320 CALLORHINUS URSINUS NORTHERN FUR SEAL. 



EARS. The ears are long, narrow, and pointed, being abso- 

 lutely longer than those of the E. stelleri, though the latter 

 animal is two or three times the larger. 



FORE LIMBS. The hands are very long and narrow, with a 

 broad cartilaginous flap extending beyond the digits, which 

 has a nearly even border. Both surfaces are naked the whole 

 length ; not covered above with short hair, as in Eumetopias and 

 Otaria. The nails are rudimentary, their position being indi- 

 cated by small circular horny disks, as in all the other Eared 

 Seals. 



HIND LIMBS. The feet are very long, nearly half their length 

 being formed by the cartilaginous flaps that project beyond the 

 ends of the toes. They widen much less from the tarsus to the 

 ends of the toes than these parts do in E. stelleri, and the length 

 of the toe-flaps is relatively many times greater than in the 

 latter species. The toes of the posterior extremities are of 

 nearly equal length. The outer are slightly shorter than the 

 three middle ones. The nails of the outer toes are rudiment- 

 ary and scarcely visible ; those of the middle toes are strong 

 and well developed. 



SKULL. In adult specimens the breadth of the skull is a little 

 more than half its length, the point of greatest breadth being at 

 the posterior end of the zy gomatic arch. The muzzle or facial por- 

 tion is broad and high, or greatly produced, much more so even 

 than in Eumetopias.* The postorbital processes vary from sub- 

 quadrate to sub-triangular, sometimes produced posteriorly into 

 a latero-posteriorly diverging point, as in Zalophus. The post- 

 orbital cylinder is broad and moderately elongated. The post- 

 orbital constriction is well marked, giving a prominently quad- 

 rate form to the brain-case, the latero-anterior angles of which 

 vary somewhat in their sharpness in different specimens. The 

 sagittal and occipital crests are well developed in the old males, 

 nearly as much as in Eumetopias, as are also the mastoid pro- 

 cesses. The palatine bones terminate midway between the last 

 molar teeth and the pterygoid hamuli ; their posterior outline 

 is either slightly concave, or deeply and abruptly so. The pala- 

 tal surface is flat, but slightly depressed posteriorly, and but 

 moderately so anteriorly. The zy gomatic foramens are broad, 

 nearly triangular, and truncate posteriorly. The posterior and 

 anterior nares are of nearly equal size in the males, with their 



* See figs. 39-41, female, rather young, about natural size. Specimen 

 No. 6537, National Museum. 



