Zoology.'] NATURAL HISTORY OF VICTORIA. {_Mammalia. 



characters of the skulls. The group generally, forming the sub- 

 family Otarince, is easily distinguished by the remarkable appearance 

 of svibcylindrical, small, external ears ; and the genera Otaria, and 

 Arctocephalus, differing hj the varying length of the palate, have 

 been proposed for them long ago by Dr. Gray, with some other 

 subdivisions, as Neophoca, Zalophus, Gr/psophoca, Euotaria^ &c., 

 recognisable as subgenera. These Sea-Bears differ also from the 

 true Seals in the forward direction of the hind limbs when at rest ; 

 and in their raising themselves clear of the ground on them and on 

 the outward-turned anterior limlis when walking on land, which 

 they do with comparative ease. The females go far inland to bring 

 forth then' young, who run after visitors, snapping at their legs and 

 barking like dogs — according to the accounts of persons who have 

 landed on the islands frequented by them in the breeding season. 

 The unmlling young are taught to swim when well-grown by the 

 female. 



I adopt here the view of Mr. J. W. Clark (P. Z. S., Dec. 1875) 

 after careful investigation, that the coimiion New Zealand species 

 is properly the Otaria Forsteri of Lesson ; and although on Flinders' 

 authority he quotes this species from Bass' Straits I have not seen 

 it, and doubt its occurrence there. I also agree with Mr. Clark in 

 confining the specific name, 0. cinerea (Peron), to the species 

 figured by Quoy and Gaunard in the voyage of the '■'• Astrolabe " 

 fouud l)y them at Western Port, with distinct anterior and posterior 

 cusps to all the grinders, except the sixth ujiper molar, in which 

 latter tooth the cusps are scarcely perceptible. These figures, 

 however, are so inaccurate that if the skull and skin figured were 

 not still in the Paris Museum it would be unpossible to be certain 

 that they really represented the species. 



The naked portion of the snout in our Victorian species is only, 

 in the large male (marked c above), about I5 inch long, and 

 1 inch 1 line in greatest width, so that it is much smaller than the 

 corresponding part in the New Zealand species ( 0. Forsteri) of 

 the same size, and the nostrils do not suddenly bend outwards in 

 the upper half, as in that species, but simply converge each in a 

 nearly straight line from the upper to the lower ends in a V-shaped 

 pattern. 



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