FOSSIL OT ARIES. 219 



accepted as satisfactory proof of tlie presence of Otaries in tlie 

 Tertiary fauna of Europe. 



Van Beneden also refers to a humerus of an Otary in the Mu- 

 seum of the Geological Institute of Vienna, supi^osed to have 

 been taken from the bed of the Danube, and adds that it bears 

 a close resemblance to the same part in Otariajuhata, if indeed 

 it is not referable to that species, but adds: "Get os, en 

 tout cas, n'est pas fossile." He also refers to a skull found by 

 Valenciennes on the shore in the department of Lande, men- 

 tioned by Gervais,* and says it is still unknown how it came to 

 be found on the coast. 



Van Beneden, however, believes that he has proof of the ex- 

 istence of fossil Otaries in Europe in his Mesotaria amhigua, t a 

 si3ecies presenting many remarkable characters, which ally it, 

 he believes, in some points, to the Otaries. This species is rep- 

 resented by the greater i>art of the bones of the skeleton and 

 numerous teeth, but the skull is not known.l The teeth, he 

 says, are unhke those of any other genus, while the bones indi- 

 cate a special mode of life, and a size about equal to or rather 

 larger than that of Plwca grcenlandica.^ The ilium is described 

 as resembling more the same part in the Otaries than the Seals, 

 and as indicating a mode of life more terrestrial than aquatic. 

 The humerus, on the other hand, is stated to more resemble 

 that of the Seals than that of the Otaries. 



Of the femur he says : "Nous avons trois femurs assez comx^lets 

 qui indiqueut que cet os s'eloigne par sa conformation des autres 

 Amphiteriens. La tete, ainsi que le coV, tiennent de I'Otarie, 

 comme les condyles, et le grand trochanter^ peu large, ne s'eleve 

 pas au-dessus de la tete de I'os. La tete est comparativement 

 petite. La cavite trochanterique est profonde et etroite vers le 

 milieu de I'os et tout contre le col. Le caractere se rapporte ji la 

 position du membre posterieur qui rapproche ainsi des Otaries 

 I'animal qui nous occupe. Les Mesotaries etaient moins aqua- 

 tiques que les Phoques actuels." 



Upon careful comparison of his excellent figures (pi. ix) of 

 the femur, humerus, scapula, and fragment of pelvis, with the 



* Zoologie et la Paleoutologie fran^-aises, p. 276. 



tAnii. fill Mils. Roy. (f Hist. Nat. de Belgique, i, 1877, p. 56, pi. i. 



tVau Beiiedcn reports Laving two canines, three molars, seven cervical 

 vertebra? and an axis, six dorsal and seven Inmbar vertebrae, a rigbt ilium and 

 a left iscliiuni, the distal end of a scapula, four riglit and five left humeri, a 

 left and a right femur, six tibise, and four metatarsal bones. 



$ The j)arts of the skeleton figured by Van Beneden correspond very nearly 

 in size with the corresponding parts of Cystophora cristata. 



