PHOCIDJE. 6 



scientific zoology. This period has not been fairly estimated by the 

 modern school of zoologists, who, at the opening of the Continent 

 after the war, appear to have been so dazzled by the brilliant pro- 

 gress made by the Professors ai:)pointcd by Napoleon, that they over- 

 looked the fact that these men were only following in the footsteps 

 of Pennant, Latham, Solander, the Forsters, Fabricius, and others 

 (who were either Englishmen, or had been fostered by the scientific 

 men of this country), as Linnaeus followed in the footsteps of Ray. 



Besides the particulars given by Cook and Forster in the account 

 of their voyages, Forster communicated to Buffon the figures of two 

 of the species he had observed, accompanied by details of their 

 organization and habits, which were printed in the supplementary 

 volumes of Buffon's ' Natural History,' and form the most complete 

 and best account we have yet had of the history of these species. 



Peron and Lesueur, in their record of Baudin's voyage, indicate 

 some Seals found in the South Sea, and give fuller details of the 

 Sea Elephant, they having been so fortunate as to fall in with some 

 males of that species ; but the Natural History of the voyage was 

 never published, so that we are indebted to Cuvier (Oss. Foss. v.) for 

 the description of the only Seal they brought home, which appears 

 to have been the Fur Seal of commerce. 



In the Zoology of Captain Duperrey's ' Voyage of the Coquille,' a 

 Seal is figured under the name of Phoca molossina ; but the skull 

 and skin now in the Paris Museum, as Nilsson has correctly observed, 

 are only the young Sea Lion's. In the ' Voyage of the Astrolabe ' 

 two other southern Seals are figured ; one called Otaria cinerea, 

 Peron, which appears to be the Fur Seal of commerce, and the Otaria 

 ousfralts, which, is very like the ArctocepJialus lohatus, described from 

 a skull in Mr. Brookes's collection many years previously. It is to 

 be regretted that the figures here referred to, especially of the skull, 

 are so bad as to be utterly useless for the determination of the species 

 without comparison of the original specimens. 



In the French 'Voyage to the South Pole,' figTires are given of the 

 Sea Leopard and the common White Antarctic Seal, the two most 

 common species found everywhere in these regions on the packed 

 ice ; the latter is named Phoca carcinophaga. 



Mr. W. Hamilton has given an account of the Seals and other 

 marine mammalia, in Sir W. Jardine's ' Natiu-alist's Library,' which 

 contains a carefully compiled account of these animals, and some 

 original figures from the specimens in Ihe Edinburgh and Liverpool 

 Museums ; but, unfortunately, Mr. Stewart, the draughtsman, has 

 been more intent on giving them an artistic efi^ect than on attending 

 to their zoological characters. Thus, some which should have no 

 claws on their hind feet have large ones, and sometimes one too many 

 for any mammal ; and the toe-membranes of all the Eai-ed Seals or 

 Otaries are represented as hairy instead of bald. The same author 

 has given an account of the Fur Seal in the ' Annals of Natural 

 Historv,' which he considers as diff'erent from the Sea Bear of Forster 



B 2 



