64 Zoological Society : — 



racters witli the Sea Bear, Ursus marinus of Steller, and not with 

 the Sea Lion or Leo marinus of that author, which is called Otaria 

 Stelleri in my catalogues, and was confounded with Otaria leonina 

 of the Southern Pacific Ocean hy Nilsson and most modern authors. 

 The latter animal is still a desideratum in the British Museum and 

 other European Collections. 



The skin is 8 feet long, and agrees in all particulars with Steller's 

 descrij)tiou of the adult male of the species, and is most distinct in 

 external character and colour from the Fur-Seal (^A. falklandicus) 

 of the Falkland Islands and of A. lohaf.us from Australia. 



The skull is equally distinct from the various skulls of all the 

 species of the genus Arctocephalus (both Fur- and Hair-Seals) which 

 are in the collection of the British Museum, and is easily known 

 from them by the shortness of the face and the height and convexity 

 of the nose. 



The skull of this specime)i is quite distinct from the skull of the 

 Arctocephalus Gilliespiipi California, recently described by Dr. Mac 

 Bain in the ' Proceedings of the Physical Society of Edinburgh,' 

 tinder the name of Otaria Gilliespii, from a skull in the Edinburgh 

 Natural History Museum, of which we have a cast in the British 

 Museum : but we are not able to ascertain with certainty whether this 

 is a Fur- or Hair-Seal, though, from the length of the palate, compared 

 with the width of the skull at the hinder grinders, I am induced to 

 believe that it may belong to an animal which has a soft under fur. 

 This proves that the Seals from the different parts of the West Coast 

 of America are distinct from each other, each specimen having a 

 specific geographical range. 



Arctocephalus ursinus. Northern Fur-Seal. 



Adult male grey-black ; hair of the back long, black, reddish, with 

 a subterminal band and a short grey tij) ; vuider fur short, woolly, 

 red ; the hair of the neck and front of the body longer, forming a 

 kind of mane ; lips and nose reddish ; whiskers very long, strong, 

 white, smooth, tapering to a fine point. Skull short, forehead very 

 convex and rounded. 



Jlab. Behring's Straits. 



I may state that the name Arctocephalus ursinus is usually api)lied 

 to the various species of Eared Fur-Seals found in the dilferent 

 English and Continental Museums. 



Description of a New Species of Fish, Peristethus 

 RiKFFELi. By Prof. Dr. Kaup. 



This new species is an inhabitant of the seas of China and perhaps 

 Japan, and shows, with a species of Japan and two of the Moluccas, 

 that the Mediterranean species is not so isolated as we have hitherto 

 believed. 



Tiic genus Peristethus (Peristedion) is to be placed in the middle 

 of the subfamily Triyliiuc, and connects the similar forms of Dae- 

 tijloptera with those which are near to the genus Triyla. 



