FOSSIL OT ARIES. 219 



accepted as satisfactory proof of the presence of Otaries in the 

 Tertiary fauna of Europe. 



Van Benedeii also refers to a huinerus of an Otary in the Mu- 

 seum of the Geological Institute of Vienna, supposed to have 

 been taken from the bed of the Danube, and adds that it bears 

 a close resemblance to the same part in Otaria jiibata, if indeed 

 it is not referable to that species, but adds: "Get os, en 

 tout cas, n'est pas fossile." He also refers to a skull found by 

 Valenciennes on the shore in the department of Lande, men- 

 tioned by Gervais,* and says it is still unknown how it came to 

 be found on the coast. 



Van Benedeii, however, believes that he has proof of the ex- 

 istence of fossil Otaries in Europe in his Mesotaria ambigua, t a 

 species presenting- many remarkable characters, which ally it, 

 he believes, in some points, to the Otaries. This species is rep- 

 resented by the greater part of the bones of the skeleton and 

 numerous teeth, but the skull is not known.t The teeth, he 

 says, are unlike those of any other genus, while the bones indi- 

 cate a special mode of life, and a size about equal to or rather 

 larger than that of PJioca grcenlandica.^ The ilium is described 

 as resembling more the same part in the Otaries than the Seals, 

 and as indicating a mode of life more terrestrial than aquatic. 

 The humerus, on the other hand, is stated to more resemble 

 That of the Seals than that of the Otaries. 



Of the femur he says : " Nous avons trois femurs assez complets 

 qui indiqueut que cet os s'eloigne par sa conformation des autres 

 Amphiteriens. La fete, aiusi que le col, tieunent de 1'Otarie, 

 comme les coudyles, et le grand troclumter, pen large, ne s'eleve 

 pas au-dessus de la tete de 1'os. La tete est comparativenieut 

 petite. La cavite trochanterique est profonde et etroite vers le 

 milieu de 1'os et tout centre le col. Le caractere se rapporte a la 

 position du membre poste"rieur qui rapproche aiusi des Otaries 

 1'animal qui nous occupe. Les Me"sotaries etaieut moins aqua- 

 tiques que les Phoques actuels." 



Upon careful comparison of his excellent figures (pi. ix) of 

 the femur, humerus, scapula, and fragment of pelvis, with the 



* Zoologie et la Paleontologic francaises, p. 276. 



tAnu. du Mns. Roy. d'Hist. Nat. de Belgique, i, 1877, p. 56, pi. i. 



+ Vaii Beneden reports having two canines, three molars, seven, cervical 

 vertebra?, and an axis, six dorsal and seven lumbar vertebrae, a right ilium and 

 a left ischinm, the distal end of a scapula, four right and rive left humeri, a 

 left and a right femur, six tibia?, and four nietatarsal bones. 



Thi' parts of the skeleton figured by Van Beueden correspond very nearly 

 in size with the corresponding parts of Cystophora cristata. 



