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).