7G BULLETIN OF THE 



The whiskers arc cylindrical, long, slender, and tapering, and vary with 

 age in length and color. In the young they arc black; later they are 

 li<dit colored at the base, and dusky at the ends. In mature specimens 



they arc cither entirely white, or white at the base and brownish-white 

 towards the tips. 



Size. — The length of a full-grown male, according to the present speci- 

 mens (see the table of measurements on page 77), is between seven and 

 eight feet; and of a full-grown female, about four feet. Captain Bryant 

 states* that the males attain mature size at about the sixth year, when 

 their total length is from seven to eight feet, their girth six to seven 

 feet, and their weight, when in full flesh, from five to .-even hundred 

 pounds. The females, he says, are full grown at. four years old, when they 

 measure four feet in length, two and a half in girth, and weigh eighty to one 

 hundred pounds. The yearlings, he says, weigh from thirty to forty pounds. 



Ears. — The ears (Fig. 12, PI. II, one half nat. size) are long, narrow, 

 and pointcd.f being absolutely longer than those of the E. Slelleri, though 

 the latter animal is two or three times the larger. 



Fore Limbs. — The hands (Fig. 11, PI. II, -^th nat. size) are long and 

 narrow, with a broad cartilaginous (lap extending beyond the digits, 

 which has a nearly even border. Both surfaces are naked the whole 

 length ; not covered above with short hair, as in Eumelopias and Otaria. 

 The nails are rudimentary, their position being indicated by small circular 

 hornv disks, as in all the other eared seals. 



Hind Limbs. — The feet (Fig. 12, PI. II, ^th nat. size) are very long, 

 nearly half their length being formed by the cartilaginous (laps that pro- 

 ject beyond the ends of the toes. They widen much less from the tarsus 

 to the cud- of the toes than these parts do in E. Stelleri, and the length 

 of the toe-flaps is relatively many times greater than in the fitter species. 

 The toes of the posterior extremities are of nearly equal length. The 

 outer are slightly shorter than the three middle ones. The nails of the 

 outer toes are rudimentary and scarcely visible; — those of the middle 

 toes are strong and well-developed. 



pias Slelltri, Qdlurhinm ursinus, Arctocephalus (imrctta. or A. falklattdicus. All the sea 

 bears and sea lions, according to authors, have the hair much longer on the anterior 

 than on the posterior half of the body: and in the hair seals i f is not longer than in 



the fur seal-. The resemblance t<> the mane of the lion, with which in several species 

 this longer hair has been compared, is doubtless partly imaginary and partly due to the 

 loose skin on the neck and shoulders being thrown into thick folds when these animals 

 erect the head. I have not, however, seen the distinct crest formed by the long hairs 

 on the crown of the male of C ursinm mentioned as occurring in the other species, 

 unless it is alluded to in the specific name coromtta, given by Blainville to a South 

 American specimen of fur seal. It is certainly not posse 1 by the E. SttUeri. 



* See beyond, p. 95. 



t They are accidentally represented too broad in the figure. 



