Dr. J. E. Gray on Sea-hears. 267 



observed in New Zealand, Thunbcrg, in his list of Cape 

 mammalia in the third volume of the Transactions of the 

 St. Petersburg; Academy, iii. 322, notices this aninud muler 

 the name of Phoca antarctica. (See Fischer, Syn.Mam. p. 242.) 

 Dr. Peters has ajiplied the name of Ofan'a pnsilla to this 

 species, believing it to be the Petit I^hoque of Bufibn, which has 

 been named Phoca jJusiHa by Schreber, and had before been 

 named Phoca jJa^'va by Boddaert. Butfon says that it came 

 cither from India or the Levant ; but it is not by its descrip- 

 tion to be distinguished from a young specimen of almost any 

 of the s])ecies. It is as likely to have come from the Falk- 

 land Islands as from the Cape, as the French had traffic with 

 les lies Malouines, as they call them. 



Mr. Gill considers Steller's Sea-bear {Callorhinus ursinus) 

 to be the type of M. F. Cuvier's genus Arctocejyhahs, and 

 therefore abolishes CaJhrhinus and gives the new name of 

 ITalarctus to the true A )-cfocej)hali — thus unnecessarily adding 

 to the confusion of the generic names of these animals. He 

 fell into this mistake by not observing that Phoca ursinaj and 

 even Otaria nrsina, had been applied to several species, from 

 very diiferent localities, that F. Cuvier established his genus 

 on the skull of P. ursina of Forster, from the Cape, which 

 he (M. Cuvier) had named Phoca DeJaJanclii^ and that F. 

 Cuvier does not figure a skull of the Sea-bear of Steller : in- 

 deed the French collection did not at that time, nor does it 

 even now possess one ; and I feel assured that if it had, 

 F. Cuvier would, according to his custom, have established 

 for it a genus distinct from Arctocej^haliiSj the skulls of the two 

 genera being of such distinct forms. 



Dr. Peters, in his two papers on the Eared Seals [Otaria] ^ 

 uses the length of the ears and the existence or non-existence 

 of the under-fur, as well as the characters used by ]\Ir. Gill 

 and myself, to separate the species of these aiiimals into sub- 

 genera. 



The length of the ears may })robably afford good characters 

 for the separation of the species and groups, if they can be 

 observed in the living animals. As yet, only one species of 

 these animals, the Sea-lion or Sea-bear (Otaria leoiiina), has 

 been observed alive in Europe ; so that Dr. Peters's notes 

 could only be derived from the examination of more or less 

 carefully preserved skins ; and, I fear, little dependence can be 

 placed on them. 



The length, abundance, and, indeed, the presence or ab- 

 sence of the under-fur greatly depend on the season at whicli 

 the specimen is oljtained or ol)servcd. It is true that the 

 scalers call some seals liair- and others fur-seals : but that is 



