412 FAMILY PHOCID^E. 



FAMILY 



EARLESS SEALS. 



Lcs Phoques sans orcilles on Phoqiies proprement dits, BUFFON, Hist. Nat. 



Suppl., vi, 1782, 306. 



Phocacea inauriculata, PEROX, Voy. aux Terr. Austr., ii, 1816, 37, foot-note. 

 Phocida, GRAY, Ann. of Phil., xxvi, 1825, 340, iu part, and also (in part only) 



of numerous writers prior to about 1870. 

 Phocidai, "BROOKES, Cat, Mas., 1828, 36"; GILL, Proc. Essex lust., v, 



1866, 5. GRAY, Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist., 4th ser., iv, 1869, 268, 



342, 344. ALLEX, Bull. Mus. Coinp. Zool., ii, 1870. Also of most 



authors since 1870. 



Fore limbs placed well forward; neck rather short; hind limbs 

 not susceptible of being turned forward, and not capable of use 

 in terrestrial locomotion. Manns and pes entirely hairy ; nails 

 of all the digits usually well developed (rudimentary in Ste- 

 vu>rhynehincB). Digits of the inanus subequal, usually decreas- 

 ing slightly in size from the first to the fifth ; of the pes the first 

 and fifth stouter than the three middle ones. Scapula small, 

 the superior posterior angle rounded, the crests small, and the 

 acromion process slightly developed. Femur with the trochau- 

 ter minor undeveloped. Pubic bones approximated in the fe- 

 males. and iu the males appressed posteriorly for about one- 

 third of their length. Ilia short and broad, abruptly turned 

 outward and recurved anteriorly. Acetabula opposite first- 

 sacral vertebra. Skull with the postorbital process generally 

 wholly undeveloped or rudimentary ; mastoid process swollen, 

 continuous with the auditory bulhie ; no alisphenoid canal. Au- 

 ditory bullse greatly inflated. Incisors conical, variable in 

 number (g, 2 ~l, or %=?). Dental formula : Milk dentition, I. 

 (variable, as in the adult, and probably of the same number), 

 . fej ; Permanent dentition, I. =.;, 5*, or %=?, C. }-=}, 





external ear. Testes enclosed within the body. 



TECHNICAL HISTORY. 



HIGHER GROUPS. As noticed in the history of the preced- 

 ing families, the group formerly termed Phocidcv was coexten- 

 sive with the suborder Pinnipedia. Although Peroii in 1S1G 

 divided the Pinnipeds into Phocacea auriculatw and Phocacea 

 inauriculatw, and although F. Cuvier in 1824 separated them 



