VOL. XIV, PP. 133-134 AUGUST 9, 1901 



PROCEEDINGS 



OF THE 



BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON 



THE EARLIEST GENERIC NAME OF THE NORTHERN 



FUR SEAL. 



BY T. S. PALMER. 



Nine years ago I proposed Callotaria* as a substitute for Cal- 

 lorlrin-tis Gray, 1859, on the ground that the latter name was 

 preoccupied by Callirhinus Blanchard, 1850, a genus of Coleop- 

 tera. Further investigation shows that CaUorhimts was not, 

 as commonly supposed, the first generic name applied to the 

 northern fur seal, but that it was antedated more than forty 

 years by Otoes G. Fischer. The latter name appeared in 1817-f 

 in a publication which is not generally accessible, and the de 

 scription of this genus is therefore reproduced in full below: 



OtotN, Fisch. ab a?rc6/c, auritus. Otaries Peron. Les phoques a 

 oreilles. Cuv. Regne an. I, p. 160. 



Incisivi quatuor utrinque biacuminati, superiores exteriores simplices 

 el minores, inferiores t'urcati, molares conici. Auriculae distinctae. 



Phoea jubata, ursina, Lin. Gmel. 



Reference to the Regne Animal which also appeared in 1817, 

 the same year in which this description was published, shows 

 that Cuvier recognized a group of eared seals under the designa 

 tion 'Les Phoques a oreilles exterieures', which he suggested 



*Proc. Biol. Sec. Washington, VII, p. 150, July 27, 1.892. 

 fMem . Imp. Soc. Nal. de Moscou, V, p. 445, 1817. 



25 BIOL. Soc. WASH. VOL. XIV, 1901. (133) 



