be possible for the ele- 

 phant seals to live undisturbed. 

 After leaving Guadalupe Is- 

 land, the Albatross made a 

 number of hauls with the deep- 

 sea dredge which yielded a 

 good series of fishes and inver- 

 tebrates from deep water. 

 The next stop was at San Benito Islands 

 where considerable shore collecting was done. 

 The ship then went to Cedros Island and from 

 there to San Bartolome Bay, where a zoological 

 reconnaissance of Lower California was begun. 

 Collecting parties were landed almost daily, as 

 the ship moved around the Peninsula and up 

 the Gulf of California. The outlying islands 

 were also explored. Some of them are nesting 

 grounds of great numbers of sea birds. 



Many days were devoted to deep-sea investi- 

 gations, including sounding, dredging, deep-sea 

 temperatures, and the use of fine tow-nets in 

 studying the minute life of the surface water of 

 the sea. The deepest dredge haul was from a 

 depth of 1,760 fathoms (two miles). The col- 

 lection of fishes and invertebrates from great 

 depths were large and important and much new 

 zoological material was obtained. 



A new and interesting feature of the deep-sea 

 work was the making of plaster casts of deep- 

 sea fishes, before the specimens could lose their 

 form and color in alcoholic preservatives. It 

 will now be possible for the first time to make 



MALE ELEPHANT SEAL SIXTEEN FEE! 

 Note the long proboscis. 

 Photograph by C. H. Townsend. 



