FOOD OF SEA-LIONS 
45 
and crabs. For reasons known only to them- 
selves, they swallow many round pebbles, from 
one to two inches in diameter. We once took 
16 pounds (half a pailful) from the stomach of a 
medium-sized specimen. 
In captivity all kinds of seals and Sea-Lions 
live contentedly in fresh water. The value of 
a living California Sea-Lion in New York City 
is about $150. This species possesses great 
intelligence, and quite recently several specimens 
have been trained to go through a show per- 
formance which is really wonderful, including a 
most remarkable act in which a Sea-Lion suc- 
cessfully balances a large ball on the point of its 
nose. 
An important incident in the life history of 
the California Sea-Lion furnishes a good illustra- 
tion of the folly of condemning a wild species to 
destruction on insufficient evidence. 
For several years the fishermen of San Fran- 
cisco complained that the Sea-Lions of the Cali- 
fornia coast devoured such enormous quantities 
of salmon and other fish that they were seriously 
affecting the available supply ; besides which, they 
caused great damage to nets and impounded fish. 
They demanded that the Sea-Lions be destroyed, 
and finally convinced the state authorities that 
their contentions were well founded. 
It was decided that the animals should be de- 
stroyed, by systematic shooting, down to a com- 
paratively small number ; and the slaughter 
was duly ordered. Men were engaged to do the 
work, in a business-like way, and an official re- 
quest for permission to kill on the light-house 
reservations of the government was granted. 
But there were certain naturalists who doubted 
the entire accuracy of the charges made against 
the Sea-Lions, and asked for proof in detail. 
When no evidence of a specific and convincing 
nature was brought forward, they requested 
that the slaughter proposed on the Farallone 
Islands, and other light-house reservations, be 
deferred, pending a careful inquiry; and this was 
done. 
However, where the state authorities had full 
power to act, the killing proceeded in a few lo- 
calities. It happened that during the killing of 
California Sea-Lions on the shore of Monterey 
Bay, and vicinity, Professor L. L. Dyche, of the 
University of Kansas, arrived on the scene to 
pursue studies in marine life. He examined the 
stomachs of twenty Sea-Lions which were washed 
ashore, and of five more which he killed for the 
purpose of mounting their skins. 
Every stomach examined contained the remains 
of squids and devil-fish (Octopus), one or both; 
and both of which are among the fisherman’s ene- 
mies! Not one of the twenty-five stomachs which 
he carefully examined and reported upon contained 
any portion of a scaled fish. 
In 1901, the United States Fish Commission 
conducted a systematic investigation of the 
food habits of the Sea-Lions of the Pacific coast 
and the report of Messrs. Rutter, Snodgrass 
and Starks appears in the Report of the Fish 
Commissioner for 1902. At six points on the 
coast of California, the investigators killed a 
total of twenty-four specimens of the California 
Sea-Lion, and eighteen of the Steller Sea-Lions. 
The report says : 
“Of thirteen California Sea-Lions whose stom- 
achs contained food, five had eaten fish and 
eleven had eaten squid. The quantity of fish 
was inconsiderable, seventeen small fishes being 
the maximum, while the remains of one hundred 
to three hundred squid were found in each of 
five stomachs. 
“All the thirteen Steller Sea-Lions whose 
stomachs contained food had eaten fish, and five 
had eaten squid, or octopus. The number of 
squid eaten was small, six being the maximum 
number in one Sea-Lion, while the quantity of 
fish was large, at least thirty-five pounds being 
taken from one stomach.” 
The detailed report of the kinds of fishes con- 
sumed as food by these animals reveals an as- 
sortment of very little value, and not one salmon 
or shad. Professor Dyche ’s discovery — that 
the California Sea-Lion feeds almost exclusively 
upon squid — was fully confirmed, for the twenty- 
four animals killed contained only three rock- 
fish, two hake, twenty-four “small fish” and one 
chimera, — but over eleven hundred squid! The 
stomachs of the Steller’s Sea-Lions contained 
fourteen rock-fish, two perch, thirty clupeoid 
fish, seventeen “large fishes of 12 to 18 inches,” 
and a few skates, sharks and squids. 
“The testimony of the fishermen was so con- 
tradictory it is of no value. . . . One man 
claims that the Sea-Lions are becoming more 
numerous and destructive every year, while 
another claims that they are rapidly becoming 
