Page 61 - Our Vanishing Wild Life

EXTINCT AND NEARLY EXTINCT SPECIES 39
WEST INDIAN SEAL In the New York Aquarium
Tasmania, Mrs. Roberts and others fear that the sheepmen will totally exterminatetheremnantatanearlydate. Thisanimalisthelargestand also the most interesting carnivorous marsupial of Australia, and its untimely end will be a cause for sincere regret.
The West Indian Seal, (Monachus tropicalis).-—For at least fifty years, all the zoologists who ever had heard of this species believed that the oil-hunters had completely exterminated it. In 1885, when the National Museum came into possession of one poorly-mounted skin, from Professor Poey, of Havana, it was regarded as a great prize.
Most unexpectedly, in 1S86 American zoologists were startled by the discovery of a small herd on the Triangle Islands, in the Caribbean Sea, near Yucatan, by Mr. Henry L. Ward, now director of the Milwaukee Public Museum, and Professor Ferrari, of the National Museum of Mexico. They found about twenty specimens, and collected only a sufficient number to establish the true character of the species.
Since that time, four living specimens have been captured, and sent to the New York Aquarium, where they lived for satisfactory periods. The indoor life and atmosphere did not seem to injure the natural vitality of the animals. In fact, I think they were far more lively in the Aquari- um than were the sluggish creatures that Mr. Ward saw on the Triangle reefs, and described in his report of the expedition.
It is quite possible that there are yet alive a few specimens of this odd species; but the Damocletian sword of destruction hangs over them suspended by a fine hair, and it is to be expected that in the future some