12 raociDJE. 



being placed more longitudinally, and in the lower jaw being slender, 

 and without any angle on the hinder part of the lower edge. It is 

 far more nearly allied to that genus than to Stenorhi/nchus, to which 

 Prof. Owen (Ann. N.H. 1843, xii. 331, 332) has referred it ; observing 

 that his Sien. serridens (our Lohodon cancnvora) shows modifications 

 of the molar teeth which would give it a better claim to subgeneric 

 distinction than the /Sten. Weddellii (which, he observed, is the type 

 of the subgenus Lcptonjix of Mv. Graj") has been supposed to possess. 



Prof. Owen made this remark, and drew up his specific character, 

 without having seen the teeth of this species ; for the skull was not 

 then removed from the skin, and the specimens in the British Museum 

 were stuflPed with the mouth nearly closed. 



This animal is easily known from Stenorhtinchus by the shortness 

 of the wrist and the triangular form of the fore feet, being interme- 

 diate in this respect between that genus and Ommatophoca. 



Mr. Swainson, in 1832, applied the name of Lepton»ix to a genus 

 of birds, and in 1837 the same name to a second ; but the former 

 had before been named Pferoj^tochos, and the latter Cornjiliosjnza, so 

 that the name may still be tised for the Seal. 



Inhab. Antarctic Ocean. 



Leptonyx, Gray, Mar/. N. H. 183G ; Zoul. Voj/. Erebus S,- Terror, 

 Mamm. ; Cat. Seals B. M. 6, 14 ; not Stvainson. 



1. Leptonyx Weddellii. Fahe Sea Leopard. 



Fulvous, with the front of the back and a line down the back 

 blackish grey ; whiskers brown, tapering. 



Female and young blackish grey above ; sides with a series of 

 longitudinal yellowish spots. 



Phoca Leopardina, Jameson, Weddell, Voy. South Pole, i. 22, 24, 134, 



t. , not good ; Spec. Mus. Edi)i. 

 Sea Leopard, or Leopard Seal, Weddell, Voy. S. Pole, i. 22, 134. 

 Otaria? Weddellii, Lesson, Bull. Set. Nat. vii. 34§, 438, 1826. 

 Stenorlijaiclms Weddellii, Lesson, Mumm. 200 ; Owen, Ann. ^ Mag. 



N. H. 1843, xii. 333. 

 Leopard Seal, Hamilton, Nat. Libr. 183. t. 12 (from Capt. WeddelVs 



sjK'cimen). 

 Leptonyx Weddellii, Gray, Maq. N H. 1836 ; Zool. Voy. Erebtis ^ 



Terror, t. 5 (animal), t. 6 (skiill) ; Cat. Seals B. M. 16. 



Inhab. Antarctic Ocean. South Orkney, Weddell. 



a, h. Skins : adult : stuffed. Santa Cruz. Presented by Capt. Fitzroy, 

 Il.N., 1833.^ — The specimens described as Leptonyx Weddellii, 

 Gray, Mag. N. H. 1836 ; Cat. Ostcol. Spec. B. M. 31. 

 N.B. When this species was first described, I thought it was the 

 Leopard Seal of Weddell. I was afterwards induced to believe that 

 I was mistaken, as the name Sea Leopard was applied by the whalers 

 to Stenorliynelms Jjeptonyx ; but it would appear that they used the 

 same name for the two Seals ; and I have convinced myself, by exami- 

 ning the teeth of Weddell's specimen in the Museum of the Univer- 

 sity of Edinburgh, that my first opinion was correct. 



