368 ADDITIONS AXD CORRBCTIONS. 



bluish hue, with transverse bars of grc}\ The colour of the back is 

 an intense and uniform black. The hair is short and stiff, and ex- 

 tremely and curiously close. The palms of the flippers are bare. 

 The fore paw has much more the form of a foot than of a hand, the 

 first finger, answering to the thumb, being the longest. There are 

 nails only on the fore paw, those of the hinder being rudimentary. 

 The eyes are large, black, and full ; the irides crimson, and small." 

 (See Gosse, p. 309.) 



" The measurements of this specimen were as foUows, in feet and 

 inches : — Total length along the back from the snout to the tail 4' 2", 

 from snout to insertion of fore paw 1' 6", from insertion of fore paw 

 to hind paw 2' 10" ; breadth of back at fore paws 1', from one fore 

 paw to the other 1', from one fore paw to the other extended 2' 6", 

 of head across ears 7", of nose 4|" ; length of fore paw 10", of hind 

 paw 11", of head 9", of tail 3" ; circumference of the body over fore 

 paws 3' 2", at hind paws 1' 6"." 



" One of the skins obtained by Mr. Wilkie was given to Mr. Gosse, 

 and transferred by him to the British Museum. As the skull was 

 not preserved, the actual identity of the species with the smaller 

 specimen described by Mr. Hill cannot with certainty be established. 

 The length of this skin from nose to tip of the tail is 6 feet 6 inches, 

 circumference at the fore paw 3 feet 4 inches. Length of the fore 

 paw llg, of hind paw 10|, of tail 2 inches." (See Gosse, p. 314.) 



SubfamUy 5. ARCTOCEPHALINA (page 44). 



These Seals, unlike those of the former groups, walk about more 

 like other quadrupeds — that is to say, stand on the limbs, and use 

 them (not the muscles of the abdomen) in progression. When 

 walking they raise their body from the ground, resting on their 

 limbs, the front limbs being erect to the wrist, with the hands bent 

 out. When at rest, the hind part of the body is bent under, and the 

 hind limbs are extended in front on the sides of the body. 



The animals are represented at rest by Dr. Forster, who accom- 

 panied Captain Cook ; and his figures were engraved by Buff'on ; but 

 these figures scarcely prepare one for the great power possessed by 

 these animals. I saw one lately alive at Cremorne Gardens, where 

 it was erroneously called a " Sea-Bear." 



Mr. Gould, in his ' Mammalia of Australia,' figures the Arctoce- 

 phalus hiatus, probably from a stuff'ed specimen, resting in the same 

 manner as the common earless Seal, with the hind limbs extended 

 out behind on the sides of the tail — an attitude that was never 

 assumed by the Arciocephalus exhibited at Cremorne ; and indeed 

 the articulation of the thigh-bones to the pehds of this animal and 

 the Morse shows that such an attitude cannot easily, if at all, be 

 assumed by them. They have, unlike the earless Seals, a prominent 

 scrotum. 



Arctocephalus Monteriensis (page 49). 

 The following is probably one of the Californian species of this 



