4S4 Zoological Society : — 



CONTOPUS SORDIDULUS. 



Obscure cineracevs, tectrlcum mojonan et secundariorum margi- 

 nibus (lilutioribus, fere aJbicantibus : loris albidis : subtus pal- 

 Jide cinereus, yutture medio albescente, ventre medio et crisso 

 albis : rostri niyri hasi inferinre imllida : pedibus nigris. 



Long, tota 6-0, alse 3-2, caudoB 2-5. 



Hab. In Mexico mericlionali et Guatemala. 



This Contopus much resembles the preceding, but is considerably 

 smaller in its dimensions, of a rather purer cinereous above, and 

 much lighter cinereous below. This colour passes into whitish on 

 the throat, and nearly pure Avhite on the belly and crissum, without 

 showing the continuous white medial stripe, which renders Contopus 

 mesoleucus so noticeable. In structure it is identical with Contopus 

 virens ; but it has no trace of olive on its plumage. 



I regard Contopus as a very natural division of the Tyrannidce, 

 characterized by its long wings and short tarsi. 



Near Contopus, must be placed, I think, Prince Bonaparte's genus 

 Planchesia, referred to above. 



February 22, 1859.— Dr. Gray, F.R.S., V.P., in the Chair. 



On the Eared Seal of the Cape of Good Hope (Otaria 



Delalandii;. By Dr. J. E. Gray, F.R.S., V.P.Z.S. 



At a preceding meeting*, I gave an account of the Eared Seal 

 from Behnng's Straits, showing that it was distinct from the species 

 found in other localities. I have since received from Paris a fine 

 specimen of an adult Eared Seal from the Cape of Good Hope, which 

 has been described in the Catalogue as Phoca, or Otaria Delalandii. 

 Like the Seal from Behring's Straits, it proves to be a species of Arc- 

 tocephalus, and, like it, is quite distinct from any of the species of that 

 genus in the British Museum, being well characterized by the form 

 and structure of the skull. 



It is, like the Behring's Straits ^ea\, s, Fur-Seal ; that is to say it 

 has a close coat of red under-fur at the roots of the rigid flattened 

 hair ; but this under-fur is much shorter and less abundant in the 

 adult specimen now under examination than in the adult specimen 

 of the Eared Fur-Seal from Behring's Straits, or in the Eared Fur- 

 Seal of the Falkland Islands. The Adult is about the same size 

 as the Seal from the Arctic Circle, but is much paler in its general 

 colour. ° 



Arctocephalus Delalandii. 



Hair rigid, under-fur small in quantity, reddish-brown ; the hinder 

 part ot the palate with a deep narrow cavity, acutely angular in 

 front. J a 



Junior 1 

 Le petit phoque, Buffon, Hist. Nat. xiii. 341, t. 53. 

 Little Seal, Penn. Quad. 2-13, from Buifon. 

 Phoca parva, Bodd. Elench. 7S, from Buffon. 

 Phoca pusilla, Schreb. Siiugeth. 314, t. 85, from Buffon. 

 * 'Annals ' for January, 1860, p. 63. 



