278 ZALOPHUS CALIFORNIANUS CALIFORNIAN SEA LION. 



Three specimens observed alive in Central Park, New York 

 City, in April, 1878, differed very much in color. One (a male) 

 was qnite pure gray along the back, rather darker on the sides y 

 and yellowish-gray on sides of belly ; throat and breast pale 

 yellowisli-brown ; ventral surface and limbs dark brown ; sides 

 of nose pale yellowish-white. Another (male) was dark brown 

 varied with black. The third (female) was deep brownish-yel- 

 low on the throat and breast, blackish over the ventral surface 

 and limbs ; general color above, deep brownish-black. 



Captain Scammon says:* "The color of the adult male is- 

 much diversified ; individuals of the same rookery being quite 

 black, with scattering hairs tipped with dull white, while others 

 are of a reddish-brown, dull gray, or of light gray above, darker 

 below. The adult female is not half the bulk of the male, and 

 its color is light brown.' 1 He refers particularly to one speci- 

 men as being " black above, a little lighter below, with scatter- 

 ing hairs of light brown or dull white." 



YOUNG. Captain Scammon. says: u The young pups, or 

 whelps, are of a slate or black color, and the yearlings of a 

 chestnut-brown." In the Museum of Comparative Zoology are 

 several young specimens taken at the Santa Barbara Islands 

 by Mr. Paul Schumacher (M. C. Z. Coll., Nos. 5678 and 5679) 

 that are everywhere nearly uniform dark reddish-brown. The 

 skulls show that they were quite young, the milk canines and 

 last milk superior molars on each side being still in place ; they 

 were probably not more than two or three months old. The 

 Museum also has a foetal specimen, received from the same lo- 

 cality and collector. In this (M. C. Z. Coll., 'No. 5839) the body 

 is nearly uniform dark gray, with the top and sides of the head 

 and the nape darker. Nose and face, to and around the eyes, 

 black. Limbs brownish-black. The whiskers are mostly gray- 

 ish-white, dusky at the base ; some of the shorter ones entirely 

 blackish. 



PELAGE. In the adult animal the pelage is short, stiff, and 

 harsh, especially the new hair about the time of the moult. 



* Under the .head of " Eumetopias slellerl" (Marine Mam., p. 128), but, judg- 

 ing from the context, I thiuk his remarks are based on the Sea Lions of the 

 Santa Barbara Islands, and really refer to the present species. The speci- 

 mens sent by him to the National Museum under this name from these islands 

 are really Zalophus calif orn ianus. He spent much time at these islands, and 

 his only detailed reference to the animals as seen by him in life relates to 

 these islands and unquestionably to this species. 



