REPORT OF BRITISH COMMISSIONERS. 257 



At other times of the year the sta<^s and hinds keep separate in small herds, the 

 very young stags keeping with the hinds. 



A hind has one calf as a rule, which is born about May. 



The stags cast their Iiorus every year, and will eat the old horns if they can get 

 them to supply lime for the growth of the new horn. 



Although a great deal might be written on this subject, no other information 

 strikes me which would be likely to be of any assistance to you in your inquiry. 

 I remain, &c. 



(Signed) BROWNLOVy^. 



13. — Memorandum on the Place of the Fur-Seal in the Classification of Mammalia, ty 

 Professor Flower, C. B., F. li. S., Director of the Natural History Departments, British 

 Museum. 



All the animals commonly spoken of as seals are divided into two very distinct 

 groups : 



(a.) The true seals (Phocidw), distinguished mainly by having no external ears, 

 and by not using their hind limbs when walking on land. 



{b.) The eared seals {Otariidw), often called sea-lions or sea-bears, which have 

 small external ears, and which, when on land, support themselves and walk on the 

 soles of their hind as well as their lore limbs. 



None of the first-named group have the fine under-fur which makes the skin Of 

 some of the species of the second group such a valuable article of commerce; it is 

 therefore not necessary to speak further of them in the present Report. 



Up to the year 1816 both groups of seals were included under the generic name of 

 Phoca (Linnc-eus), but in that year the eared seals were separated by P^ron* from 

 the others, under the name of Otaria, a name which zoologists, whose tendencies in 

 questions of nomenclature are conservative, still retain for the whole group, t Others 

 have divided it up into nearly as many genera as there are species, founded on trifling 

 modifications of the teeth and skull and the length of the ears, and thus such names 

 as Arctocephalus, Callorhiiius, Euotaria, Zalophus, Fumetopius, Phocarctos, Halarctus, 

 Neophoca. Arctophoca, and Gypsophoca occur as generic appellations of various mem- 

 bers of the family in zoological treatises on the subject. 



As the various authors who have made a special study of this group of animals do 

 not agree as to the relative importance of the characters upon which these distinc- 

 tions are founded, there is much difference of opinion as to the extent and limits of 

 these so-called generic divisions, and consequently as to the name to be applied to 

 many of the species, hence the confusion of nomenclature which is obvious '^ any 

 one who compares the different monographs and treatises on the natural history of 

 the seals. 



Besides the difficulties as to the most appropriate names, there are others which 

 arise from our ignorance of the animals themselves, especially the distinctive charac- 

 ters and geographical distribution of the various species. The number of species is 

 not even accurately determined, as variations due to sex, age, or season have often 

 been mistaken for those due to specific distinctions. Indeed, until more com])lete 

 materials are collected in our museums, including skins, skeletons, and skulls of 

 animals of both sexes and various ages, and from difterent and well-recorded locali- 

 ties, a complete zoological monograph of the family will be impossible. 



The common practical distinction between "hair-seals" and "fur-seals," or those 

 which, in addition to the stiff", close, hairy covering common to all the group, possess 

 an exceedingly fine dense woolly under-fur, does not coincide with divisions based 

 on other and more important structural characters. Though all true seals (Phocidw) 

 are "hair-seals," some of the Otariidw are "hair-seals," and others "fur-seals." It 

 is the skins of the latter, when dressed and deprived of the longer, harsh, outer 

 hairs, which constitute the "seal-skins" of commerce so much valued for wearing 

 apparel. 



In habits all the Otariidw, whether hair-seals or fur-seals, appear to be much alike. 

 As might be inferred from their power of walking on all fours, they are better capable 

 of locomotion on shore, and range inland to greater distances than the true seals at 

 the breeding season, though even then they are always obliged to return to the water 

 to seek their food, and the rest of the year is mainly spent in the open sea far away 

 from land. They are gregarious and polygamous,* and the adult males are usually 

 much larger than the females. They are widely distributed, especially in the tem- 



* "Voyage aux Terres Australes," vol. ii, p. 37. 



t Flower and Lvdekker: "Introduction to the History of Mammals, Living and 

 Extinct, 1891," p. 593. 



B S, PT VI 17 



