ALLEN : MAMMALIA : OTARIID/E. loi 



since become practically extinct, it is now impossible to determine the 

 former southward limit of Callotaria, or the former northward limit of 

 Arctocephaliis. 



While the Phocids, or Earless Seals, are circumpolar in distribution, in 

 both hemispheres, the Eared Seals are confined, in the northern hemisphere, 

 to the shores and islands of the Pacific Ocean, but are circumpolar in the 

 southern hemisphere. It is noteworthy, however, that in neither hemi- 

 sphere do they reach nearly so high latitudes, and never range into the 

 pack-ice, as do most of the species of the Phocidse, in both the Arctic 

 and Antarctic regions. 



Genus OTARIA Peron. 



Otarie Peron, Ann. du Mus. d'Hist. Nat, XV, 1810, 300. The only spe- 

 cies mentioned is Steller's Sea Lion, but he gives a reference to his 

 "Voyage aux Terres Australes," correctly citing volume and page 

 as "t. II, p. 37." 

 Otaria Peron, Voy. aux Terr. Austr., II, 18 16, 37, footnote and passim, 

 PP- 40-52, in part. Type, by elimination, PJioca byroiiia Blain- 

 \\\\&=^ Otaria leonina Peron, 1816, et auct. = /'//o<:« leonina Molina, 

 1782, preoccupied by Phoca leonina Linn., 1758. 

 Otoes G. Fischer, M6m. Soc. Imp. des Sci. Nat. de Moscou, V, 181 7, 



445. =0/<'Wrt Pdron, 1816. 

 Otaria Gray, Zool. Erebus and Terror, Mamm., 1844, 5, in part. 

 Otaria Gill, ex Peron, Proc. Essex Inst., V, 1866, 7. 

 Otaria Peters, Monatsb., k. p. Akad. Wissen. Berlin, 1877, 505. ''Otaria 



P^ron, s. s." 

 Platyrhyncns F. Cuvier, Diet, des Sci. Nat, XXXIX, 1826, 555 =Le 

 Platyrhinque, F. Cuvier, Mdm. du Mus., XI, 1824, pi. xv, fig. 2 

 (skull), in part. Type, as determined by the figured skull, Otaria 

 leonina auct. 

 Generic Characters. — Palatine bones extending nearly to the ptery- 

 goid processes, deeply concave, truncate posteriorly. Molars in a con- 

 tinuous series, ^=|^. Ears short Pelage without underfur. 



General History. — The genus Otaria contains but a single well- 

 established species, the O. byronia (= O. leonina or O. jnbata of most 

 authors) of southern South America. Various other species have been 



