UNIVERSITY 



OF 



THE EARED SEALS. 



243 



Steller's Sea-lion (Otaria Stelleri], fig. 125, 

 which is found on all the coasts of the Pacific 

 Ocean from the north to California in the 

 east and Japan in the west, but is especially 

 abundant in the north on the shores of 

 Behring's Strait, derives the name of sea-lion 



from an allied species (Otaria jiibata), which 

 in the time of Steller was very abundant on 

 Tierra del Fuego and the Falkland Islands, 

 and in which the male carries a small mane 

 on the back of the neck. Our species, first 

 described by Steller, has not this mane. It 



IMHi 



Fig. 125. Steller's Sea-lion (Otaria Stelleri). 



is the one that now delights the visitors to 

 the Jar din d' Acclimatisation at Paris and 

 several other zoological gardens. In the Lon- 

 don zoological gardens there was once an old 

 male of this species which had been wonder- 

 fully trained by a French sailor named 

 Lecomte, and was just as intelligent and as 

 much attached to its master as a dog. It is 

 this species also which is protected near San 

 Francisco, where it has settled on some rocks 

 in the neighbourhood of a tavern called Cliff 

 House, and is frequently visited by the 

 inhabitants of the Californian city. 



The adult male attains a length of 16 feet, 

 and a weight of upwards of 1000 pounds. 

 The head is pretty long, the ear is drawn out 



to a point below, and is covered with small 

 delicate hairs. The eyes are large, prominent, 

 and expressive; the swollen lips set with 

 thick whitish whiskers, which grow to the 

 length of 1 6 inches. The neck is long, but 

 loaded with fat, forming great folds which 

 fall down on the shoulders, and at a distance 

 may easily be mistaken for a mane. The 

 body is pretty long; the flippers of medium 

 size, covered with a rough tubercled skin; 

 the fur of a greenish colour with a golden 

 shimmer, but pretty variable. It is composed 

 of short rough hair without down. The 

 females scarcely attain half the length and a 

 fifth part of the weight of the males. 



These sea-lions inhabit various coasts the 



