REPORT ON THE SEALS. 29 



Otaria, Peron. 

 Otaria, Peron, Voyage aux Terres Australes, ii., 1816. 



Under the generic name Otaria I include only those Eared Seals which possess a long 

 and deeply concave palate, truncated posteriorly, and extending back as far as, or nearly as 

 far as, the hamular processes of the pterygoids. One large adult skull, which possessed this 

 character of palate, was collected by the expedition. It was from an animal shot at Port 

 Stevens, West Falkland Islands, and was presented to Sir C. Wy ville Thomson by Mr. E. T. 

 Smith. The skin of another specimen, a young male, containing the skull, was presented 

 by Mr. Dean, of Stanley, Falkland Islands. In the Narrative of the Voyage it is stated 

 that along the coast of these islands many bones of seals and whales were scattered. 



Otaria jubata (Forster). 



Phoca jubata, Forster, 1755, and Schreber, Saugethiere, iii. 



Lion Seal. 



External Characters. — The young specimen of the Sea Lion obtained at Stanley was 

 probably from fifteen to twenty days old, as the skull which it contained is almost the 

 same size as one in the Royal College of Surgeons of England, which is said to be of that 

 age. The skin had been preserved in salt and was in good condition. It is unnecessary 

 for me to give a detailed description of the skin, as the external characters of the Sea 

 Lion have been so admirably described and figured by Dr. James Murie in his well-known 

 memoir on this animal. 1 It may suffice if I state that from the muzzle to the tip of the 

 tail the length was 36 inches, and 41 inches to the tip of the pes, when the hind foot was 

 drawn backwards. The pinna of the ear was pointed at the tip and 16 mm. long. The 

 hair on the back was dark brown, almost indeed black, but the hair on the belly was 

 somewhat lighter, and with a slight reddish shade in the brown, and there was no under 

 fur. The dorsum of both manus and pes was haired as low clown as the nails, but the 

 skin of the palm and sole was hairless and much wrinkled. 



Skull. — The skull of the young male closely resembled both in size and appearance 

 the specimen figured by Dr. Murie in pi. lxxvii. figs. 12, 13. The skull of the adult 

 was like that figured by him in the same plate, figs. 20, 21. It also was a male and of 

 full age, for the basi-cranial synchondroses were both ossified, and the teeth were worn. 

 This skull was accompanied by the hyoid apparatus and the atlas vertebra. After the 

 excellent description of the skull of Otaria jubata in both sexes and at different ages 

 which has been given by Dr. Murie, it might seem unnecessary again to describe the 

 skull of this animal ; but as one of the objects which I have in view in this Report is to 

 make a comparison between the skulls of different genera of seals so as clearly to bring out 



1 Trans. Zool. Soc. Lond., vol. viii part ix. 



