REPORT ON THE SEALS. 



85 



be an individual abnormality, and referred the specimen to Arctocephalus delalandii. 

 Mr. Allen has accepted Dr. Gray's view and has made Arctocephalus schisthyperdes a 

 synonym of the Seal which has been variously named Arctocephalus pusillus, Arcto- 

 cephalus antarcticus, and Arctocephalus delalandii. Professor Flower states that a skull 

 of an Otaria {Arctocephalus) pusilla in the Museum of the Royal College of Surgeons of 

 England 1 is very like the specimen to which I gave the name of Arctocephalus schisthy- 

 perdes. Mr. J. W. Clark also refers it to the same species, and considers that the cleft 

 palate is an individual variation similar to what he has seen in a skull of Otaria 

 (Arctocephalus) ursina. 2 



I now agree with the view which has been expressed both by Dr. Gray and Mr. 

 Clark that the cleft condition of the palate is an individual variation, due, without doubt, 



Fig. 2.— This figure represents the palate of the Seal which I named Arctocephalus schisthyperiks ; reproduced 



from Journal of Anatomy and Physiology. 



to imperfect ossification. But I cannot accept Dr. Gray's statement that the cranium 

 which I described was that of a half-grown animal, for although the sutures between the 

 facial bones are distinct, those of the cranial box have practically disappeared, so that I am 

 still of opinion that the skull is adult though not aged. Undoubtedly the skull is very 

 much smaller than that (apparently an old male) in the British Museum, to which Dr. Gray 

 originally gave the name of Arctocephalus delalandii, and which would now be called 



1 Catalogue of Bones of Mammalia, pt. ii. p. 193, 1884. 



2 Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., March 18, 1884, p. 194. In Mr. Clark's explanation of figure 6, in which a view of the 

 palate is given, cinerea is obviously a misprint for ursina. 



