Mr. R. Hamilton on the Fur Seal of Commerce. 91 



lower in an opposite direction ; on each side of the canine 

 there is a lesser or secondary one ; the grinders are conoid, 

 with a small process on each side near the base : there are no 

 claws on the fore feet, but underneath the skin there are evi- 

 dent marks of the bones of five toes : the skin extends far be- 

 yond their ends. On the toes of the hind legs are four long 

 and straight claws, but the skin stretches far beyond, which 

 gives them a very pinniform look*." Shaw's account is a li- 

 teral copy of the above ; and this appears to have been all the 

 information given to the public by naturalists concerning this 

 seal. We are not therefore to wonder at Baron Cuvier's ex- 

 clamation, "Quefaire de cette Otarie (O.Falklandica) cendree, 

 tachetee de blanc sale ? Sont ce des ages, des varietes de Fours 

 de mer ; sont ce des especes ? On ne pourra le savoir que 

 lorsque des individus bien entiers seront decrits en detail a 

 l'exterieur, et au moins pour les parties osseuses de la tetef." 

 Other French naturalists take precisely the same view of this 

 animal which Baron Cuvier did in 1823. Desmarest, three 

 years before, in his c Mammalogie/ supplied the characters 

 furnished by Pennant without an additional remark. M. Fr. 

 Cuvier in the year 1826 %, and M. Lesson in 1827 §, have 

 merely introduced it into a list of little more than bare names, 

 as a species altogether obscure and unascertained ; and the 

 last-named distinguished author, in one of the last and best 

 treatises on the seals, in 1828, says of it, "Espece peu connue 

 et trop incompletement decrite qu'on puisse Pisoler, ou la rap- 

 porter a telle ou telle espece ||." 



Though so much difficulty was thus experienced by these 

 able naturalists, yet we find that the personal observation of 

 Capt. Weddell enabled him at once to identify the Falklandica 

 with his fur seal. In relation to this point he unhesitatingly 

 says, " The fur seal is what is called in zoology the Phoca 

 Falklandica, the Falkland Island seal, a species which has 

 been distinguished by naturalists by the peculiarity of its 

 shape." Pennant indeed had stated that it came from the 



* History of Quadrupeds, 3rd edit. 4to, vol. ii. p. 275. 

 f Oss. Fossils, torn. v. P. II. p. 214. 

 X Diet, des Scien. Nat. torn, xxxix. 

 § Manuel de Mammalog. in loc. cit. 

 II Diet. Class, des Se. Nat. torn. xiii. 



