GENERAL HISTORY. 291 



later (see infra, p. 293), appear to be uot as yet satisfactorily 

 determiued. As Zalophus californkmus Las not yet been detec- 

 ted on the American coast north of California, its occurrence 

 on the Asiatic coast seems hardly to be exi)ected. 



General History. This species has hitherto be en believed 

 to be free from any serious complications of synonymy, and to 

 liave been tirst brought to the notice of the scientific world by 

 M'Bain in 1858. The only synonym hitherto quoted has been 

 Otaria stelleri, ''Schlegel" (/. c, Temminck), which Dr. Peters* 

 stated, after an examination of the original specimens preserved 

 in the Leyden museum, to be identical with the 0. giUe.spii of 

 M'Bain. A re-examination of the subject, in the light of much 

 new information and material, shows that the lirst notice of the 

 species was published by Choris in 1822, under the name of 

 ^' Lion marin de la Californie," who gave a rather poor figure 

 of it in xdate XI of his chapter entitled "Port San-Francisco et 

 ses Habitants." As already stated under the head of Eume- 

 topias stelleri, his only reference to it iu the text of this chapter 

 is as follows : '' Les rochers, dans le voisiuage de la bale San- 

 Fraucisco sont ordinairemeut converts de lions marins, pi. XI." 

 In his account of the Aleutian Islands, however, he again refers to 

 it, and clearly indicates its characteristic external features. He 

 says: "Ces animaux [Lions marins] sont aussi tres-communs aa 

 l)ort de San-Francisco, sur la cote de Californie, ou on les voit 

 en nombre prodigieux sur les rochers de la bale. Cette espece 

 m'a paru S(i distinguer de ceux qui frequentent les lies Aleou- 

 tiennes 5 elle a le corps plus tluet et plus allonge, et la tete plus 

 fine : quant a le couleur, elle passe fortement an brun, tandis 

 que ceux des iles Aleoiitienues sont d'une couleur plus grise, 

 out le corps plus rond, les mouvements plus difticiles, la tete 

 plus grosse et plus epaissej la couleur du poll des moustaches 

 plus noiratre que celui des iles Aleoutiennes."t 



The importance of this reference turns upon its being an explicit 

 indication of the character of his "Lion marin de la Californie," 

 the subject of "PI. XI"; this being, as is well known, the basis 

 of Lesson's Otaria californiana, which has hitherto been re- 

 ferred to Uumetopias stelleri, but which is really the same as 

 the so-called Zalopkus gillespii. Lesson says: "Cette espece, 

 d'apres la figure de Choris, a le pelage ras, uniformement fauve- 

 brunatre, les moustaches peu fournies; le museau assez pointuj 



* Monatsb. Akad. Berlin, 1866, p. 669. 

 tVoy, pittoresqiie, Iles A16outieiines, p. 15. 



