EARED SEALS. I09 



indistinctly seen when the skin is wet. The profile of the head is nearly straight, 

 the muzzle deep and somewhat truncated, and the naked portion of the nose large ; 

 while the upper lip has a number of thick bristles of considerable length, and 

 hanging nearly straight down. The ears are also shorter in this species than in 

 any other member of the group. There are likewise several features in the skull 

 of this seal by means of which it can be distinguished from all the other eared 

 seals ; but it will suffice to mention here that the palate is deeply hollowed out and 

 truncated behind, whereas in the other species it is neither hollowed out nor 

 truncated behind. There are six upper cheek-teeth. The males of this species 

 attain a length of about 7 feet from the tip of the muzzle to the root of the tail, 

 although Captain Cook states that in his time much larger individuals were to be 

 met with. 



This species was one of the first members of the group known in 

 Europe, having been met with by Magellan as long ago as the year 

 1579, and long afterwards by Cook. It was likewise the first exhibited alive in 

 England, a specimen having been bought by the London Zoological Society in 1866. 

 Subsequently other examples were obtained from the Falkland Islands by a French 

 sailor named Lecomte ; and all who visited the Society's Gardens during 1868 and 

 a few years later will have a vivid recollection of the docility and cleverness of 

 these animals — to say nothing of their marvellous activity when in the water. 

 Formerly these seals were extremely numerous in the Falkland Islands, and on the 

 coasts of Patagonia and other parts of South America ; but they are now compara- 

 tively few, and their distribution is restricted. 



The following particulars of the habits of the sea-lion in the 



HcLDltS. TAHITI • 1 1 T 



ralklands were communicated by Lecomte to Dr. J. Murie. At 

 various times these seals were seen in parties of from six to twelve, and even as 

 many as twenty ; but fifteen may be taken as the average. Several such families 

 may congregate in the same creek, to the number of from forty to a hundred ; but 

 the individuals of different families do not associate with one another. " They 

 seem to prefer headlands or isthmuses, and choose the most southern locality 

 thereon as a resting-place. One of the old males is on guard as a sentinel. Usually 

 he is seen perched on an eminence, and invariably, as Lecomte affirms, with out- 

 stretched neck and upraised head, as if sniffing around for the slightest ominous 

 warning. The signal of a grunt or growl sets the others on the alert ; and on any 

 real approach of danger they rush all helter-skelter towards the water, from which 

 they never wander far. Their daily occupation seems divided between sleeping 

 and procuring food. They lie huddled together in a drowsy condition, or slumber, 

 for a great part of their time, and this both during the day and night. At high 

 tides, night and day, they take to fishing near the entrance of the fresh-water 

 rivulets into the sea. At such times they will remain a whole tide dabbling about 

 singly after food. This consists of fish and crustaceans. In capturing their prey 

 they swallow it either above or below the water. . . . Lecomte says these eared 

 seals never drink water; and he substantiates the fact that he kept the first 

 animal he brought to this country for a year without fluid, except such as adhered 

 to the fish he fed it with. He tells me, moreover, he has noticed the common seals 

 occasionally suck in water as a horse would, but the otaria never. Another curious 



