200 



it has upon the general health ; and concluded by referring to the 

 minute quantities in which he had found some gases to exert a 

 very deleterious influence upon the animal economy, and a state- 

 ment of the result of experiments made with absolute carbonic 

 acid, and various mixtures of this gas with air. 



2. Observations on the Fur Seal of Commerce. By Robert 

 Hamilton, Esq. 



The author states that the Fur Seal merits attention in a com- 

 mercial as well as a scientific point of view. The South Sea Seal 

 trade, though comparatively of recent origin, has been prosecuted 

 to a much greater extent than the northern ; and especially in pur- 

 suit of two species of seals, — the Proboscis Seal, or Sea Elephant, 

 for its oil, and the Fur Seal, for its skin. 



After some preliminary remarks upon the nature of the coats or 

 robes of seals, the author, in the absence of scientific information con- 

 cerning the fur-seal, turns to the works of navigators and seal-hunters, 

 and finds distinct allusion made to it in the writings of Ck)ok, Clayton, 

 and especially of Mr Weddell, who commanded several expeditions 

 undertaken chiefly for its capture. This last-named gentleman, seve- 

 ral years ago, presented two stuff^ed specimens of the animal to the 

 Royal Museum of the Edinburgh University, and from these a detail- 

 ed account is given of the external character3,'and the measurements, 

 together with a coloured drawing by Mr Stewart. The animal is 

 an Otary ; the length of the largest males is little short of 7 feet, 

 whilst that of the full-grown female is about 3^ feet. The habits 

 of the animal, so far as known, are then supplied, together with an 

 explanation of that singular peculiarity common to the whole group, 

 whereby, with little or no use of their limbs, these amphibious 

 quadrupeds can yet, on land, outstrip a man piu-suing them at full 

 speed . 



The author then turns to the identification of this species, and 

 endeavours to shew that it is not the Ursine Seal, or Sea-bear, as 

 stated by some eminent French naturalists ; and, on the other hand, 

 that the LongicoUis and Falklandica, generally enumerated as be- 

 longing to difl^erent genera, and whose descriptions are universally 

 regarded as too vague and obscure to be of any value, are yet one 

 and the same species, and that identical with the Fur-seal. This 

 animal is at the same time distinct from the Otary discovered in 

 the Falkland islands by MM. Lesson and Garnet, and described as 

 the O. Molossitw in the " Zoologie de la Coquille." 



