CALLORHINUS URSINUS CALIFORNIA SEA LION. 773 



" The question is one of interest, and I have suggested to Pro- 

 fessor Baird his having blank forms of questions furnished the 

 captains of all the vessels engaged in sealing, for them to fill 

 out with their observations during the season or during their 

 voyages. These blanks could be sent to the custom-houses at 

 San Francisco, Port Townsend, and Victoria, and given to the 

 captains, with their other papers, when they clear on their seal- 

 ing voyages, with instructions to fill them out and return them 

 to the custom-house at the end of their voyage. 



"A series of such observations, made during several success- 

 ive seasons, would enable us to ascertain definitely the facts 

 about the Fur Seal, whose habits are but little known except 

 at the rookeries." 



Prof. D. S. Jordan, the well-known ichthyologist, to whom 

 the letter was addressed, adds: "I may remark that I saw a 

 live Fur Seal pup June 1 [1880], at Gape Flattery, taken from 

 an old seal just killed, showing that the time of bringing them 

 forth was just at hand." 



These observations, aside from the judicious suggestions made 

 by Mr. Swan, are of special interest as confirming those made 

 some years ago by Captain Bryant, and already briefly recorded 

 (antea, p. ) in this work. They seem to show that at least a 

 certain number of Fur Seals repair to secluded places suited to 

 their needs as far south as the latitude of Cape Flattery, to 

 bring forth their young. 



FAMILY PHOCID.E 



EXTINCT SPECIES. Prof. A. Leith Adams, in a paper " On 

 Eeinains of Mastodon and other Vertebrata of the Miocene 

 Beds of the Maltese Islands" (Quar. Journ. Geol. Soc., vol. 

 xxxv, part 3, August, 1879, p. 524, pi. xxv, figg. 1, 2), has de- 

 scribed and figured four teeth and a portion of the left ramus 

 of a seal from the calcareous" sandstone of Gozo, Malta, under 

 the name Phoca rugosidens (Phoca rugosidens, Owen apud 

 Adams). They indicate a species of about the size of Mona- 

 clms albiventer, with which in respect to the character of the 

 teeth the species may be compared. Mr. Adams says that 

 canine teeth of large size, referable to the Phocidce, are of com- 

 mon occurrence in the sand bed, and are also somewhat plenti- 

 ful in the nodule-seams of the calcareous sandstone. 



