20 
BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 
MAMMALS. 
The cliief zoological interest centers in the four marine mammals revealed to the 
scientific world in Steller’s famous treatise “ l)e Bestiis Marinis” (INovi Comm. Ac. Sc. 
Imp. Petrop., ii, 1751, pp. 2S9-39S, pis. xiv-xvi), which must always remain a 
monument to the learning and indnstry of its author. In this he described for the 
first time the sea-cow, the sea-lion, the fnr-seal, and the sea-otter. 
Of these, the sea-cow {11yd rodamaUs gigas, also known as Bytina gigas or stelleri) 
j) 0 ssesses greatest interest, on acconnt of its early extermination by man, which took 
Xdace in 1768, twenty-seven years after its discovery. The sea-cow was an herbivorous 
animal, anteriorly shaped somewhat like a seal, but with a large candal fin like that of 
a whale or fish, bnt no hind legs, and belonging to the manunalian order of Siren ia, the 
few living relations of which, the manati and dugong, now only inhabit the tropical 
waters of both heinisjjheres. There is no indisputable evidence of its having ever 
inhabited other coasts than those of the Commander Islands, as the find of a rib on 
Attn Island does not necessarily iwove that the animal once lived there, though that 
is not imxn’obable. The history of this animal, imx)erfectly known as it is, fills 
volnmes, and all we can do in the iiresent connection is to refer to some of the more 
recent literature (Biichner, Die Abbildnngen der nordischcm Seeknh, Mem. Ac. Imp. 
Sc. St. Petersb., 7 ser., xxxviir, 1891, No. 7. — Stejneger, Proc. U, S. Nat. Mns., 1883, 
PX>. 78-86; 1881, 181-189. — Stejneger, On the Extermination of the Great Northern 
Sea Cow, Am. Geogr. Soc. Bulk, No. 4, 1886, 317-328. — Stejneger, How the Great 
Northern Sea Cow {Bytina) Became Exterminated, Amer. Natural., xxi, Dec., 1887, 
X:»p. 1047-1054). 
The sea-lion {Eumetopias stelleri) was formerly quite abnndant, bnt has now 
become nearly extinct on both islands, though still numerous in certain localities on 
the Kamchatkan coast. In 1895 I saw only one individual on Sivutchi Kamen at the 
North Rookery, Bering Island. 
The fur-seal {Callotarm ursina) being the chief subject of this rexiort, needs no 
further mention in this connection. 
The fate of the sea-otter {Latax lutru) in the Commander Islands is highly 
instructive and interesting. When Bering and his unfortunate followers landed on 
Bering Island they found the sea otters so numerous that these animals furnished 
food for the entire crew during thh whole winter. On their return to Kamchatka the 
following year (1742) they brought with them more than 700 skins of this costly fur. 
Then followed a x)Ci'iod of reckless slaughter of these animals by the rax^acious xM'omy- 
shleniks. Thus, in 1745, Bassof and Trax)eznikof secured 1,600 skins; in 1748 about 
1,350 were killed. The result was that within a very few years the sea-otter almost 
disax>x)eared from Bering Island, for Tolstykh’s exx>edition obtained only 47 during the 
winter of 1749-50; Drnshiuin’s men, in 1754-55, took only 5; while in the account of 
Tolstykh’s second exx^editiou, winter 1756-57, it is exx)ressly said that “no sea-otters 
showed themselves that year.” It is interesting to note that even in those days 
Cox~»x)er Island offered a safer retreat for the sea-otter, since Yugof, who also visited 
that island, returned home in 1754 with 790 skins. 
AYhile not actually and literally exterminated on Bering Island — Trax)eznikof’s 
expedition of 1762-63 secured 20 otters there — it did not become common there again, 
excei)t x>ossibly during an alleged sudden reai)pearance in 1772, until after the aban- 
donment of the island, when the Russian- American Comxiauy was organized. Ux)ou 
