Forbes. — On New Zealand Eared Seals. 199 



competent artist, are not yet completed — are prepared) 

 the author gives an account of his dissection of a specimen 

 of Arctoccphalus forsteri, presented to the Museum by the 

 proprietor of the Heathcote HoteL It had been caught in 

 1890 off Sumner, and since then, till its death in July, it 

 had lived in captivity. The anatomy of so few species of the 

 eared seals is known that every addition to our knowledge 

 cannot but assist in reducing to something like fixity the 

 extraordinary diversity of opinion and of classification that 

 exists at present with regard to the Australasian Otaries. The 

 present communication deals chiefly with the anatomy of the 

 viscera and brain. The preparation of a catalogue of the New 

 Zealand collections in the Museum, and the determination of 

 the subject of these notes, has necessitated an examination 

 and comparison of the specimens in the collection there. 

 Here the greatest confusion in the species was found, unmis- 

 takable hair-seals being identified as fur-seals. The author 

 is inclined to agree with the classification of the seals by Sir 

 \V. Turner, in his monograph in vol. xxvi. of " The Scientific 

 Eesults of the Voyage of H.M.S. ' Challenger,' " in preference 

 to that advocated by Mr. Beddard, the present prosector of 

 the Zoological Society of London. This anatomist, in his 

 valuable paper in the Ti-ansactions of the Zoological Society, 

 vol. xii., p. 379, suggests the inclusion of all the eared seals 

 in two genera only — Otaria and Arctocepliahis — including in 

 Otaria only the single species Otaria jubata, a hair-seal, while 

 all the remaining species would fall under the genus Arcto- 

 cepJialus. This arrangement would group together both hair- 

 seals or sea-lions, and fur-seals or sea-bears. The different 

 species of eared seals, with the exception of Otaria jubata, 

 seem to agree so closely in their anatomical details that it is 

 very difficult to state any difi"erentiating characters. The 

 character of their fur, however, appears to the author a mark 

 so distinctive and discriminating that he prefers to follow the 

 proposal of Sir W. Turner in dividing the remaining seals, 

 after the separation of Otaria jubata, into sea-lions and sea- 

 bears, assigning to the former the name of Euvietoirias, and 

 retaining for the latter the designation of Arctocephalus. Of 

 the New Zealand seals the Auckland Island hair-seal would 

 fall into the first, as Eumetopias hookeri (the males of which 

 are at present incorrectly labelled in the Museum as Otaria 

 forsteri), and the specimen common to our coasts as Arcto- 

 cephalus forsteri; the species denominated under the name 

 cinereus, or grey seal, being the female of Arctocepludus 

 forsteri. Sir William Turner, in the monograph just referred 

 to, includes under Eumetopias the species cinerea, of Peron, 

 the grey sea-lion of New Zealand and Australia. " This hair- 

 seal," he says, " was first noticed by Peron. . . . In a 



