ALASKA FUR SEAL. 177 



The skins have a faint pungent odour. The average 

 price of the Alaska Fur Seal-skin in 1888 was 78s. 



The general colour of the males is dark grizzly, but 

 sometimes yellowish, or of a light brown. The under 

 fur is abundant, of a deep red colour. The snout is 

 brown, the mane is light grizzly, the belly reddish, and 

 under the ears the colour is lighter. The ears are 

 small, about one inch long, pointed, and covered with 

 short hair. The Fur Seal has four long flippers. In 

 the hind flippers the five toes are much elongated ; the 

 three central ones are furnished with external nails. 

 The five divisions of the flipper extend beyond the toes. 

 The front flippers have no external nails. All the 

 flippers are covered with an outer skin, resembling 

 indiarubber, thick and ribbed in the exposed parts, 

 which prevents its being injured by abrasion on the 

 rocks, and thinner in the less exposed parts. 



The tail is short. The whiskers are long and whitish. 

 The skull is long and flat, very similar to that of an 

 Otter. The canines are well developed, but, unlike the 

 Felidse, they are rounded towards the interior of the 

 mouth, being sharpened outwards. Another marked 

 peculiarity is the groove in the upper incisor teeth, into 

 which the lower and sharp incisors fit, thus forming a 

 vice from which it is almost impossible for a fish to 

 escape. 



The female is much smaller than the male, nearly 

 half the size. She is of a bright silvery colour, light in 

 the belly, and redder underneath the flippers. The 

 young, when born, are black or very dark brown, with a 

 light mark under the flippers. Their skins are almost 

 valueless. 



We have never seen a white Fur Seal, although 

 Elliott says that such are sometimes found ; we have 



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