6 . PEOCEEDIXGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM vol.73 



and the nostrils were directed at an angle of about 15° or possibly 

 20° rostro-dorsad of the cranial axis. The mystacial pad of the 

 Phoca had a width of 75 mm. and appeared very wide and as though 

 inflated. The vibrissae were directed mostly laterad, but also down- 

 ward and forward, and the whole mystacial area was more walrus- 

 like than that of the otariid. The nostrils were directed rostro- 

 dorsad at an angle of about 45° to the cranial axis, thus being situated 

 more dorsad than in the sea lion. The direction of the eyes in the 

 otariid was at an angle of about 50° with the vertical, and about 15° 

 in the phocid. The eye was larger in the former, the width between 

 the canthi being TO mm., and in the phocid 40 mm. The latter had a 

 few supraorbital vibrissae, which were entirely lacking in the former. 

 In the Zalophus the pinna of the ear is slender and with a length 

 of 28 mm., while the Phoca has no pinna. In both animals the 

 auditory tube is of considerable length, but because of the more 

 arched cranium of the otariid, especially in old males, the audita! 

 orifice is located relatively less dorsad than in the phocid. Thus, 

 in the latter the nostrils, eyes, and ears occupy a position more 

 decidedly dorsad. 



The neck of a small otariid is very mobile, and as it is relatively 

 slender, it appears longer than the very broad neck of a phocid, 

 tapering, as it does, to the head. In the eared seals the necks of bulls 

 develop to an astonishing extent, however, this being partly muscular 

 for combat and partly fatty. In this family the base of the neck and 

 thorax are cylindrical, or even slightly flattened transversely in form, 

 while in Phoca the tendency has been farther away from the typical 

 terrestrial carnivore and there is an appearance of slight flattening 

 dorso-ventrad. The whole body appears definitely longer in the 

 sea lion, but this is difficult of proof. In this animal the lumbar 

 region is exceedingly limber, because of the elasticit}^ of the inter- 

 vertebral disks and the form of the vertebrae themselves, this being 

 so largely as an aid to terrestrial locomotion; but such is not the case 

 in the earless seals, in which there is apparently no marked ability 

 to bend the lumbar region ventrad. In the otariid the tail was vir- 

 tually conical with a length of 60 mm., but in the phocid this mem- 

 ber, 72 mm. long, was flattened dorso-ventrad, measuring 43 mm. in 

 width by 25 mm., and fit nicely into the angle formed by the adpressed 

 hind flippers. 



In the otariid the axilla ^ was at a point a trifle proximad of the 

 center of the ulna, but in the Phoca it was opposite the ulnare. In 

 the former the visible portion of the fore leg had a length of 300 mm. 

 from the axilla and was very highly modified as a paddle, being 



^ The term axilla as herein used is employed to designate the ventral and caudal junc- 

 ture of the fore limb with the body, not in its more precise meaning of the region beneath 

 the shoulder joint. 



