716 MONACHUS? TROPICALIS WEST INDIAN SEAL. 



the skin last described in the above transcript, and, so far as 

 Mr. Gosse's narrative goes to show, the only one he ever saw. 

 Dr. Gray, however, in 1849, described another "skin and skull" 

 from a the West Indies", which he later stated were sent home 

 direct by Mr. Gosse from Jamaica. Dr. Gray's description of 

 these specimens is as follows: "We have lately received from 

 the West Indies the skin and skull of a seal which evidently 

 belongs to the same genus as the crested seal of the northern 

 hemisphere. The skull, or rather the teeth, when compared 

 with those of the Greenland specimens, induce me to believe 

 that it is distinct from them. It chiefly differs in the form of 

 the outer upper cutting teeth and canines. In all the speci- 

 mens, both old and young, from the North Sea, the outer upper 

 cutting teeth and the canines are narrow and compressed. In 

 the West Indian skull, which is that of a very young specimen, 

 the outer upper cutting teeth and the canines are broad, 

 strongly keeled on each side and longitudinally plaited within. 

 .In this skull the 4th grinder has only a single root, and the 5th 

 grinder has two ; the crowns of the teeth are plaited and tuber- 

 cular like those of the North Sea specimens. The face is rather 

 broader than in a skull of the northern kind of nearly the same 

 size. This species may be called Cystopliora antillarum. 



" We have received an imperfect skin of a seal from Jamaica, 

 which was brought home by Mr. Gosse. It is unfortunately 

 without any bones. The whiskers are short, thick, white, 

 cylindrical, regularly tapering, and without any appearance of 

 a wave or twist. In this character it most agrees with Phoca 

 barbata." * 



The following year he redescribed these specimens, claiming 

 Jamaica as the habitat of his Cystophora antillarum, and stat- 

 ing that the specimens on which it was based were from "Mr. 

 Gosse's collection", as follows: 



"2. PHOCA TROPICALIS. JAMAICA SEAL. 



" Grey-brown; hair very short, strap-shaped, closely adpressed, black 



with a slight grey tip ; whiskers short, thick, cylindrical, regularly 



tapering, without any appearance of wave or twist ; fingers gradually 



shorter. 



"Inhab. Jamaica. 



"a. Skin imperfect, without skull. 



"Skin referred to in description of Cystophora antillarum, Gray, 

 Proc. Zool. Soc., 1849, 93."t 



* Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., 1849, p. 93. 

 t Cat. Seals Brit. Mus., 1850, p. 28. 



