LEOPARD SEAL. 185 



We are therefore induced to give a somewhat ex- 

 tended description. As seen in our plate, the head 

 is proportionally very small, and produced ; the 

 neck also is small, long, and tapering ; the body is 

 largest about the middle, and gradually tapers off 

 again towards the tail ; the fore-paw is small, and 

 devoid of all projecting membrane ; the first finger, 

 (or thumb,) as in most of the true Phoca, is by much 

 the longest ; the others diminish gradually, and all are 

 furnished with sharp black claws, slightly curved and 

 grooved, carinated on the under side ; the posterior 

 extremity has neither nails nor projecting membrane. 

 The hair is rather soft, and thin set ; it covers the 

 whole of both extremities, below as well as above, 

 a character not found on many of the Otaries ; the 

 colours, which we take from Weddell, are a pale 

 greyish above, yellowish beneath, and the back 

 spotted with pale white. There is no trace of ex- 

 ternal ear ; the e} r e is in the perpendicular over the 

 angle of the mouth, distant three inches. The den- 

 tal formulary is 1^=32 ; the incisors are conical in 

 their form, and somewhat curved inwards ; those in 

 the upper jaw are by much the longest, and the 

 two middle ones are placed further within the 

 mouth than the other two, and are also much 

 smaller ; the canines are conical, they are very much 

 developed at the base, and slightly grooved : the body 

 of the molars is composed of three parts, the cen- 

 tral conical part by much the longest and largest, 

 with a small tubercle on each side. We shall add 

 some measurements. 



