98 tdn account of the Phoca cristata. 



As it does not seem sufficiently distinguished from the others 

 in the systems, I propose the following specific character : 



P. cristata. P. capite inauriculato ; alis nasalibus (maris) 

 permagnis, utrem simulantibus ; dentibus primoribus maxillae 

 superioris quatuor, maxillae inferioris duobus ; molaribus 

 utriusque maxillae decern. 



My thanks are due to the draughtsman of the Lyceum, 

 Mr. H. Inman, for the very faithful delineation which he has 

 made of this animal. 



Plate VII. 



In a work now publishing in a series of numbers at Paris, 

 by Frederick Cuvier, under the title of " Des dents des Mam- 

 miferes consideres comme caracteres zoologiques," a work re- 

 markable for the accuracy, minuteness, and extent of its 

 observations, I find a species of Phoca mentioned, which, as 

 far as the teeth are concerned, corresponds almost exactly 

 with the Phoca cristata just described. It is there said to 

 have been sent from New-York* by our associate Mr. Milbert, 

 under the name of Phoca mitrata, Phoque a mitre. It is pos- 

 sible that this may have been brought here from the north by 



* The localities of American animals, as given in European works, are 

 often erroneous. Pennant has described many animals as from New-York, 

 whose natural abodes are often far in the interior of the continent. The 

 cause is obvious. New- York, independent of her intercourse with foreign 

 nations, is the great mart for furs, peltries, &c. from the north-west regions. 

 Cuvier, in his great work " Sur les Ossemens Fossiles," ed. 2. t. IV. p. 43. 

 mentions having received the horns of the Cervus hippelaphus, an Asiatic- 

 animal, from New- York. He states that they were brought from the 

 Northwest coast, by the expedition under Lewis & Clarke. It is possible 

 that these horns may have been carried thither by some of the numerous 

 vessels navigating between the Northwest coast and Asia, or were brought to 

 this port directly from the latter country. In the cabinet of the Lyceum 

 are several incisors and canine teeth of the Hippopotamus. These were 

 taken from a sealing vessel in this harbour, which had just arrived from the 

 South Sea, and what is worthy of remark, they are said to have been found 

 on the shores of the Falkland Islands. 



