REPORT ON THE SEALS. 53 



The skin of the body was covered with soft jet-black hairs, which were present also on 

 the dorsum both of the raanus and pes. The shape and general character of the manus 

 closely corresponded to the South American Fur-Seal. The pes also had generally the 

 same character, but the nails were in relation to the size of the foot stronger than in that 

 seal, especially the nails on the hallux and minimus. Some of the bristles in the upj^er 

 lip were dark brown, others black. The external ear was 1 inch long, pointed at the tip, 

 and with black hairs on the dorsum. 



Mr. Elliott says that the pup of Ccdlorhinus ursinus at birth, and for three months 

 after, is of a jet-black colour both in the hair and nippers, save a tiny white j)atch at the 

 back of each forearm ; that it weighs at birth from 3 to 4 pounds, and is 12 to 14 inches 

 long. The jet-black colour of the hair in the foetus and at the time of birth seems to be a 

 character of the Fur-Seal. In Phoca vitulina it has been observed that the intra-uterine 

 hair is yellowish-white and woolly, and it is shed either in utero or immediately after 

 birth. 1 Some years ago I showed that the intra-uterine hair of the foetus of Halichcerus 

 grypus 2 was yellowish-fawn colour and streaked with dark grey bands and spots, but 

 that it was neither woolly nor fur-like. The foetal hair is shed within about a month 

 after the animal is born. 



The skull was 130 mm. long, 73 mm. in its zygomatic diameter, and 81 mm. at the 

 widest part of the cranial box. The orbits were immediately in front of the anterior part 

 of the cranial box, so that the orbital process of the malar was close to the anterior wall 

 of the cranium, and the zygomatic part of the temporal did not turn up behind the orbital 

 process of the malar. The frontal bone passed between the hinder ends of the nasals. 

 The ascending process of the premaxilla articulated with the anterior third of the outer 

 border of the nasal. The anterior and postorbital processes were small. The anterior 

 nares opened well in front of the antorbital process and infraorbital foramen. The basi- 

 occipital was not perforated. The occipital condyles were not continuous with each other, 

 and alisphenoid canals were present. Each tympanic bulla had a low antero-posterior 

 ridge. 



The hard palate was emarginate posteriorly and ended in line with about the middle 



of the zygomatic arch and the orbital process of the frontal bone. The posterior edge of 



the vomer sloped very obliquely forwards and was not seen at the posterior nares, though 



the joint between the prse- and post-sphenoids was well behind the posterior edge of the 



palate. The skull showed the following dentition, and the teeth which had erupted or 



3 3 , i i . 5 5 



were just appearing were : — incisors \ — , canines - — , post-canines - — - = o2. The 



canines and post-canines were small and unifanged. In the lower jaw the coronoid process 

 was expanded and there was a distinct quadrilateral and inflected subcondyloid tubercle. 



1 Wright, Forhandl. vid de Skandin. Naturforsk. i Stockholm, 1842 (1843), abstract in Mailer's Archiv f. Anat. 

 u. Phys., 1844. 



2 Memoir on the Placentation of the Seals, Trans. Roy. Soc. Edin., June 1875, vol. xxvii. 



