FAMILY OTA.KIIDM. 



Eared Seals. 



Phoques a oreilles, BUFFON, Hist. Nat. Suppl., vi, 1782, 305. 



Plwcacea auriculata, PERON, Voy. Terr. Austr., ii, 1816, 37. 



Otaria, PERON, Voy. Terr. Austr., ii, 1816, 37 (genus). 



Otariina, GRAY, Ann. of Phil., 1825, 340 (subfamily). 



Otariadce, " BROOKES, Cat. Anat. andZool. Mus., 1828, 36." GRAY, Ann. and 



Mag. Nat., Hist., 3d ser., xviii, 1866, 228. ALLEN, Bull. Mus. Comp. 



Zool., ii, 1870, 19. 



OtariidcB, GILL, Proc. Essex Inst., v, 1866, 7. 



Arctoceplialina, GRAY, Charlesworth's Mag. Nat. Hist., i, 1837, 583. 

 Otarides, GERVAIS, Hist. Nat. des Mammiferes, ii, 1855, 305. 



Fore limbs placed far back, and, like the hind limbs, compar- 

 atively free and serviceable for terrestrial locomotion 5 hind feet 

 susceptible of being turned forward. The digits of the manus 

 successively decrease very much in size and length from the 

 first to the fifth, without well-developed nails, and with the 

 manus bordered with a naked cartiliginous extension. Of 

 the pes the three middle digits are shorter and weaker than 

 the others, with well-developed nails ; the others strong and 

 thick, the first rather stouter than the fifth, both with only rudi- 

 mentary nails $ all terminate in hairless, long cartilaginous flaps, 

 which vary in length in the different genera. Soles and palms 

 and most of the upper digital surface hairless. Scapula large, 

 the blade very broad, the crests high, and the acromion greatly 

 developed. Femur with a trochanter minor, which in adult 

 males is strongly developed. Pubic bones unanchylosed, and 

 in the females considerably separated. Ilia long and slender, 

 not abruptly turned outward posteriorly. Acetabula opposite 

 the posterior end of the second sacral vertebra. Skull with well- 

 developed orbital processes, and an alisphenoid canal 5 mastoid 

 process strong and salient, distinct from the auditory bullse, which 

 are small and but slightly inflated. Incisors always ^, the two 

 middle pairs of upper with the crown deeply grooved trans- 

 versely, the outer caniniform. Dental formulae: Milk dentition, 

 I- S c -iEi> M -tE|; permanent dentition, I. g, C. g, M. 

 or =j|, = 34 or 36. Ears with a subcylindrical external conch. 

 Testes scrotal. 



187 



