——_ —_ 
Lesson and Garnot, Voyage de la Coquille. 119 
*« brevibus et ovalibus: membranis rubro-nigris ; interfemorali villosa, 
“ infra nuda : pilis tergi luteis, pruinosisque, abdominis brunneo-luteis, 
** rostri croceis,’’ is remarkable for the variety of colours which decorate 
its fur. Its length is twenty lines, that of its tail fifteen, and extent of 
its expanded wings eight inches. As in the Vesp. nigrita, Gmel., two 
incisor teeth are deficient in its upper jaw. It differs from the Vesp. 
lastwrus, a North American species, which it seems to represent in 
nearly the same latitudes in the southern part of the New World, in 
being larger, in its members being proportionally more developed, in its 
tail being proportionally one half longer, and in the variety of its co- 
lour, that of the New York Bat being uniformly throughout of a bright 
reddish brown. 
The Otaria molossina is referred to the genus Platyrhynchus of M. 
Fréd. Cuvier, and is stated to be synonymous with the Loup marin of 
Pagés and the Lion de mer of Pernetty. It isthus characterized : “ pilis 
*¢ brunneo -fuscis concoloribus, omnino brevibus ; membrorum extremis 
* nigris : unguibus anterioribus nullis; tribus extensis, necnon robustis, 
** posterioribus. Segmentis membranaceis et lobatis quinque. Pilis 
*« superioris labri rigidis, levigatis, transversé complanatis.”” The in- 
cisors of the upper jaw are divided by a deep groove into two lobes, a 
character which is assigned by M. F. Cuvier to his Arctocephali, but the 
distinction between these and the Platyrhynchi appears to MM. Lesson 
and Garnot not to be sufficiently precise; and the mass of characters con- 
nect their new species with the latter group. The male Otaria molos- 
sina has much affinity to the Otaria jubata, Desm., but differs not merely 
in the complete absence of a mane, but also in the proportions of its 
parts and in size. It is nearly five feet in length, and its circumference 
at the aville is nearly three feet. It inhabits the Falkland Islands and 
the Coast of Chili, as far as Valdivia and La Concepcion. In the for- 
mer locality it is an object of pursuit to the individuals engaged in the 
South Sea fishery. The Seals most sought after are stated to be the Sea 
Lions, Phoca proboscidea, Pér., the Maned Seals, Otaria molossina and 
Ot. jubata : and the Fur Seals, Otaria ursina, Desm. The latter espe- 
cially has been of late years productive of large profits, but the animals 
seem now to be becoming scarce. Other species, some of which appear 
to be yet unknown to science, are also the objects of a considerable 
commerce, 
