316 CALLORHINUS URSINUS NORTHERN FUR SEAL. 



The whiskers are cylindrical, long-, slender, and tapering, and 

 vary with age in length and color. In the young they are black j 

 later they are light colored at the base, and dusky at the ends. 

 In mature specimens they are either entirely white, or white at 

 the base and brownish- white toward the tips. 



Size. Mr. EUiott has given a table showing the weight, size, 

 and rate of growth of the Fur Seal, from the age of one week to 

 six years, based on actual weight and measurement, with an esti- 

 mate of the size and weight of specimens from eight to twenty 

 years of age. From this table it apj)ears that the pups when a 

 week old have a length of from twelve to fourteen inches, and a 

 weight of six to seven and a half pounds. At six months old 

 the length is two feet and the weight about thirty pounds. At 

 one year the average length of six examples was found to be 

 thirty-eight inches, and the weight thirty-nine pounds, the males 

 and females at this time being alike in size. The average weight 

 of thirty males at the age of two years is given as fifty-eight 

 pounds, and the length as forty-five inches. Thirty-two males 

 at the age of three years were found to give an average weight 

 of eighty-seven jjounds, and an average length of fifty -two 

 inches. Ten males at the age of four averaged one hundred 

 and thirty-fiv^e pounds in weight, and fifty-eight inches in length. 

 A mean of five examples five years old is : weight, two hundred 

 pounds ; length, sixty-five inches. Three males at six j'ears 

 gave an average weight of two hundred and eighty pounds, 

 and a length of six feet. The estimated average weight of males 

 from eight years and upward, when fat, is given as four hun- 

 dred to five hundred jiounds, and the average length as six feet 

 three inches to six feet eight inches. Mr. Elliott further adds 

 that the average weight of the females is from eighty to eighty- 



to be any more truly a mane than in Eumetoptas stelleri, Callorhiniis nrsinus, 

 Zalophus calif orniart lis, Arctoceplialus '[falklandicus", or in any of the Arcfoce- 

 phali. All the Sea Bears and Sea Lions, according to authors, have the hair 

 much longer on the anterior than on the posterior half of the body ; and in 

 the Hair Seals it is not longer than in the Fur Seals. The resemblance to 

 the mane of the Lion, with which in several species this long hair has been 

 compared, is doubtless partly imaginary and partly due to the loose skin on 

 the neck and shoulders being thrown into thick folds when these animals 

 erect the head. I have not, however, seen the distinct crest formed by the 

 long hairs on the crown of the males of C. nrsinus mentioned as occurring in 

 the other species, unless it is alluded to in the specific name coronata, given 

 by Blainville to a South American specimen of Fur Seal, and in the name 

 eulophus of Scott. It is certainly not possessed by the E. stelleri. 



