ALLEN : mammalia: PHOCID^. 93 



cinophaga, the first giving a view of the animal, the other excellent fig- 

 ures of the skull and teeth. The exact date of their publication is in 

 doubt, but they must have appeared in 1842 or early in 1843, ^s they are 

 cited by Gray in 1844, in the Zoology of the Erebus and Teryor, where he 

 claims priority for Jacquinot and Pucheran's name over StenorJiynchiis 

 seryidens Owen, published in the "Annals and Magazine of Natural His- 

 tory" for November, 1843. 



The Crab-eating Seal is one of the most common of the seals found in 

 the pack-ice of the Antarctic regions, outside of which, so far as known, it 

 is rarely seen. There is no record of its appearance in the Tierra del 

 Fuego Archipelago, nor on the shores of Patagonia, but it has found its 

 way on two or three occasions, as recorded by Berg,' to the Rio de la 

 Plata, near Puerto de Ensenada and San Isidro, in latitude about 34°3o' 

 south. Its more or less frequent occurrence on the coast of Patagonia 

 seems, therefore, more or less probable. Its casual straggling to the 

 mouth of the La Plata is somewhat parallel to the occurrence of the 

 Crested Seal [Cystophoya cyistata) in Long Island Sound and on the coast 

 of France, and the Harbor Seal [P/ioca vitulina) on the coast of North 

 Carolina, 300 to 500 miles south of their normal southern limit. 



Its history, so far as known, is very fully detailed by Barrett-Hamilton, 

 who gives (/. c, pp. 35-45) its bibliography, synonymy, distribution, 

 habits and external and cranial characters, based on the examination of a 

 large number of specimens obtained by the Southeyn Cyoss expedition, 

 the Belgian Antarctic expedition, and Ross's Antarctic expedition of 

 1839-43. This is supplemented by Wilson's further notes (/. c, pp. 74- 

 76) on its habits and distribution. 



' Mr. Berg's account is so short and of so much interest that it is here transcribed in full : 



" Lobodoft carchtophagus (H. J.) Gr. en el Rio de la Plata. — Esta foca, que habita la region 

 antartica, aparece en aislados casos tambien en regiones mas septentrionales. Asi, por ejemplo, 

 menciona el Dr. Burmeister en su "Atlas de la description physique de la Republique Argentine. 

 II. Die Seehunde der Argentinischen Kiisten " (1883), habervisto el craneo de uno de estos pini- 

 pedios que habia llegado vivo al Rio Santo Cruz (^ 50°), sobre un tempano de hielo. 



" Mas digno aiin de mencion es el hecho de haberse encontrado un ejemplar de esta especie 

 en el Rio de La Plata, cerca del Puerto de Ensenada, que se conserva en el Museo de La Plata, 

 y otro en la proximidad de San Isidro, al norte de Buenos Aires {tp 34°28), en el mes de Junio 

 del afio corrinete, que se encuentra actualmente en nuestro Museo. 



" Este ultimo ejemplar, un macho mide 2 metros y 65 centimetros, y es de color bianco im- 

 puro, presentando algunas manchas irregulares amarillentas y poco definidas, que no fueron 

 notadas en el animal antes del embalsamamiento." — C. Berg, in Comunicaciones del Museo 

 nacional de Buenos Aires, Tomo I, No. i, 24 de Augusto de 1898, p. 15. 



