SUPPLEMENT
TO THE
CATALOGUE
OF
SEALS AND WHALES
IN THE
BRITISH MUSEUM.

BY
JOHN EDWARD GRAY, F.R.S., F.L.S., &c.

LONDON:
PRINTED BY ORDER OF THE TRUSTEES.
1871.

PRINTED BY TAYLOR AND FRANCIS,
RED LION COURT, FLEET STREET.

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

SUPPLEMENT
TO THE
CATALOGUE
OF
SEALS AND WHALES.

Suborder PINNIPEDIA.

Phocidæ, Catalogue of Seals & Whales, p. 1.

Pinnipedia, Illiger, Prodr. p. 138, 1811.

Pinnipedes, Gill’s Prodomus, Proceedings Essex Institute, vol. v. 1866.

Family 1. PHOCIDÆ.

Muffle hairy on the edge, and between the nostrils. Ears without any conch, merely a small aperture. Arms and legs very short; wrist very short. Toes subequal, arched, exserted. Hind feet large, fan-shaped; the inner and outer toes large and long, the three middle ones shorter. The palms and soles hairy. Claws distinct, sharp. Skull:—postorbital process none or obsolete; no alisphenoid canal; the mastoid process swollen, seeming to form part of the auditory bulla. The scapula expanded upwards and backwards towards the posterior superior angle. Testicles enclosed in the body of the animal, without any external scrotum.

Phocidæ, Gray, Ann. & Mag. N. H. 1869, vol. iv. pp. 268, 342, 344; Gill, Proc. Essex Instit. 1866, p. 5; Allen, Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool. ii, 1870.

Sect. I. Cutting-teeth 6/4, curved, conical, and small. The palate produced nearly to the hinder molars.

Tribe I. PHOCINA.

Skull tapering in front. Nose-hole moderate. Molars, except the first, with two roots.

Phocina, Gray, Cat. Seals & Whales, p. 20.

Inhab. North Atlantic and Arctic Seas.

1. CALLOCEPHALUS.

Callocephalus, Gray, Cat. Seals & Whales, p. 20.

2. PAGOMYS.

Pagomys, Gray, Cat. Seals & Whales, p. 22.

3. PAGOPHILUS.

Pagophilus, Gray, Cat. Seals & Whales, p. 25.

1. Pagophilus? equestris.

Brown, with a ring round the head, a ring round the fore limbs, and a broad band round the middle, white. The female whitish brown, with an obscure band across the hinder part of the back.

Phoca equestris, Pallas, Zoog. Ross.-Asiat. i. p. 340; Schrenck, Amur-Land, p. 182, tab. 9. figs. 1-3.

Phoca fasciata, Shaw, Zool. i. p. 276 (from the Ribbon-Seal, Pennant’s Quad. 276).

Phoca annellata, Radde, Reisen im Süden von Ost-Sibirien, 1862, i. p. 296, t. 1-3.

Inhab. North Pacific.

2. Pagophilus? ochotensis.

Phoca ochotensis, Pallas, Zoog. Ross.-Asiat. i. p. 117; Schrenck, Amur-Land, p. 181.

Inhab. North Pacific.

4. HALICYON.

Halicyon, Gray, Cat. Seals & Whales, p. 27.

1. Halicyon Richardi.

Halicyon Richardi, Cat. S. & Whales, p. 30.

Inhab. North Pacific; Columbia River.

2. Halicyon Pealei.

Halichœrus antarcticus, T. Peale, U. S. Expl. Exp.

Mr. Gill says that this is a typical species of Phoca, but appears to be identical with those that occur along the Californian and Oregonian coast, so that there must be some error as to the assigned habitat in the Antarctic seas—and proposes the name Phoca Pealii (Proc. Essex Instit. vol. v. p. 4).

5. PHOCA.

Phoca, Cat. Seals & Whales, pp. 6 & 31.

Erignathus, Gill, 1865.

1. Phoca barbata.

Phoca barbata, Gray, Cat. Seals & Whales, p. 31.

Phoca lanica, Rees, Cyclopædia, Phoca (from Lepechin).

Inhab. North Sea.

2. Phoca naurica.

Phoca barbata, Temminck, Fauna Japonica.

Phoca naurica et Phoca albigena, Pallas, Zoog. Ross.-Asiat. i. pp. 108, 109 (vide Schrenck); Schrenck, Amur-Land, p. 181.

Inhab. North Pacific; Japan. Mus. Leyden.

Tribe II. HALICHŒRINA.

Muzzle broad, rounded. Skull higher in front. Nose-hole very large. Grinders conical; the two hinder of the upper and the hinder one of the lower jaw double-rooted.

Inhab. North Atlantic and Arctic Seas.

6. HALICHŒRUS.

Halichœrus, Gray, Cat. Seals & Whales, pp. 6 & 33.

Sect. II Cutting-teeth four above, and four or two below.

Tribe III. MONACHINA.

Cutting-teeth 4/4; upper transversely notched. Palatine bones not produced beyond the inner margin of the orbits.

Inhab. Mediterranean and North Atlantic.

7. MONACHUS.

Monachus, Gray, Cat. Seals & Whales, pp. 6 & 17.

Tribe IV. STENORHYNCHINA.

Cutting-teeth 4/4; conical, acute. Hinder feet nearly clawless.

Stenorhynchina, Gray, Cat. Seals & Whales, p. 8.

Inhab. Antarctic Ocean.

1. Lower jaw strong, angulated behind. Grinders two-rooted, except the first in each jaw.

8. STENORHYNCHUS.

Stenorhynchus, Gray, Cat. Seals & Whales, p. 15; Gill, l. c. p. 10.

1. Stenorhynchus leptonyx.

Stenorhynchus leptonyx, Gray, Cat. Seals & Whales, p. 16.

Stenorhynchus leptonyx (Sea-leopard), Abbott, P. Z. S. 1868, pp. 192 & 527.

Inhab. Falkland Islands (Abbott, Lecomte).

This Seal appears to extend from the Antarctic seas to New Zealand, the shores of New South Wales, and the Falkland Islands.

2. Lower jaw moderate. The three front upper and first front lower grinders single-rooted; the rest two-routed.

9. LOBODON.

Lobodon, Gray, Cat. Seals & Whales, p. 8; Gill, l. c. p. 10.

3. Lower jaw very weak. Front grinder in each jaw single-rooted; the rest two-rooted.

10. LEPTONYX.

Leptonyx, Gray, Cat. S. & W. p. 11; Gill, l. c. p. 10.

11. OMMATOPHOCA.

Ommatophoca, Gray, Cat. S. & W. p. 13; Gill, l. c. p. 10.

Tribe V. CYSTOPHORINA.

Cutting-teeth 4/4; grinders with large swollen roots and a small compressed simple plated crown. Muffle of male with a dilatable appendage.

Cystophorina, Gray, Cat. S. & W. p. 38.

12. MORUNGA.

Morunga, Gray, Cat. S. & W. p. 38.

Macrorhinus, Gill, l. c. p. 9.

1. Morunga elephantina.

Morunga elephantina, Cat. S. & W. p. 39.

One of the Falkland Islands is called Elephant Island, from the former abundance of Sea-elephants there; but Mr. Sclater informs us that when Lecomte visited it, it was “found to be quite deserted by this animal, which is said now to be entirely extinct in the Falklands, though its former abundance in certain spots is well known, and is further testified by remains of its bones and teeth met with on the shores, specimens of which were obtained and sent home.”—P. Z. S. 1868, p. 527. See Dr. Sclater’s previous statement, P. Z. S. 1868, p. 189.

This latter assertion is a mistake, for the bones sent home were those of O. jubata, as is proved by the following remarks of Dr. Murie:—“Lecomte and his companions believed these large old skulls of Otaria jubata [which he brought home] to be those of the Elephant-seal (Morunga elephantina), as it was stated by some of the party that those animals formerly did exist on this island. One of the pilots (Louis Despreaux by name) had resided thirty-two years on the Falkland Islands, and he distinctly remembered shooting many Elephant-seals in the neighbourhood in bygone years; but about twelve years ago they began to get scarce and disappear.” And further on he observes that they are “now only rarely met with in the Falklands.”—P. Z. S. 1869, pp. 106 & 109.

2. Morunga angustirostris.

Macrorhinus angustirostris, Gill, l. c. p. 13; Cope, Proc. Acad. N. Sc. Philad. 1865, p. 51.

Inhab. California from Cape San Lucas to Point Reyes.

Its colour is light brown when the hair is grown to the full length. The males are from 18 to 22 feet long. Females 10 feet long. Canines of the males 4 or 5 inches long.

13. CYSTOPHORA.

Cystophora, Gray, Cat. S. & W. p. 40; Gill, l. c.

North Atlantic.

• Callocephalus vitulinus.
• Callocephalus dimidiatus.
• Pagomys fœtidus.
• Pagophilus grœnlandicus.
• Phoca barbata.
• Halichœrus grypus.
• Cystophora cristata.

Caspian Sea and Lake Baikal.

• Callocephalus caspica.
• *Pagomys fœtidus.

Tropical Atlantic.

• Monachus tropicalis. Jamaica.
• Cystophora antillarum. West Indies.

Mediterranean and Subtropical Atlantic.

• Monachus albiventer.

North Pacific.

• Halicyon Richardi.
• Halicyon? Pealii.
• Pagophilus? equestris.
• Pagophilus? ochotensis.
• Phoca naurica.
• Morunga angustirostris.

Antarctic Ocean.

• Lobodon carcinophaga.
• Leptonyx Weddellii.
• Ommatophoca Rossii.
• Stenorhynchus leptonyx.
• Morunga elephantina.

New Zealand.

• Stenorhynchus leptonyx.

Australia.

• Stenorhynchus leptonyx.

Family 2. TRICHECHIDÆ.

Trichechidæ, Gray, Ann. Philosoph. 1825, p. 348; Ann. & Mag. N. H. 1869, iv. p. 268.

Rosmaridæ, Gill, Proc. Essex Inst. v. 1866, p. 11.

Trichechina (part.), Gray, Cat. S. & W. p. 33.

Muzzle very broad, truncate, convex, swollen above. Ears without any conch. Eyes prominent. Canines very large, exserted. Cutting-teeth 4/2 in young, and 2/2 in adult; grinders all single-rooted. The anterior feet as large as the posterior ones; the fingers decrease in a curved line, destitute of claws; the hind feet with five toes, very gradually increasing towards the inner, all provided with claws; palms and soles hairy in the young, becoming chaffy. Tail rudimentary. Skull with no postorbital processes. A distinct alisphenoid canal. Mastoid process strong and salient, with its surface continuous with the auditory bulla. The scapula, hinder margin nearly straight, with the spine a short distance from and somewhat parallel with it. Resting on its body with the fore feet extended and the hind feet doubled under it, moving by the exertion of the abdominal muscles. (See P. Z. S. 1853, p. 112.)

1. TRICHECHUS.

Trichechus, Gray, Cat. S. & W. p. 35.

1. Trichechus ⸺?

Trichechus rosmarus, Schrenck, Amur-Land, p. 179.

Inhab. North Pacific.

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:—

• Little Seal, by Pennant and Shaw.
• Phoca pusilla, Schreber, Säugeth. 314 (Peters).
• Phoca parva, Bodd. Elench. 78.
• Otaria pusilla, Desm. N. Dict.
• Otaria Peronii, Desm. Mamm.

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:—