Pinnipedia. MAMMALIA. Pinnipedia Ixxv 
any considerable distance. The natives coinnience 
to drive herds of these creatures to some convenient 
place in shore, great care being- taken not to heat 
tlieni, as the fur is injured thereby. The old males 
are not desirable, and, as they are moi-e stubborn 
and sullen, are easily left behind. The more valu- 
able young- or middle-aged are thus selected, and 
driven on to the killing ground, which is sometimes 
six miles away from the shore. This is done par- 
ticularly to avoid disturbing the remaining Seals at 
the “rookery” by the smell of blood, and the havoc 
and noise thereby created. Arrived at the grounds, 
they are watched for a while until they are cooled, 
then the most desirable are dispatched by a sharp 
blow upon the nose. Besides the skin, each Seal 
yields a gallon and a half of oil. 'I’he linings of 
the throats are saved, and salted as an article of 
trade to other ports in the territory, being used by 
the natives to make waterproof cloaks or frocks, to 
wear in their canoes when hunting the Otter or 
fishing. The skins are salted and packed in square 
bins, where they lie about forty days ; they are then 
taken out, the salt removed, and a small quantity of 
clean salt sprinkled upon them, when they are 
folded, flesh-side in, and packed for commerce. 
There are about twelve miles of sea coast on St. 
Paul’s Island occupied by Pur Seals as breeding- 
grounds, with an average width of fifteen rods. 
Allowing twenty Seals to the square rod. Captain 
Scammon computes the number of breeding Seals at 
the enormous figures 1,152,000. Deducting- one tenth 
for males leaves 1,037,800 breeding females. The 
value of the skins at the ground, or that paid by 
the Eussian Company to the natives, is ten cents 
per skin, the company finding- bins and salt. Pre- 
vious to 1866 the skins were worth $3.00 each. 
Soon after the transfer of the territory to the United 
States, which was about the time the skins became 
fashionable, they were valued at $7.00 each. In 
1871 they were again at a low figure, bringing only 
$3.00 a-piece, owing to the over-stocked state of 
the market. At the time of the sale of the territory 
to the United States, it was estimated that the 
annual yield was 80,000 skins. The opinion of the 
men who have especial care of the Seals is that it 
has reached 100,000, and that the yearly killing of 
this number will in no way check their increase. 
In 1873 the number taken was 145,000, at the fol- 
lowing- places : St. George’s Island, St. Paul’s, and 
Behring Sea, 100,000, the remainder in Copper and 
Behring Islands, on the coast of California and 
Washington Territory, Eobin Island, Okotsk Sea, 
South Shetland Islands and Cape Horn. The net 
value of the fishery is about $1,174,500 yearly. 
Great care is required to determine clearly the 
identity of the species, when so much confusion 
exists in the nomenclature of these tribes. Peron, 
the distinguished Antarctic voyager and naturalist, 
is convinced that, “ under the name of Sea Bear, 
there really exists more than twenty Seals which 
differ from each other in all their minute character- 
istic points.” We are indebted to Jardine's Nat. 
Lib., wl. xi., Seals, for Steller’s minute account of 
this Sea Bear, as well as for considerable other 
matter concerning it. Scarcely any order of Mam- 
mals is less known and less popularly described. 
'I’he larger number of species are found noticed only 
in MSS. or the printed 'I’l-ansactions of Societies. 
'J'he Seals of this family are known to be more nearly 
amphibious and of higher organization than those of 
the PhocidcB. 'I'he present species is about the size 
of a very large Bear, and resembles no object moi-e 
than that animal. Its extreme length is seven and 
a half feet. 'I’he teeth resemble those of the Sea 
Lion, only they are not more than one quarter the 
size. 'J’he apex of the tongue is bifurcated, the 
eyes very prominent and full, the iris black, and the 
pupil bright green ; there are eyelids and brows, 
with a nictitating membrane to remove any foreign 
matter that may lodge in the eye. 'I’he limbs are so 
arranged that the creature may progress somewhat 
after the manner of land animals, although they are 
exceedingly uncouth and move very slowly. Steller 
says: “'The. skins of the young are much prized for 
clothing. When I was in Behring’s Island, 1 pre- 
pared a garment for my use with my own hands, 
and will ever retain a grateful recollection of it. 
'I’hese animals are found in amazing numbers in the 
islands of the north-west coast of North America, 
and so crowd the shore they oblige the traveller to 
quit it and climb up the precipices.” 'J’hey are as 
regularly migratory as birds of passage. 
Tribe III— AECTOCEPHALINA. 
'I’liis tribe is characterized by having the molar 
teeth f-|, the face of the skull shelving in front, and 
the fifth and sixth molar teeth situated behind the 
front of the zygomatic arch. 'The name is derived 
from the Latin, meaning Bear-head, from the strong 
ursine appearance of these Seals. 
Phocarctos. 
In this genus — also deriving its name from the same 
source as the above Bear Seal — the skull is elongate, 
and the forehead fiat, 'i’he palate is concave and 
deep, with a thickened margin on each side in front, 
widest in the middle part of the tooth-line, and 
gradually narrowed behind the teeth ; the internal 
nare is oblong, longer than broad, truncate in front, 
the front edge in a line with the orbital process of 
the zygomatic arch. 'I’he grinders have compressed 
roots ; some of them have a very indistinct longi- 
tudinal groove on the side; the fifth upper grinder 
h-as two distinct roots. The ear bones are not promi- 
nent, and have a flat lower surface. 'I’he flap of the 
toes is moderate in size. Gray says, in connection 
with the above synopsis of the generic characters, 
“I have not seen an adult skull, but have described 
from those ten inches long, of which the bones are not 
knit.” This is Otaria of Allen, in Bui. Mus. Com}). 
Zobl., Cambridge, Mass. 
THE SOUTHEEN HAIR SEAL {Phocarctos hooleri) 
— 'I’his species has a brown-gray fur, slightly grizzled, 
nearly white beneath; hairs short, close-pressed, 
rather slender, flattened, black, with whitish tips ; 
