The Scottish Naturalist. 3 



same length, and an inch shorter than the first, the third about 

 half-an-inch shorter than the second and fourth — the mem- 

 brane in all projecting beyond the claws. All the latter are 

 pretty long and strong, dark coloured at the bases, and light 

 coloured towards the points. 



The skull is short and broad, rounded at the sides, and 

 flattened above, more especially over the frontal bones, and 

 interorbital space. Its greatest breadth is over the zygoma, 

 at the articulations of the malars and zygomatic processes. 

 There is no sagittal nor occipital crest. The interorbital 

 space is broad and flat for a seal. The ascending process 

 of the superior maxilla form on each side a narrow mar- 

 gin of bone not exceeding one-fourth of an inch in breadth, 

 between the anterior edge of the orbital cavities and the nasal 

 apertures. The premaxillae are small, narrow in front, and do 

 not reach within about three-fourths of an inch of the nasals ; 

 the latter are rather short bones, and project in front consider- 

 ably beyond their junction with the maxillae, they have no 

 external process, the internal is small but distinct. The olfac- 

 tory chambers are somewhat large, arched out at the sides, and 

 filled with very complex maxilloturbinals. The malars are long 

 thin bones, bent outward and downward, bifurcated at the 

 posterior extremity, and joined to the maxillae by long sutures. 

 The united breadth of the palatal portion of the palatine 

 bones is about equal to their length ; the posterior outer edge 

 of each is angled inward and forward about half its breadth, 

 they then jointly form a nearly straight transverse margin at the 

 middle of the posterior edge of the palate. The foramen mag- 

 num is larger and wider transversely ; and the occipital con- 

 dyles seem to me to approach nearer each other on the basi- 

 occipital than is the case in the Common, the Floerat, or Grey 

 Seals. The anterior palatine foramina are also much smaller 

 than in either of these animals. The posterior palatine fora- 

 mina are rather behind the palato-maxillary suture, and there is 

 an oval aperture in the basioccipital in advance of the foramen 

 magnum. 



The dental formula is — incisors, \\\ ; canines, \:{ ; molars, 

 f:f, = 30. Of these, the first four molars on each side are 

 generally reckoned premolars. The incisors of the lower 

 jaw, and the two middle of the upper, are small, compressed, 



