Family 3. OTARIADÆ.

Nose simple; muffle rather large, callous above and between the nostrils. Ears with a cylindrical, external conch. Arms and legs rather elongate. The fore and hind feet fringed. Fore feet fin-like, with a scolloped naked membrane. Palms and soles bald, longitudinally grooved, more or less triangular. Fingers gradually diminish in size from the inner side. Hind feet elongate, narrow, all clawless. Toes nearly of equal length, the outer one on each side being rather the strongest (see Cat. Seals and Whales, p. 44, f. 15). Three middle toes clawed. The fur is generally provided with a more or less thick under-fur. Skull with a postorbital process. An alisphenoid canal. Mastoid process strong and salient, extending aloof from the auditory bulla. Cutting-teeth 6/4, upper often bifid; canines conical; grinders 5/5 or 6/5. The scapula is curved backward to the upper angle, but with its spine or crest near the posterior margin. Testicles enclosed in the small external scrotum. They walk on their fore and hind limbs; they rest with the hind part of the body bent down, and the legs directed forward, like the Morse. The females lie on their backs to receive the caresses of the male; and the young are born on shore and are gradually taught to swim.

Otariadæ, Brookes, Mus. Cat. 1836, pp. 18, 28; Gray, Ann. & Mag. N. H. 1869, iv. p. 268; Gill, Proc. Essex Inst. 1866, v. p. 7; Allen, Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool. ii. p. 27.

Arctocephalina, Gray, Cat. S. & W. p. 44.

The Eared Seals (Otariadæ) form a distinct family from the Earless Seals (Phocidæ). They have more power of using their limbs like the more typical mammalia, walking on them with the body raised from the ground; they rest with their hind limbs bent forwards. These habits are well shown in Dr. Forster’s figures, engraved by Buffon; and they have been verified by the study of the living Eared Seal in the Zoological Gardens. Their scrotum and genital organs are exposed as in the Dog.

The Otariæ come to the surface during the process of mastication, and do not, like the Eared Seals, swallow under the water. They do not drink, while the common Seal occasionally sucks in water as a horse would. The pupils of the eyes dilate and contract to an enormous extent.

The Sea-bears (Otariadæ) inhabit the more temperate and colder parts of the southern hemisphere, and the temperate and more northern regions of the Pacific Ocean.

The Otariæ appear to make periodical migrations towards the south; and the Sea-lions (O. jubata) come to the Falkland Islands in November, where they remain till June or July, when the greater number depart; but some remain there the whole year round (P. Z. S. 1869, p. 108).

Navigators, from the general external resemblance of the animals, have regarded the Sea-lion and Sea-bear of the northern and southern regions as the same animal. Pennant (who paid considerable attention to Seals) and most modern zoologists have done the same.

Nilsson, in his excellent Monograph of the Seals, only mentions three species of Eared Seal:—1, Otaria jubata; 2, O. ursina; and, 3, O. australis. He believed that the first was common to the Falkland Islands, Chile, Brazil, New Holland, and Kamtschatka, and the second to Magellan’s Straits, Patagonia, New Holland, and the Cape. We now know that the species have a very limited geographical distribution.

When I published my ‘Catalogue of the Seals in the British Museum,’ in 1850, I was satisfied from Steller’s description that the species he described from the Arctic regions were distinct from those found in the Southern seas; and when I at last succeeded in obtaining specimens and skulls from the northern regions of the Pacific, I not only found that my idea was confirmed, but that they did not even belong to the same genera. I had the skulls of these species figured in the ‘Proceedings of the Zoological Society’ for 1859, and this greatly extended the knowledge of the animals. But there is yet much to be learnt respecting them. We do not know the species of Fur-seal described by Forster as inhabiting the coast of New Zealand.

The skull of these animals changes so much in form as the animal arrives at adult and old age that it is not always easy to determine the species by it, unless you have a series of them, of different ages and states, to compare. Thus Dr. Peters, in his revision of the genus after the publication of my Catalogue and figures of the skulls in the ‘Voyage of the Erebus and Terror’ and in the ‘Proceedings of the Zoological Society,’ formed no less than five species from the skulls of the southern Sea-lion (Otaria jubata)—O. jubata, O. Byronia, O. leonina, O. Godeffroyi, and O. Ulloæ,—referring the first four to the subgenus Otaria, and the last to Phocarctos (see Monatsbericht, May 1866, pp. 265, 270). In his second essay, published a few months later (ibid. Nov. 1866), after his visit to London, he placed them all together in one subgenus (Otaria), and seems, by the way in which he has numbered four of them, to doubt their distinctness. It would have been better if he had at once simply reduced them to synonyms (as they must be reduced) and included with them O. Ulloæ, which is only the skull of a young specimen, such as was called O. molossina by Lesson and Garnet. I may observe that I had shown in my first ‘Catalogue of Seals’ (1850), from the examination of the typical skull, that two or three of these nominal species were only very old or young skulls of the southern Sea-lion.

It is the character of the Eared Seals or Otariadæ to have a very close, soft under-fur between the roots of the longer and more rigid hairs. They are therefore called Fur-Seals by the sealers, and are hunted for their skin as well as for their oil. The quantity and fineness of the under-fur differ in the various species; and the skin and under-fur bear a price in the market according to the country and the species from which they are obtained.

Some species of the family have so little under-fur when they arrive at adult age, that they are of no value in the market to be made into “seal-skins;” these are therefore called Hair-Seals by the sealers. They are only collected for the oil, as the skins are of comparatively little value.

The skins of the Fur-Seal are much used in China, and are more or less the fashion in this country, sometimes being far more expensive than at others. The skins of the Hair-Seals are only used, like the skins of the Earless Seals or Phocidæ, for very inferior purposes, as covering boxes, knapsacks, &c.; but the animals are much sought after for the oil they afford.

The furs of the different species of Fur-Seals are exceedingly different in external appearance, especially in the younger specimens, or when the fur is in its most perfect condition. In most species the hairs are much longer than the under-fur; they are flat and more or less rigid and crisp. In others the hairs are short, much softer, scarcely longer than the soft woolly under-fur; in these species the fur is very dense, standing nearly erect from the skin, forming a very soft elastic coat, as in O. falklandicus and O. Stelleri.

The hair of O. nigrescens is considerably longer than that of O. cinerea, but not so harsh, the fur of the half-grown O. nigrescens being longer, sparse, flat, rather curled at the end, giving a crispness to the feel; while the hairs of the very young specimens are abundant, nearly of equal length, forming an even coat that is soft and smooth to the touch.

The length, abundance, and, indeed, the presence or absence of the under-fur greatly depend on the season at which the specimen is obtained or observed. It is true that the sealers call some seals hair- and others fur-seals; but that is only because what they call hair-seals never had more than a very small quantity of under-fur in the fur-season; but, on the other hand, many fur-seals at some seasons have only a small quantity of the under-fur which is so long and abundant at other periods.

Difficult as it is for the zoologist to distinguish the species by their external appearance, the skins of the different species of Fur-Seals are easily distinguished by the dealers, even when they are wet, showing that the practical fellmonger is in advance of the scientific man in such particulars, as the dealers in whalebone were in regard to the distinction of the species of the Whale by their baleen (see Zool. Erebus & Terror).

The longer hairs of the Fur-Seals are very slender and pale-coloured at the basal half of their length, and thicker and darker at the upper half, and often have a white tip. The basal half is subcylindrical, the upper half is flat, tapering at each end. The absolute length of the under-fur differs in the various species. Judging from the old and young specimens of A. nigrescens, the hairs seem to be longer, both absolutely and relatively to the under-fur, in the young than in the adult animals. The hairs of the Hair-Seals are shorter, flat, channelled above, and gradually tapering from the base to the tip, merely contracted at the insertion into the skin. The breadth of the hairs seems to vary in the different species; and in the younger specimens there are to be observed some soft hairs like the under-fur of the Fur-Seals.

The Fur-Seals are Callorhinus ursinus, Arctocephalus antarcticus, A. nigrescens, A. cinereus, A. Forsteri, A. falklandicus, Eumetopias Stelleri, Arctophoca Philippii.

The Hair-Seals are Otaria jubata, Phocarctos Hookeri, Arctocephalus nivosus, Zalophus Gilliespii, Neophoca lobatus.

Dr. Peters, in his two papers on the Eared Seals (Otaria) uses the length of the ears and the existence or non-existence of the under-fur, as well as the characters used by Mr. Gill and myself, to separate the species of these animals into subgenera.

The length of the ears may probably afford good characters for the separation of the species and groups, if they can be observed in the living animals. As yet, only one species of these animals, the Sea-lion or Sea-bear (Otaria leonina), has been observed alive in Europe; so that Dr. Peters’s notes could only be derived from the examination of more or less carefully preserved skins; and, I fear, little dependence can be placed on them.

The form of the hinder opening of the nostrils and the form of its front edge, when only one or two skulls of a species were examined, have been regarded as constituting a good character; but when an extensive series of the skulls of a single species, or of several species, have been examined, that part is found to vary considerably as to the width of its different parts, and especially in the form of its front edge. As far as my observations have extended, the hinder opening of the nostrils appears to become narrower, and especially its front edge, as the animal becomes adult or aged; and in the skulls of the younger specimens it is broader, shorter, and the front edge is broader and more truncated or straight, with only a slight rounding at the sides.

The position of the grinders as regards the front part of the zygomatic arch is a good character for the distinction of the species, especially if a series of skulls from animals of different ages, and from the same locality, of each species are compared together; and it is the same with the rooting of the grinders themselves. But when adult skulls of different species are compared together, the forms of the skulls are so altered, the grinders generally so worn and altered by age, and their position in different species so similar, that the distinction of the species then becomes more difficult.

The flap of thick bald skin produced beyond the hinder toes varies in length as compared with the toes, in the length of it before it divides into lobes, and the length of the lobes themselves in different species, and thus affords characters for their separation; but it is difficult to determine the proper length of it and its parts from a preserved specimen in the Museum. It is apt to be unnaturally stretched in length and width by the preparer, and it shrinks as it dries long after it is placed in the Museum.

If I am not deceived by the prepared skins, the flap appears to be longer in the adult than in the young specimens; and judging from the specimens in the Museum, it is longest in Callorhinus ursinus, and it gradually becomes shorter in Arctocephalus antarcticus, A. falklandicus, Phocarctos Hookeri, A. cinereus, Otaria jubata, and A. nigrescens. It is very short in Neophoca lobata and Eumetopias Stelleri.

The “Prodrome of a Monograph of the Pinnipedes,” by Mr. Theodore Gill, wherein he named several genera of this group, and a paper by Dr. Peters on the Otariæ of the Berlin Museum, in the ‘Monatsbericht’ for May 1866, have induced me to reexamine the skulls and skeletons in the British Museum.

I may observe that Dr. Peters considers all the Eared Seals one genus, but has divided them into seven subgenera, to each of which he gives a distinctive name. Dr. Peters’s paper is interesting as determining the specimens described by Pander and D’Alton, Johann Müller, and other German naturalists, as well as describing the more recently received specimens in the Berlin Museum, which certainly is one of the most important on the Continent.

Captain Thomas Musgrave, in a work entitled ‘Cast away on the Aucklands,’ 12mo, 1866, pp. 141 and following, gives a very interesting account of the habits and manners of the Lion-seal, showing how unlike they are in their habits to the Seals without ears (Phocidæ). The female brings forth her young far inland, and has to teach them to take to the water which is to be their future home.

Captain Weddell gives nearly the same account of the habits of the Fur-Seal, as does also Mr. Hamilton (in Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. 1839, p. 87).

Mr. J. A. Allen, in the ‘Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology’ at Harvard College, Cambridge, Mass., has published (1870) an essay on the Eared Seals (Otariadæ), with detailed descriptions of the North-Pacific species.

He divides the family into subfamilies:—

Subfam. 1. Trichophocinæ, without under-fur, and containing the genera Otaria, Eumetopias, Zalophus.

Subfam. 2. Eulophocinæ, with thick under-fur, containing Callorhinus and Arctocephalus.

He gives figures of the skulls of different ages of the North-Pacific species.

Mr. Allen had only the skins in salt and the bones of two North-Pacific species to study, and he does not seem to be aware that the abundance of the under-fur greatly depends on the season and age of the animal when collected; and unfortunately he seems to have had no specimens or skulls of the southern species to enable him to study their characters; yet with these limited materials he has ventured to propose a revision of the species of Otariadæ, and, from the same cause, has suggested the uniting of many incongruous species together. It may be very true that zoologists have erred (myself among the number) in making too many genera and species; but the correction of this error requires as much study and consideration of the entire subject as have been used in their determination; and science is not advanced by hasty alterations founded on a few specimens.

The Eared Seals are collected for their oil and skins. Most of the species have very dense under-fur of soft erect hairs between the bases of the longer hairs. These are called “Fur-Seals;” and the skins, when deprived of their long hairs, are very valuable. The dressed furs of the various species and localities are of very different commercial and economic value. The skins of Neophoca lobata (of Australia) and Phocarctos Hookeri (of the Southern Ocean), being nearly destitute of this under-fur, are called Hair-Seals by the sealers. Their skins are of little comparative value, as they are only used like the skins of the Earless Seals (Phocidæ).

Synopsis of the Genera.

Section I. Palate produced behind to a line even with the condyles of the jaw. Grinders 6/5·6/5. Under fur sparse. Sea-lions.

Tribe 1. Otariina.

1. Otaria. Antarctic Seas. East and west coast of South America.

Section II. Palate only extended behind to a line even with the middle part of the zygomatic arch. Sea-bears.

Tribe 2. Callorhinina. Grinders 6/5·6/5. Skull oblong; face broad, shorter than the orbit; forehead arched. Flap of toes very long.

2. Callorhinus. Under-fur abundant. North-west coast of America.

Tribe 3. Arctocephalina. Grinders 6/5·6/5; face of the skull shelving in front; the fifth and sixth grinders behind the front of the zygomatic arch. Flap of toes moderate.

3. Phocarctos. Grinders large, lobed, the six upper with two notches on the hinder edge. Under-fur sparse. South America.

4. Arctocephalus. Grinders thick; crown conical. Under-fur abundant.

Tribe 4. Zalophina. Grinders 5/5·5/5, large, thick, in a close continuous series; the fifth upper in front of the back edge of the zygomatic arch.

5. Zalophus. Grinders large and thick, in a close uniform series. Under-fur sparse. North Pacific.

6. Neophoca. Grinders large, thick, all equal, in a continuous uniform series. Under-fur sparse. Flap of toes very short. Australia.

Tribe 5. Eumetopiina. Grinders 5/5·5/5, more or less far apart; the hinder upper behind the hinder edge of the zygomatic arch, and separated from the other grinders by a concave space.

7. Eumetopias. Under-fur sparse. Flap of toes very short. West coast of North America.

8. Arctophoca. Under-fur abundant. Flap of toes long. West coast of South America.

Sect. I. The palate produced behind to a line even with the condyles. The palatine surface of the maxillaries extending behind the teeth and with its posterior processes very long. It is deeply concave behind, and becomes deeper as the animal increases in age. The hinder nostril is short, with a truncated front edge. Flap of toes rather long. Sea-lions.

Tribe I. OTARIINA.

Otariina, Gray, Ann. & Mag. N. H. 1869, vol. iv. p. 269.

1. OTARIA.

Grinders 6/5. In the adult skulls the fourth upper grinder is under the front edge of the orbit, and the sixth or last in a line with the back edge of the zygomatic arch. The hinder edge of the palate is rather in front, on the line of the condyles. The teeth in the younger skull are more lobed than in the adult; the upper grinders are also differently disposed; the third upper grinder is under the front edge of the orbit, and the fifth tooth is in a line with the back edge of the zygomatic arch, and the last or sixth tooth is far behind it (see skull, Cat. S. & W. p. 58, f. 18). This change is remarkable, as the teeth of the young and the adult Zalophus Gilliespii are similar in number and position.

Otaria (subg. Otaria), Peters, Monatsb. 1866, p. 263.

Otaria, Gray, Cat. Seals & Whales, p. 57; Ann. & Mag. N. H. 1866, vol. xviii. p. 230; Gill, and Peters.

Platyrhynchus, F. Cuvier.

1. Otaria jubata. Sea-lion.

Fur dark brown; cheeks, temples, and sides of the forehead black; neck greyish brown; back of the neck yellow-brown; belly dusky black; hairs flat, tapering, dark brown, yellow, and whitish intermixed, without any under-fur.

Sea-bear, Illustrated London News; Boy’s Own Book.

Otaria jubata, label in Zoological Gardens, 1865; Gray, Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. 1868, i. p. 109; Murie, P. Z. S. 1869, p. 101, t. viii. (male, female, and young); Abbott, P. Z. S. 1868, p. 190; Sclater, P. Z. S. 1868, p. 528; Peters, Monatsber. 1866, p. 262.

Otaria leonina, Peters, Monatsb. 1866, pp. 264, 665; Gray, Cat. Seals & Whales, p. 59, f. 18.

Otaria Godeffroyi, Peters, Monatsb. 1866, p. 266, t. 1.

Otaria Byronia, Peters, Monatsb. 1866, pp. 269 & 666.

Otaria (Phocarctos) Ulloæ, Peters, Monatsb. 1866, p. 270.

Otaria Ulloæ, Tschudi, Fauna Peruana, pp. 135, 136, t. vi.

Otaria (Otaria) Ulloæ, Peters, Monatsb. 1866, pp. 667 & 671.

Inhab. South America, Falkland Islands, Chili.

The oldest of the three adult skulls in the British Museum differs from the other two in the pterygoid processes of the hinder edge of the palate being closer together than in the rest; but this character seems to depend on the greater age of the animal, as it differs slightly in the other two specimens. In all the younger specimens, varying greatly in size, the pterygoid processes are far apart.

Dr. Peters considers (1) Platyrhynchus leoninus of F. Cuvier, (2) Phoca Byronia of Blainville, and (3) an adult specimen which is in the Hamburg Museum, and of which he described and figured the skull as O. Godeffroyi, to be distinct species. I cannot see any difference between the skull in the College of Surgeons, on which Phoca Byronia was founded, and those in the British Museum; and the figure of the skull described as O. Godeffroyi is very similar to the skull in the British-Museum collection which I have called O. jubata.

This animal has the harsh fur without any under-fur of Phocarctos Hookeri; but it entirely differs from that animal in the colour of the fur. This cannot arise from the greater age of the animal, as it is not nearly so large as the half-grown P. Hookeri in the British Museum.

In the dark blackish-brown colour of the fur and the pale-brown colour of the nape, and in the absence of the under-fur, this Seal resembles the adult Neophoca lobata from Australia; but in that species the pale colour extends all over the crown, while in the young male Otaria jubata there are only a few paler scattered hairs on the middle of the crown and nose.

Dr. Murie represents the skull of a nearly full-grown male and of a female nearly of the same age (P. Z. S. 1869, p. 103. f. 1, 2). They greatly differ, the nose and the palate being much wider in the male than in the female, and the teeth in the male (but this may be only an individual peculiarity) were much worn down.

He observes, “the whole of the palate is much narrower than in the male of the same size, especially in the maxillary region, and the teeth are much weaker and more sharply pointed.”

He observes, “The young of both sexes are alike of a dark brown or very deep chocolate colour. The males about a year old retain somewhat of the chocolate tint of their youth, which, however, is paler, and subsequently changes annually as the coat is shed. The females of equal age assume a dark grey hue dorsally, while the abdominal parts are light yellowish. As they grow older they alter little.

“Males a couple of years old or more become of a rich brown shade on the back and sides, and lighter or yellowish beneath. Old males alone are maned.

“There is a sparse underwool on the young, which sensibly diminishes with age.

“The skulls of the adult male and female differ considerably, the latter being comparatively the narrower of the two—the former possessing a somewhat different form of teeth, besides proportionally immense canines.

“The teeth of Otaria jubata are subject occasionally to a peculiar wearing, of a median constricted character.

“Between the female and male of this species there is a wide difference as regards the stretch of the pectoral flippers. In the skin of the male the breadth from tip to tip of the fore flippers is equal to or greater than the length of the body; in the female the reverse obtains. This fact points to greater strength and swimming-power of the former.”

Sect. II. The palate rather produced behind. The front edge of the hinder nasal opening in a line with the middle of the zygomatic arch. Sea-bears.

Tribe II. CALLORHININA.

Grinders 6/5·6/5. Skull oblong; face broad, shorter than the orbit; forehead arched. See Cat. S. & W. p. 45, f. 16 (skull).

Callorhinina, Gray, Ann. & Mag. N. H. 1869, vol. iv. p. 269.

2. CALLORHINUS.

Skull elongate; forehead rounded in front of the orbit, rather swollen. Palate rather concave, as wide in front as at the end of the tooth-line, rather narrowed behind. The sixth upper grinder just behind the hinder edge of the zygomatic arch; the grinders moderate, fifth and sixth upper and the fifth lower with two diverging roots. Front flapper small, narrow. Flap of toes very long.

Callorhinus, Gray, P. Z. S. 1859, p. 359; Annals & Mag. N. H. 1866, vol. xviii. p. 234; Cat. S. & W. p. 44, f. 16 (skull); Peters.

Arctocephalus, Gill!

1. Callorhinus ursinus. Northern Sea-Bear.

B.M.

Phoca ursina, Linn.; Pander & D’Alton, t. 7. f. 1 (not good).

Otaria (Callorhinus) ursina, Peters, Monatsb. 1866, pp. 273 & 672.

Otaria Stelleri (part.), Lesson & Müller.

Callorhinus ursinus, Gray, P. Z. S. 1859, p. 359, t. 58 (skull); Ann. & Mag. N. H. 1866, xviii. p. 235; Cat. Seals & W. p. 44, f. 16 (skull); Allen, Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool. ii. pp. 44 & 73, tab. 2 & 3. figs. 1-8.

Arctocephalus ursinus, Gill, Proc. Essex Inst. vol. v. 1866, p. 13 (not F. Cuvier).

Young. Arctocephalus monteriensis, Gray, P. Z. S. 1859, p. 358 (skin only).

Arctocephalus californianus, Gray, Cat. Seals & Whales, p. 51 (skin only).

Inhab. Kamtschatka. B.M.

Tribe III. ARCTOCEPHALINA.

Grinders 6/5·6/5; face of the skull shelving in front; the fifth and sixth grinders behind the front of the zygomatic arch.

3. PHOCARCTOS.

The skull elongate, forehead flat. The palate concave, 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 nares oblong, longer than broad, truncate in front, the front edge in a line with the orbital process of the zygomatic arch. Grinders large, compressed; the fifth and sixth upper behind the back edge of the zygomatic arch. The grinders have compressed roots; some of them have a very indistinct longitudinal groove on the side; the fifth upper grinder has two distinct roots. The ear-bones scarcely prominent, with a flat lower surface. Flap of toes moderate.

I have not seen an adult skull of this genus. The skulls described are 10 inches long, but the bones are not knit (see Cat. S. & W. p. 47, f. 17).

Arctocephalus § II., Gray, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1859, p. 109.

Phocarctos, Gray, Ann. & Mag. N. H. 1866, vol. xviii. p. 234.

Otaria (part.), Allen, Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool. ii. p. 44.

1. Phocarctos Hookeri. The Southern Hair-Seal.

B.M.

Fur brown-grey, slightly grizzled, pale, nearly white beneath; hairs short, close-pressed, rather slender, flattened, black, with whitish tips, the tips becoming longer on the under part of the sides; feet reddish or black; whiskers black or whitish.

Young pale yellow, varied with darker irregular patches; length 18 inches. B.M.

Arctocephalus Hookeri, Gray, Zool. Erebus and Terror, t. 14, 15 (skull); Cat. Seals B. M. p. 45. f. 15; P. Z. S. 1859, pp. 109, 360, Cat. Seals and Whales B. M. pp. 53, 54.

Arctocephalus falklandicus, Burmeister, Ann. & Mag. N. H. 1866, xviii. t. 9. f. 1, 2, 3, 4 (skull only).

Otaria (Phocarctos) Hookeri, Peters, Monatsb. 1866, pp. 269 & 671.

Phocartos Hookeri, Gray, Ann. & Mag. N. H. 1866, vol. xviii. p. 234 (the Hair-Seal of the sealers).

Otaria jubata (part.), Allen, Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool. ii. p. 45.

Young or albino? entirely cream-coloured, about 2 feet long.

Eared Seal, Pennant, Quad. ii. p. 278.

Phoca flavescens, Shaw, Gen. Zool. i. p. 200, t. 73 (from Pennant).

Inhab. Falkland Islands and Cape Horn.

Pennant, in his ‘Quadrupeds,’ describes an Eared Seal, rather more than 2 feet long, the whole body of which was covered with longish hair of a whitish or cream-colour; it was brought from the Straits of Magellan, and preserved in Parkinson’s Museum on the south side of Blackfriar’s Bridge (see “Eared Seal,” Pennant’s Quad. ii. p. 278). Dr. Shaw, in his ‘General Zoology,’ gave the name of Phoca flavescens to this species, and figured it (i. p. 260, t. 73).

This is very probably the young of the Hair-Seal of the Falklands, described by me as Arctocephalus Hookeri, which is of a pale-yellowish colour. Pennant does not mention the want of the under-fur.

Dr. Burmeister observes:—“We have in the Museum [at Buenos Ayres] a young half-grown specimen [of Arctocephalus falklandicus] nearly 3 feet long. From this I have taken the skull, of which I send you a description and drawings” (Ann. N. H. 1866, xviii. p. 99, t. 9. f. 1, 2, 3, 4). From the comparison of the figures, and especially of the teeth and the form of the palate, with our older skull of Arctocephalus Hookeri, I have little doubt that it is the skull of a specimen of that species before the grinders were all developed. It is not the skull of Otaria jubata, which the other specimen he called A. falklandicus is, as proved by the form and position of the hinder nasal openings. The figure of the young skull differs from the older skull of A. Hookeri in the British Museum in having a notch in the middle, while the older skull of A. Hookeri has a conical prominence in the same place. Such differences are found in skulls of Seals at different ages.

The skull of the young animal described and figured by Dr. Burmeister as Arctocephalus falklandicus (Ann. & Mag. N. H. 1866, xviii. p. 99, t. 9. f. 1 & 2), is probably the young skull of this species. It agrees with it in the elongated form of the skull, and in the large size and great development of the processes of the orbits.

Dr. Murie regards Otaria Philippii as founded on the skull of this species (P. Z. S. 1869, p. 108).

Mr. Allen, on the contrary, includes Otaria Hookeri as a synonym of Otaria jubata. One could not have a better proof of the want that Mr. Allen had of more materials when he undertook a revision of the family.

4. ARCTOCEPHALUS.

Arctocephalus, F. Cuvier, Peters.

The face of the skull elongate, forehead flat. The palate concave, especially in front, with a thickened margin on each side near the teeth, and then narrowed behind; the internal nasal opening elongate, longer than broad, narrow and arched in front, the edge in a line with the orbital process of the zygomatic arch, which is large and well developed. Flap of toes moderate.

In the adult skull of A. antarctica, from the Cape, the fifth hinder grinder has only very short rounded callous roots, which are slightly divided into two lobes; and the hinder sixth upper grinder seems to have a root of the same character. But not having any skulls of younger animals, I am not able to describe what are the forms of the roots of these two teeth in the younger state.

In the skulls of the older specimens (which are not adult, as they have the sutures between the bones still distinct), the fifth and sixth upper grinders have two distinct diverging roots.

* The fifth and sixth upper grinders with two roots (?); the sixth upper partly behind the hinder edge of the zygomatic arch. Arctocephalus. (Africa.)

1. Arctocephalus antarcticus. The Cape Fur-Seal.

Phoca antarctica, Thunb., Mém. Acad. Pétersb. iii. p. 322; Fischer’s Synop. p. 242.

Arctocephalus schisthyperoës, Turner, Journ. Anat. 1868, p. 113, f. .

Arctocephalus schistuperus, Günther, Zool. Record, 1868, p. 20.

Arctocephalus antarcticus, Gray; Allen, Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool. ii. p. 45.

Arctocephalus Delalandii, Gray, P. Z. S. 1859, t. 69 (skull); Ann. & Mag. N. H. 1866, vol. xviii. p. 235; Cat. S. & W. p. 52.

Phoca ursina, Cuvier, Oss. Foss. t. 219. f. 5.

Arctocephalus ursinus, F. Cuvier, Mém. Mus. vol. xi. p. 205, t. 15, no. 1. a, b, c (skull).

Otaria ursina, Nilsson.

Halarctus Delalandii, Gill, l. c. p. 7.

Otaria (Arctocephalus) pusilla, Peters, Monatsb. 1866, pp. 271 & 671.

Junior. Petit Phoque, Buffon, H. N. xiii. t. 53, = Phoca pusilla, Schreb.

Inhab. South Africa, Cape of Good Hope.

The two adult skulls in the British Museum differ greatly in the width of the hinder nasal opening, in the form of the hinder lower lateral processes of the occipital bone, in the form of the back of that bone, and in the shape of the condyles.

The skull from the Cape of Good Hope, in the Museum of the University of Edinburgh, was described and figured by Dr. Turner under the name of Arctocephalus schisthyperoës, in the ‘Journal of Anatomy and Physiology,’ vol. iii. p. 113. The name is changed to A. schistuperus by Dr. Günther in the ‘Zoological Record’ for 1868, p. 20. It is evidently the skull of a half-grown animal, with all its teeth developed, but with the sutures of the bones still apparent. It agrees in every respect with what I should expect to be the form and structure of the skull of Arctocephalus antarcticus from the Cape; but unfortunately the two skulls of that Sea-bear from the Cape which are in the British Museum are from old animals; and the specimen figured by Cuvier, Oss. Foss. v. 220, t. 18. f. 5, is also adult. It differs from the skulls of the two adult specimens of that species in the British Museum in the hinder nasal aperture being much extended forwards and gradually tapering to a point in front, which reaches to the transverse palato-maxillary suture. This peculiarity in the form of the palate, which Prof. Turner has not observed in any other seal-skull, seems to have induced him to regard it as a distinct species. From the examination I have made of the skulls of Seals in the Museum and other collections, I am induced to believe that it is an individual abnormality of Arctocephalus antarcticus. I have observed a similar malformation in the palates of two other species. I was myself misled by their structure, before I met with the other examples, to regard a skull with such a deformity as a distinct species.

At one time I thought that it might be a peculiarity of the young state, as it had up to that time only been observed in skulls of half-grown animals. It occurs in half-grown specimens of Euotaria nigrescens; but the skulls of the very young specimens of this Seal in the British Museum have the front edge of the hinder nasal opening truncated and slightly arched in form, with well-developed square palatine bones united by a central suture just as in the adult, but broader and straighter.

It was this observation that induced me to return to my original opinion, that the skull which I had at first regarded as a young skull of Arctocephalus monteriensis (Proc. Zool. Soc. 1859), and then as a separate species under the name of A. californianus (Cat. Seals and Whales, p. 51), was only a monstrosity of A. monteriensis, as I did in the Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. 1866, xviii. p. 232; and I am now induced to believe that Arctocephalus schisthyperoës is only an imperfectly developed skull of A. antarctica.

Dr. J. R. Forster, in Cook’s voyage in 1775, observed the Eared Seal at the Cape of Good Hope, and called it Phoca ursina. Believing it to be the same as the Sea-bear he had observed in New Zealand, Thunberg, in his list of Cape Mammalia in the third volume of the ‘Transactions of the St. Petersburg Academy,’ iii. 322, notices this animal under the name of Phoca antarctica (see Fischer, Syn. Mam. p. 242). Dr. Peters has applied the name of Otaria pusilla to this species, believing it to be the Petit Phoque of Buffon, which has been named Phoca pusilla by Schreber, and had before been named Phoca parva by Boddaert. Buffon says that it came either from India or the Levant; but it is not by its description to be distinguished from a young specimen of almost any of the species. It is as likely to have come from the Falkland Islands as from the Cape, as the French had traffic with Les Iles Malouines, as they call them.

M. de Buffon describes a small Eared Seal, which he calls a “second Phoque” (vol. xiii. p. 341, t. 43, where it is named “le petit Phoque”), which, he was assured, came from India, but very probably came from the Levant; and he considers it adult, because it has all its teeth. It is only one-fifth of the size of the Seal of the European seas (Hist. Nat. xiii. p. 344). He further speaks of it as “le petit Phoque noir des Indes et du Levant” (p. 345). It is evidently a young Eared Seal. The figure is probably from the skin, with the bones of the toes and jaws, presented to the cabinet by M. Mauduit (mentioned at p. 433. n. 1273), and said to have come from India.

The specimen Buffon figured, then being in the Paris Museum, was thus described by Cuvier (Oss. Foss. v. p. 220):—“Cet animal a deux pieds de long; ses oreilles sont grandes et pointues; son pelage est fourré, luisant, d’un brun noir très-foncé et a sa nuance blanchâtre. Le ventre seul est brun-jaunâtre.” The teeth show that it is young.

The figure and description of the Petit Phoque of Buffon have had the following names given to them:—

Fischer, in his ‘Synopsis,’ under Phoca pusilla, p. 252, gives the Cape of Good Hope and Rotteness Island, on the coast of Australia, as the habitat of the species.

The description of Cuvier much more nearly fits that of the young Arctocephalus nigrescens from the Falkland Islands. The fur of the young Cape Seal is dark, black above and below; the hairs are slender, and brown (not whitish) at the base; and the underside is not yellowish brown; so that it is very doubtful if it is the young of the Cape Seal.

Dr. Peters, believing Buffon’s specimen to be a young Cape Seal, changed the name of Delalandii to pusilla.

In the Museum are three states in flat skins:—

1. Adult male, with slight mane, called in the sale-catalogue “large-wig.” Fur whitish, with a few intermixed black hairs; under-fur short, reddish. B.M.

2. Adult, without the mane, called in the sale-catalogue “middling.” Fur reddish white, grizzled with scattered black hairs; underside of the body darker, reddish brown; under-fur short, reddish. B.M.

3. Young, about 18 inches long, called in the sale-catalogue “black pup,” from the Cape of Good Hope. Fur black, polished, soft, smooth, without any grey tips, rather browner black beneath; under-fur brown, very sparse; hairs slender, polished, black, with very slender brown bases. B.M.

** The fourth, fifth, and sixth upper grinders with two distinct diverging roots: the fifth in a line with the hinder edge of the zygomatic arch. Euotaria. (America.)

2. Arctocephalus nigrescens. The Southern Fur-Seal.

Arctocephalus nigrescens, Gray, Zool. Erebus and Terror, t. ; P. Z. S. 1850, pp. 109, 360; Cat. Seals and Whales, p. 52; Gerrard, Cat. of Bones, p. 147.

Arctocephalus (Euotaria) nigrescens, Gray, Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. 1866, xviii. p. 236.

Arctocephalus falklandicus, Gray, Cat. S. & W. p. 55; Allen, Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool. ii. p. 45.

Otaria (Arctocephalus?) falklandica, Peters, Monatsb. 1866, p. 273.

Otaria (Arctophoca) falklandica, Peters, Monatsb. pp. 371 & 671.

Otaria falklandica, Sclater, P. Z. S. 1868, p. 528; Abbott, P. Z. S. 1868, p. 192.

Otaria jubata (young), B.M.

Euotaria nigrescens, Gray, Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. 1868, p. 104.

Otaria nigrescens, Murie, P. Z. S. 1869, p. 106.

Inhab. Falkland Islands, Volunteer Rock (Capt. Abbott).

The two skulls of this species in the British Museum agree in most particulars; but they differ considerably in the form of the hinder nostrils. The larger one is without its upper teeth, but the forms of the roots are well exhibited by their sockets; the front edge of the hinder nasal opening is produced rather further forward, and is acutely angular. The other skull, which is rather smaller and has the teeth in good condition, has the hinder nasal opening with a slightly arched, nearly truncated, front edge.

Dr. Peters refers Phoca falklandica (Shaw, Zool. i. p. 256) and Otaria falklandica. (Hamilton, Ann. & Mag. N. H. 1839, p. 81, t. 4; Jardine, Nat. Lib. vi. p. 271, t. 25) to this species. But as neither Dr. Shaw nor Dr. Hamilton describes the number or position of the teeth, it is not possible to determine if this is the Fur-Seal of the sealers, collected at the Falkland Islands, more especially as the fact of the skull coming from the Falkland Islands is not well ascertained. See the other synonyma which have been established on the sealers’ descriptions and figures or the skins collected for the furriers at the Falkland Islands (Gray, Cat. Seals and Whales, pp. 55, 56). Dr. Hamilton, who prides himself on his figure, represents the hind legs as extended behind: but they look very awkward in that position, the stuffer having evidently had a difficulty in extending them.

The hair of A. nigrescens is considerably longer than that of A. cinereus, but not so harsh, the fur of the half-grown A. nigrescens being longer, sparse, flat, rather curled at the end, giving it a crispness to the feel; while the hairs of the very young specimens are abundant, nearly of equal length, forming an even coat that is soft and smooth to the touch.

Capt. Abbott’s young specimen in the British Museum chiefly differs from the adult specimen in the same collection in the hairs being longer, more erect, and with minute white tips, and in the face, throat, and chest being rufous brown; but this reddish colour is common to the young of several Sea-bears.

The skulls from Desolation Island, on the south-west coast of Patagonia, presented to the Anatomical Museum of the University of Edinburgh by the late Professor Goodsir, evidently belong to Euotaria nigrescens, the usual Fur-Seal of the Falkland Islands and other parts of the coast of South-west America. Two of the skulls are from adult animals, are without the lower jaws, and have only a few worn and broken teeth, having been rolled on the beach.

The other skull is of a young animal, exactly similar to the skull of a young Euotaria nigrescens, n. 1013e, in the British-Museum collection. The front edge of the hinder nostrils is as arched as in that specimen; the teeth are rather more developed than in our skull; they have a well-marked central lobe and a distinct small acute tubercle on the front edge of the cingulum.

The two adult skulls are very like the adult skull of E. nigrescens, 1013d, in the British Museum; but the opening of the internal nostrils is narrower, and their front edge in one is not nearly so angular, and in the other it is rather more arched than in either of the other two skulls, showing that the size of the posterior nasal aperture and the form of its front edge vary in different specimens of this species.

The comparison of the young skull with the more adult one shows that the grinders change their position considerably as regards the front edge of the hinder nasal opening. In the young skull of Euotaria nigrescens the hinder end of the tooth-line is very near (not a quarter of an inch from) a line level with the front edge of the internal nasal opening, and the hinder part of the palate in front of the aperture is nearly as broad as the middle of the palate: in the adult skull the hinder end of the tooth-line is a full inch from the front edge of the internal nasal opening, the hinder part of the palate is contracted toward the internal nostril, and the internal nasal opening is lengthened and narrowed; but the real position of the teeth, as compared with the front part of the zygomatic arch, is little altered, though the form of the palate gives them the appearance of being more changed than they really are.

These skulls are interesting as showing that Euotaria nigrescens, like Otaria leonina and Morunga elephantina, is, or was, common to the Falkland Islands and the west coast of South America.

The chief character by which the adult skull of Euotaria nigrescens can be distinguished from the adult skull of Arctocephalus antarcticus is, that the hinder or fifth upper grinder and the penultimate or fourth are placed rather in front of the hinder edge of the front part of the zygomatic arch; but the position of the teeth is most distinctive in the skull of the young animal, and loses much of its importance in comparing old skulls together, unless the skulls and teeth are very accurately compared; and even then the distinction is more imaginary than real.

I cannot understand Capt. Abbott’s account of this species. He says that “the full-grown Seal is about the size of the common English Seal. The largest skin I have ever seen I do not think measured more than 4 feet in length, perhaps hardly so much. The hair differs in colour, being sometimes grey, and at other times of a brownish tint; that of the young is of a darker brown colour.” All this agrees better with the true O. falklandica; but yet he says the skin of his half-grown specimen is now in the British Museum, and that skin is undoubtedly Euotaria nigrescens. Has Mr. Abbott confounded the two species in his mind? Or did he forget the animal? for he informed me that there were no Sea-elephants now living on the island. (P. Z. S. 1868, p. 190.)

“The bones of the pectoral limb of the Fur-Seal of commerce differ from those of the Sea-lion.”—Murie, P. Z. S. 1869, p. 109.

See Lecomte’s account of the habits of these animals, P. Z. S. 1869, p. 106.

The British Museum contains the skin and skull of a large blackish Eared Seal, nearly 6 feet long, that was purchased of a dealer as “a Fur-Seal from the Falkland Islands;” but, as the dealers seem always to give that as the habitat for all seal-skins with a distinct under-coat that come into their possession, I have quoted the habitat with doubt. When occupied in describing the Seals of the southern hemisphere for the ‘Voyage of the Erebus and Terror,’ I named the Seal Arctocephalus nigrescens, and had the skull figured under that name; but the plate has not yet been published, though copies of it have been given to Dr. Peters and other zoologists. In the ‘Proceedings of the Zoological Society’ for 1859, pp. 109, 360, and in the ‘Catalogue of Seals and Whales,’ I described the skull of this species. There is also in the Museum a skull of a younger animal of the same species.

Capt. Abbott, in 1866, sent to the British Museum a large and a small Seal from the Falkland Islands. The large one was examined and determined to be the southern Sea-lion (Otaria jubata). The small one, nearly 3 feet long, was very similar in external appearance; and as the teeth, which could be seen without extracting the skull, showed that it was a young animal, it was regarded as the young of the Sea-lion, and it was stuffed without extracting the skull, and labelled as such. This specimen has been examined by several zoologists, among the rest by Dr. Peters, when engaged with his paper on Eared Seals, and has passed unchallenged until this time, thus showing how difficult it is to distinguish these animals by their external characters alone.

Capt. Abbott, who is now residing in England, informed me that the smaller specimen was the Fur-Seal of the Falkland Islands, that it grows to about half as long again as the specimen sent, and that the old males are grey from the tips of the hairs. I have therefore had the skull extracted from the specimen; and there is no doubt that it is quite distinct from the Sea-lion (Otaria jubata); and, on more careful examination of the skin, I have little doubt, from the colour and the character of the fur, that it is a young specimen of the Seal that I described as Arctocephalus nigrescens. It is interesting as confirming the accuracy of the habitat that I received with that specimen, and which until this time I considered doubtful, as Pennant and others describe the Falkland Island Fur-Seal as grey, and white beneath.

Dr. Peters, on the authority of this habitat (which I have always quoted with doubt), has given the name of Arctophoca falklandica to the animal and skull on which I had established my Arctocephalus nigrescens.

In the British Museum there is the skin of a very young Seal, which was presented by Sir John Richardson as the Falkland Island Fur-Seal, with the observation appended that the adult is 5 feet long, and its skin is worth fifteen dollars. It is without its skull. The fur of this young Seal is dark brown, reddish beneath, and very like that of the young specimen sent by Capt. Abbott; but the hairs are smoother, and the white tips to them are longer and more marked, giving the animal a more grizzled appearance.

There is another young Eared Seal, very like the former, which was received with General Hardwicke’s Collection (who, no doubt, purchased it of a dealer), said to have come from the Cape of Good Hope. I suspect this habitat must be erroneous; for it is very unlike what I recollect of the young Cape Eared Seals, which are called “Black Dogs,” on account of the blackness of their colour. Unfortunately we have no specimen of the latter in the Museum collection. General Hardwicke’s specimen only differs from Sir John Richardson’s in being less punctulated with white; fewer hairs have a white tip, and the tip is shorter.

Both these young specimens differ from the half-grown one obtained from Capt. Abbott, in the fur being softer and smooth to the touch; and Capt. Abbott’s specimen differs from the adult in the length and greater crispness of its fur, the fur of the old one being harsh and hard and closer pressed.

In the first essay, Dr. Peters places Phoca falklandica, Shaw, and Otaria nigrescens together, with doubt, observing that one was known from the skin, and the other by the skull, overlooking the fact that the name nigrescens implied that I had seen the colour of the fur, which was not that given by Shaw to his animal; in his second essay, Dr. Shaw’s, Dr. Burmeister’s, and my animal are all classed together without any doubt.

The skull of Capt. Abbott’s Fur-Seal from the Falkland Islands shows that it was a very young animal, which had only developed its first grinders, the permanent series being developed below them. The tentorium is bony and well developed. The teeth are the same in position and number as they are in the adult skull; and the upper ones, as far as developed, are small and conical, except the fifth upper grinder, which is largest, triangular, with a single subconical lobe on the base of the hinder edge of the cone. The lower canines are small, scarcely larger than the cutting-teeth, which are nearly uniform in size. The lower grinders are of a much larger size than the upper ones in the adult skull, as if they belonged to the permanent series: they are of the same form as the teeth in adult skulls; but the central cone is higher and more acute, and the anterior and posterior lobes at the base of the cone are more developed and acute, the lobes of the last or fifth grinder being larger and rather on the inner surface of the tooth.

The skull of Capt. Abbott’s animal is evidently not the same as the skull of a young Eared Seal described and figured by Dr. Burmeister as the skull of Arctocephalus falklandicus from the mouth of the Rio de la Plata, in the Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. ser. 3, vol. xviii. p. 99, t. 9, which, from the appearance of the grinders, I suspect is the young skull of Phocarctos Hookeri, the Hair-Seal of the Falkland Islands. There is a considerable difference in the proportions of the skull sent by Capt. Abbott from those of the one figured by Dr. Burmeister. In Capt. Abbott’s specimen the brain-case, from the back edge of the orbit to the occiput, is as long as the length of the face, from the same edge of the orbit to the end of the nose. In Dr. Burmeister’s figure, the face from the same point is much longer than the brain-case.

*** Fourth, fifth, and sixth upper grinders with two diverging roots; the fifth upper grinder entirely behind the hinder edge of the zygomatic arch. The palate narrow. Gypsophoca. (Australia.)

3. Arctocephalus cinereus. Australian Fur-Seal.

Otaria (Arctocephalus) cinerea, Peters, Monatsb. 1866, pp. 272 & 671.

Arctocephalus nigrescens, b & c, Gerrard, Cat. Bones B.M. p. 147.

Black Seal, Otaria, Cat. Sidney Museum, ii. p. 36.

Arctocephalus cinereus, Gray, Cat. Seals and Whales, p. 56; Ann. & Mag. N. H. 1866, xviii. p. 236; Allen, Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool. ii. p. 45.

Inhab. Australia (John Macgillivray).

Black, greyer beneath; under-fur abundant, reddish brown.

There are the stuffed skin, with its skull, and the bones of the face of another young specimen of this Seal in the British Museum, collected in the Australasian Sea by Mr. John Macgillivray.

According to the observations of Dr. Peters, founded on the examination of the typical skulls, Otaria ursina of Nilsson and Otaria Lemarii of J. Müller (Arch. f. Naturg. 1841, p. 334) include the Arctocephalus antarcticus from South Africa and A. cinereus of Australia.

Otaria Stelleri of Schlegel (Fauna Japonica, t. 22. f. 55) includes both the Australian Eared Seals, viz. Arctocephalus cinereus and Neophoca lobata; and it is quite distinct from the Otaria Stelleri of Lesson and T. Müller, which is a combination of the Sea-bear and Sea-lion of Steller (that is to say, Eumetopias Stelleri and Callorhinus ursinus).

The males of these animals are described as twice as long and broad (that is, four times as large) as the females. This may explain the difference in size of the skulls from the same localities.

The fur changes its colour as the animal grows, the young being generally black; and the adult males and females also differ considerably in the colour of the fur.

The skulls of the following species are not known:—

4. Arctocephalus Forsteri.

Grinders 6/5·6/5, conical.

Arctocephalus Fosteri, Fischer; Gray, Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. 1868, i. p. 219.

Phoca ursina, J. R. Forster.

Inhab. Cloudy Bay, New Zealand.

This animal is only known from Dr. Forster’s description and figure.

Mr. Allen observes, “I can see no evidence of the New-Zealand Fur-Seal (of Forster) being specifically distinct from the Fur-Seal of Australia, A. cinereus (auct.).”—Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool. ii. p. 15.

At the same time Mr. Allen ventures to remark, “perhaps the A. cinereus and the A. antarcticus are to be referred to the A. falklandicus, in which case the habitat of this species is the southern seas generally” (Bull. Comp. Zool. ii. p. 45): but he does not seem to have had specimens of any of the three species; otherwise I do not think he would have ventured upon the observation.

Unfortunately, having no skull or other parts of the Lion Seal of the Auckland Islands (the most southern of the New-Zealand group), we are not able to determine whether it is the same species as the Sea-lion of the southern end of the American continent (Otaria jubata), or whether it is the Sea-lion of the southern end of the African continent (Arctocephalus antarcticus), or the Sea-lion of the Northern Australian Seas (Neophoca lobata).

5. Arctocephalus falklandicus.

Fur very soft, elastic; hairs very short, exceedingly close, slender at the base, thicker above, with close reddish under-fur nearly as long as the hair; the upper surface pale, nearly uniform grey, minutely punctulated with white; hairs brown, upper half black, with minute white tips. The nose, cheeks, temples, throat, chest, sides, and underside of the body yellowish white.

Falkland Seal, Penn. Quad. ii.

Phoca falklandica, Shaw, Gen. Zool. i. p. 256 (from Pennant).

Otaria falklandica, Desm. Mamm. p. 252 (from Pennant; not Peters or Burmeister).

Otaria Shawii, Lesson, Dict. Class. d’H. N. xiii. p. 424 (from Pennant).

Arctocephalus falklandicus, Gray, Cat. Mam. in Brit. Mus., Seals, p. 42; Ann. & Mag. N. H. 1868, i. p. 103.

Fur-Seal of Commerce (Otaria falklandica), Hamilton, Ann. & Mag. N. H. 1838, ii. p. 81, t. 41; Jardine, Nat. Lib. vi. p. 271, t. 25 (not Peters).

Otarie de Péron, Blainville, Journ. de Physique, xci. p. 298; Cuvier, Oss. Fossiles, v. p. 220.

Otaria Houvillii, Lesson, Dict. Class. d’H. N. xiii. 425.

Phoca Houvillii, Fischer, Syn. Mam. p. 154. These three names are all from the same animal.

Inhab. Falkland Islands (Abbott; B.M.); New Georgia.

This is a most distinct species, and easily known from all the other Fur-Seals in the British Museum by the evenness, shortness, closeness, and elasticity of the fur, and the length of the under-fur. The fur is soft enough to wear as a rich fur without the removal of the longer hairs, which are always removed in the other Fur-Seals. Unfortunately the specimen is without any skull; and therefore I cannot give a description of the teeth, or refer it to any of the restricted genera of Otariadæ.

Mr. R. Hamilton, in the ‘Annals of Natural History’ for 1838, ii. p. 81, t. 4, gives the history of the Fur-Seals of commerce and the method of catching them; and he deposited two specimens in the Museum of Edinburgh, which had been procured by Capt. Weddel. Mr. Abbott having informed me that what I had described under the name of Arctocephalus falklandicus is not now found in the Falkland Islands, and Mr. Bartlett having shown me an imperfect skin of the same species, which he had obtained from a fur-monger, who informed him that such fur-skins were only received from the Arctic part of the Pacific Ocean, I was induced to request Mr. Archer, director of the Edinburgh Museum of Science and Art, to allow me to examine the Seals described by Mr. Hamilton, which, on examination, proved to be my Arctocephalus falklandicus, only differing from the Museum specimen in the fur being considerably darker and harsher; and, from Capt. Weddel’s account as given in the ‘Annals,’ these specimens came from South Georgia or South Shetland. These Seals, which were brought from the Antarctic Ocean, may formerly have inhabited the Falkland Islands, and, like the Sea-lion found there by Pernetty, have been destroyed or driven away. Arctocephalus Hookeri is said to be now found in the Antarctic Ocean and the Falkland Islands. In that case it may be the Falkland-Island Seal of Pennant.

The A. falklandicus is very like the Fur-Seal from Australia (H. cinereus) in the length of the under-fur as compared with the length of the hairs, and also in the colour of the under-fur and hair; but the fur is much softer, and its general colour is much darker, both above and below.

Pennant describes the “Falkland-Island Seal” from a specimen 4 feet long, in the museum of the Royal Society, thus:—“Hair short, cinereous, tipped with dirty white;” “grinders conoid, with a small process on one side near the base.” It is to this description that Dr. Shaw applied the name of Phoca falklandica (Gen. Zool. i. p. 256). This agrees with a specimen in the Museum in all particulars. It certainly is not the dark blackish-brown Seal which I have described as the Arctocephalus nigrescens, and which Dr. Peters calls O. falklandica.

I sent a piece of the fur of this Seal to Dr. Peters to be compared with the fur of O. Philippii. He observes, “They appear to be quite different; the wool of O. falklandica is fair and has more similarity in colour to the young of O. cinerea. The wool of O. Philippii is entirely ferruginous red, and the longer hairs are stiffer and have a much shorter grey tip than in O. falklandica.”

6. Arctocephalus? nivosus. Cape Hair-Seal.

B.M.

Fur very short, close-pressed, black, varied with close, small, often confluent, white spots; underside of the neck with a few scattered white hairs; belly red-brown (nearly bay); hairs short, thick, of one colour to the base; under-fur none, except a very few hairs on the crown of the head. Skull unknown.

Arctocephalus? nivosus, Ann. & Mag, N. H. 1868, i. p. 219.

Inhab. Cape of Good Hope. B.M.

Length of skin nearly 8 feet; but stretched and flattened.

Dr. Murie (P. Z. S. 1869, p. 108) says that this is only a variety, seasonal, sexual, or of a different age from the specimens hitherto obtained.

Mr. Allen adopts this view, never having seen the specimen, but changes the phrase into “a previously known species” (Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool. ii. p. 18); but neither of them mentions the species to which he refers it.

But surely Mr. Allen does not mean that it is only a variety of the skins which were received with it from the Cape of Good Hope; for, if that were the case, the species would belong to one of his subfamilies, and the variety to the other.

In the form and length of the hair it is very different from Arctocephalus antarcticus; and it is almost destitute of under-fur, except on the crown of the head.

Tribe IV. ZALOPHINA.

Grinders 5/5·5/5, large, thick, in a close continuous series; the fifth upper in front of the back edge of the zygomatic arch.

In the younger skull the grinders are placed rather further back, the hinder part of the upper grinder being behind the back edge of the zygomatic arch. The grinders all single-rooted, as the last or sixth grinder in each jaw, which is generally two-rooted, is absent. The face of the skull is considerably produced, and the forehead is flat.

Zalophina, Gray, Ann, & Mag. N. H. 1869, iv. p. 269.

5. ZALOPHUS.

Palate concave, narrow in front, wider at the line of the last grinder, and then contracted behind. The hinder nares narrow, elongate, twice as long as wide, acutely arched in front, front edge in a line with the front edge of the orbital process of the malar bone. Under-fur sparse.

Zalophus, Gill; Peters; Gray, Ann. & Mag. N. H. 1866, xviii. p. 231.

Arctocephalus § b**, Gray, Cat. S. & W. p. 55.

1. Zalophus Gilliespii. Californian Hair-Seal.

Otaria Gilliespii, Macbain.

Arctocephalus Gilliespii, Gray, P. Z. S. 1859, t. 70 (skull); Cat. S. & W. p. 55.

Zalophus Gilliespii, Gray, Ann. & Mag. N. H. 1866, xviii. p. 231; Allen, Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool. ii. pp. 33 & 44; Gill, Proc. Essex Inst. 1866, v. p. 13.

Arctocephalus (Zalophus) Gilliespii, Peters, Monatsb. 1866, pp. 275 & 671.

? Otaria Stelleri, Schlegel, fide Peters.

Inhab. North Pacific, South California (Brit. Mus.); Japan (fide Peters).

I have not seen any skull or specimens from Japan; so that I am not quite sure that the specimens from the coast of Asia are the same as those from the west coast of America.

6. NEOPHOCA.

Palate concave, broad, as broad before as at the hinder part of the tooth-line, then rather suddenly contracted. The hinder nares broad, rather longer than broad, with the front edge broadly arched, which is further back than the front edge of the orbital process of the zygomatic arch, or malar bone, which is thick and flat. Fur with very little under-fur. Flap of toes moderate.

Arctocephalus § b***, Gray, Cat. Seals & Whales, p. 57.

Otaria, § Zalophus (part.), Peters.

Neophoca, Gray, Ann. & Mag. N. H. 1866, xviii. p. 231.

1. Neophoca lobata. Australian Hair-Seal.

Arctocephalus lobatus, Gray, Spic. Zool. 1828, t. 4. f. 2 (teeth); Cat. S. & W. p. 50; Zool. E. & T. Mamm. t. 16, 17. f. 3-5 (skull); Gould, Mamm. Austr. iii. t. 49; Peters.

Otaria australis, Quoy & Gaim. Astrol. t. 14, 15. f. 3, 4 (skull).

Arctocephalus australis, Gray, Cat. Seals & Whales, p. 57.

Neophoca lobatus, Gray, Ann. & Mag. N. H. 1866, xviii. p. 231.

Otaria (Zalophus) lobata, Peters, Monatsbr. 1866 pp. 276 & 671.

Zalophus lobatus, Allen, Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool. ii. p. 44.

The upper grinders all single-rooted, the root of the last two (the fourth and fifth) being rather compressed, with an obscure central longitudinal groove on the inner side; the first two grinders of the lower jaw with oblong, the last three with compressed roots, and the fourth and fifth with a slight longitudinal groove on the side.

In the younger skulls the roots of the grinders are more oblong, less compressed, and do not show the lateral grooves, as far as the teeth can be seen without being drawn from the sockets. In the front part of the younger skull, which was received from Mr. Gould, the teeth are placed rather further back than in the adult skull from North Australia received from Capt. Grey, the hinder part of the fifth tooth being behind the back edge of the zygomatic arch.

Mr. Allen thinks that this is undoubtedly the O. cinerea of Desmarest, from Péron; but it is not the O. cinerea of Quoy & Gaimard (see obs. on Péron’s Seal in the Cat. Seals & Whales, p. 57).

Tribe V. EUMETOPIINA.

Grinders 5/5·5/5, more or less far apart; the hinder upper behind the hinder edge of the zygomatic arch, and separated from the other grinders by a concave space.

Eumetopiina, Gray, Ann. & Mag. N. H. 1869, iv. p. 269.

7. EUMETOPIAS.

Eumetopias, Gill, Peters.

Arctocephalus § a***, Gray, Cat. Seals & Whales, p. 51.

Fur without any under-fur. Palate flattish or rather concave in front, as wide in front as at the end of the tooth-line, and then slightly narrowed behind. Posterior nares oblong, elongate, broadly truncated in front, the front edge being behind the line of the orbital process of the zygomatic arch. The grinders have large oblong roots; the second, third, and fourth upper ones have a subcentral longitudinal groove on the outer side, and a less marked one on their inner surface; the inner side of all but the first of the lower ones are similarly grooved; the fifth upper grinder (or, more properly, the sixth in the normal series) has two distinct roots. The lower jaw much more elongate than that of Otaria jubata, the hinder angle more oblique, and the lower margin long and straight. Flap of toes short.

The skull of the young animal, which was sent by Mr. A. S. Taylor to Mr. Gurney from California, and which I first described, with doubt, as Arctocephalus monteriensis, junior (P. Z. S. 1859, p. 357), and which in the ‘Catalogue of Seals and Whales’ I named A. californianus (see p. 51), agrees in every respect in its dentition with the large skull which we received from California, and which I described and figured as A. monteriensis (P. Z. S. 1859, p. 358, t. 72); but it differs greatly in the form of the hinder nares, which are extended much more forwards, so that the front end, which is very narrow and acute, is much in front of the prominence of the orbit of the zygomatic arch, being, in fact, about in a line with the middle of the lower edge of the orbital cavity.

This skull is evidently that of a very young animal; for the bones are separate; but it has the same number and disposition of the teeth as the large skull. There is the same wide space between the fourth and fifth upper grinders; but there is at the back edge of the fourth grinder, on the right side of the skull, a small pit, from which, no doubt, a small rudimentary tooth has fallen out; and there is a much wider but shallow pit on the other side, which may have been produced by the loss of a rudimentary tooth; the last upper grinder has a large swollen undivided root. If this is a young skull of Eumetopias monteriensis, that species is curious for having the teeth in the old and young skulls in the same situation as regards the bones of the face.

The adult skull and the young one were from the same locality, and, I believe, collected by the same person; and this being the case, I am inclined to regard them as the same, only showing a curious peculiarity in the growth of the animal, and also showing that the form and position of the hinder nostril probably varies as the animal increases in age.

Mr. Gill considers Steller’s Sea-bear (Callorhinus ursinus) to be the type of M. F. Cuvier’s genus Arctocephalus, and therefore abolishes Callorhinus and gives the new name of Halarctus to the true Arctocephali—thus unnecessarily adding to the confusion of the generic names of these animals. He fell into this mistake by not observing that Phoca ursina, and even Otaria ursina, had been applied to several species from very different localities, that F. Cuvier established his genus on the skull of P. ursina of Forster, from the Cape, which he (M. Cuvier) had named Phoca Delalandii, and that F. Cuvier does not figure a skull of the Sea-bear of Steller: indeed the French collection did not at that time, nor does it even now, possess one; and I feel assured that, if it had, F. Cuvier would, according to his custom, have established for it a genus distinct from Arctocephalus, the skulls of the two genera being of such distinct forms.

1. Eumetopias Stelleri. Northern Sea-lion or Fur-Seal.

Arctocephalus monteriensis, Gray, Cat. Seals & W. p. 49; P. Z. S. 1859, t. 72 (skull).

Eumetopias californiana, Gill, Proc. Essex Inst. 1866, v. p. 13.

Otaria Stelleri, Gray, Cat. S. & W. p. 60; Peters; Müller?

Otaria (Eumetopias) Stelleri, Peters, Monatsb. 1866, pp. 274 & 671.

Eumetopias Stelleri, Gray, Ann. & Mag. 1866, vol. xviii. p. 233; Allen, Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool. vol. ii. pp. 44, 46, tab. 1 & 2 (skull &c.).

Leo marinus, Steller.

Phoca jubata, Pander & D’Alton, t. 3. f. d, e, f (skull, not good).

Junior. Arctocephalus californianus, Gray, Cat. S. & W. p. 51 (skull only).

Inhab. California; Behring’s Straits.

The skin of the young specimen which Mr. Gurney gave to the Museum along with what was said by Mr. Taylor to be its skull (see ‘Cat. Seals & Whales,’ p. 51) was the only skin then known to exist in museums; and consequently I described the fur of the genus from this skin as having abundant under-fur (see Proc. Zool. Soc. 1859, p. 358). Dr. Peters having discovered Pander and D’Alton’s animal and skull in the Paris Museum, he observed that the adult animal was entirely without under-fur—a fact which has been confirmed by Mr. Allen, who suggests that the skin of the young received from Monterey is the skin of the young Eumetopias Stelleri, which, I think, is very probable. But this only shows the difficulties that must occur in the study of animals from the very imperfect materials which until lately existed.

The Sea-lion of Steller has been one of the zoological paradoxes. Professor Nilsson, like most preceding authors, regarded it as a variety of the Otaria jubata; and therefore I supposed it might be a second species of the restricted genus Otaria. Dr. Peters has solved the enigma by uniting it and the Seal which I described from California, observing that the skull in the Berlin Museum, figured by D’Alton under the name of “Steller’s Sea-lion” (Phoca jubata), was received from Kamtschatka, and a second skull of an old male in the Berlin Museum was received from Mr. Brandt as coming from Behring’s Straits.

The figure of Pander and D’Alton is so imperfect that it would have been impossible to determine the species it represents without the examination of the original skull; and then one sees that it may have been intended for the species to which it is referred. The same observation is applicable to the figure of the skull of Steller’s Sea-bear.

It is to be regretted that these skulls escaped the researches of Professor Nilsson, who visited most museums in Europe to examine the typical specimens.

The specimen of Callorhinus ursinus now in the Museum was received from St. Petersburg as Otaria leonina, or Leo marinus of Steller, from Behring’s Straits; so they evidently confound two species under that name.

8. ARCTOPHOCA.

Arctophoca, Peters.

Dr. Peters described this subgenus from a specimen sent from Chili by Dr. Philippi. It chiefly differs from Zalophus in the palate being much narrower, but rather wider behind, and the teeth rather far apart. I have not seen any skull agreeing with these characters.

“With abundant under-fur.”

According to figures, the form of the skull and the large size of the orbit are very similar to those of Phocarctos Hookeri, but the number and form of the teeth are different.

In the ‘Monatsbericht,’ May 1866, p. 276, t. 2. a, b, c, Dr. Peters described and figured with considerable detail a skull of a Sea-bear (sent to the Berlin Museum by Dr. Philippi, who obtained it at Juan Fernandez Island) under the name of Otaria Philippi, forming for it a subgenus which he calls Arctophoca. In his revision of that paper, published in the same work for November 1866, p. 671, he places it as a synonym or subspecies of what he calls Otaria falklandica, which is my Arctocephalus nigrescens, and not the Otaria falklandica of Shaw nor the O. falklandica of Burmeister as Dr. Peters supposes, as I have shown above. In this paper he removes Otaria falklandica (that is, nigrescens) from the subgenus Phocarctos, to which he referred it in his first paper, and places it in his subgenus Arctophoca.

1. Arctophoca Philippii. Chilian Fur-Seal.

Otaria (Arctophoca) Philippii, Peters, Monatsbericht, May 1866, p. 276, t. 2 (skull), September 1866, p. 671.

Otaria Hookeri, var., Murie, P. Z. S. 1869, p. 108!

Inhab. Juan Fernandez Island (Philippi; in Mus. Berl.).

Above black-grey, more greyish yellow on the head and neck, brownish black beneath; the base of the limbs of a rusty brown, shining; lips and lower jaw principally rusty brown; hair of beard in six rows, partly black, partly quite white, partly black with white base. The outbristling (prominent bristly) pointed hairs are rusty brown at the base, black at the end, on the back mostly with very short rusty-yellowish points, and on the head and neck with somewhat longer ones. On the sides of the belly the ends of the coarser pointed hairs are either uniformly brownish black, or are very short rusty-red ones. The thick under-hair is rusty red. The hairs on the upper surface of the neck are 22 millims. long; those on the middle of the back 18, and those on the middle of the belly 11 to 12. The dense short hair on the back of the hand extends only to the middle of the same, not extending to the ends of the fingers, the ends of which are furnished with very small nails. In like manner, the very similar hair on the back of the foot does not extend to the last “Phalangen?” of the middle toe. The nail of the large outer toe is small, flat, and cut off short outside; that of the fifth inner toe is a little larger and cut off abruptly on the inner side. The very developed long nails of the three centre toes are of the form of keeled tegulæ, and remote along their whole length by the emarginations of the skin of the foot. The skin-flaps of the foot are equally long; and usually those of the centre toes are much smaller than the side ones, of which the outside one (the great toe) is the broadest. The scrotum, under the anus, is bare.—Peters, l. c. p. 277.

I have not seen this skull; but I believe the alteration Dr. Peters made in his second paper is a mistake. The figure of the skull of his Otaria Philippii has no resemblance to the skull of my O. nigrescens. It is more nearly allied to the skull of O. Stelleri from California, agreeing with it in having a vacant space with a pit in the bone between the fourth and fifth upper grinders on each side, looking as if a grinder had fallen out and the cavity had been filled up. The subgenus Arctophoca of Dr. Peters’s first essay, not as modified in his second one to contain O. falklandica (nigrescens), chiefly differs from Gill’s genus Eumetopias (which was formed on my description and figure of the skull of O. Stelleri or californiana) in the fifth upper grinder not being so far back, but in a line with the back edge of the orbital process of the zygomatic arch instead of far behind it, as it is in Eumetopias.

Dr. Murie, most curiously, considers the skull described by Dr. Peters to be the same as I have described as O. Hookeri (P. Z. S. 1869, p. 108).

Dr. Burmeister considered it O. falklandica of Shaw; and Mr. Allen (Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool. vol. ii. p. 13) agrees in this opinion; but further on (p. 15) he observes that both Dr. Gray and Dr. Murie have “evidently overlooked the fact that Dr. Peters expressly states that O. Philippii has a thick under-fur, whereas both the O. Stelleri and the O. Hookeri are true hair Seals.” But, in fact, this statement is a mistake as regards me; I never said that O. Philippii was the same as O. Stelleri, but only that its skull was most nearly allied to it, which I still maintain.

Antarctic Ocean and South Seas.

North Pacific and West Arctic Ocean.