594 



CARNIVORA 



side and not the other) ; all with similar characters, generally 

 uniradicular ; crown moderate, compressed, pointed, with a single 

 principal cusp, and sometimes a cingulum, and more or less de- 

 veloped anterior 

 and posterior 

 accessory cusps. 

 Vertebrae: C 7, 

 D 15, L 5, S 4, 

 C 9-14. Head 

 rounded. Eyes 

 large. Pinna 

 of ear small, 

 narrow, and 

 pointed. Neck 

 long. Skin of 

 all the feet ex- 



Fig. '271. — Skull of Otaria forsteri. (From Gray, Proc. Zool. Soc. 

 1872, p. 660.) 



tended far be- 

 yond the nails and ends of the digits, with a deeply-lobed margin. 

 The nails small and often quite rudimentary, especially those of 

 the first and fifth toes of both feet, the best-developed and most 

 constant beinsr the three middle claws of the hind foot, which are 

 elongated, compressed, and curved. 



The Eared-Seals, commonly called Sea-Bears or Sea-Lions, are 

 widely distributed, especially in the temperate regions of both 

 hemispheres, though absent from the coasts of the North Atlantic. 

 As might be inferred from their power of walking on all fours, 

 they spend more of their time on shore, and range inland to greater 

 distances, than the true Seals, especially at the breeding time, 

 though they are obliged always to return to the water to seek their 

 food. They are gregarious and polygamous, and the males are 

 usually much larger than the females, a circumstance which has 

 given rise to some of the confusion existing in the specific deter- 

 mination of the various members of the genus. Some of the 

 species possess, in addition to the stiff, close, hairy covering common 

 to all the group, an exceedingly fine, dense, woolly under fur. The 

 skins of these, when dressed and deprived of the longer harsh outer 

 hairs, constitute the " sealskin'' of commerce, so much valued for 

 wearing apparel, which is not the product of any of the true Seals. 

 The best-known species are 0. stelleri, the Northern Sea Lion, the 

 largest of the genus, from the North Pacific, about 10 feet in 

 length ; 0. jubata, the Patagonian or Southern Sea Lion (Fig. 272), 

 from the Falkland Islands and Patagonia ; 0. California na, from 

 California, frequently exhibited alive in menageries in Europe; 

 <). ursiaa, the common Sea-Bear or Fur-Seal of the North Pacific, the 

 skins of which are imported in immense numbers from the Prybiloff 

 Islands ; 0. pusilla, from the Cape of Good Hope ; 0. forsteri and 



