272 FUR-SEAL O* COMMERCE. 



gicollis,) forming another specimen in the same 

 collection, which was first noticed by Dr Grew 

 in 1694, and afterwards by Pennant, as distinct 

 from his Falklandica, and by Daubenton, were 

 both of them genuine specimens of the Fur-Seal 

 of Commerce. But though enough, we believe, 

 has there been said to show that there was always 

 sufficient evidence to prove the truth of this pro- 

 position, with which Naturalists, therefore, might 

 have been perfectly familiar, yet it is a curious 

 circumstance that this important fact was never 

 laid hold of, and the descriptions themselves were 

 laid aside as unintelligible, and the animals ranked 

 among the most obscure and apocryphal of the list. 

 Baron Cuvier, in 1823, respecting both of them 

 exclaimed,* " due faire de cette phoque due faire 

 de cette otarie?" and Lesson, in 1828, declares that 

 they were so little known that they could not be 

 referred to any distinct species.f 



But in addition to its literary and antiquarian 

 character, this question has a much deeper interest 

 in a commercial and scientific point of view, and 

 we therefore are happy that we have it in our 

 power to present to the Repository of Science the 

 first representation, so far as we know, ever offered 

 of this invaluable animal, and to associate a detailed 

 and accurate description, with the facts already col- 

 lected respecting its habits and disposition. 



This interesting account of its habits is taken 



Oss. Foss. t. v. p. 1, p. 2 1 if. 



t Diet. Class. d'Hist. Nat. t. xiii. in loo. 



