100 Dr. J. E. Gray on the Fur- and Hair-Seals 
opsis,’ where, after quoting the description of Forster's Sea- 
Bear in Cook’s Voyage, and his figures in the Supplement to 
to Buffon, vi. p. 536, t. 47, Fischer adds, as a note, “‘ An non 
potius generi Enhydris adnumeranda ?”’ (see p. 232). 
The skull of these animals changes so much in form as the 
animal arrives at adult and old age, that it is not always easy 
to determine the species by it, unless you have a series 
of them, of different ages and states, to compare. ‘Thus Dr. 
Peters, in his revision of the genus after the publication of my 
Catalogue and figures of the skulls in the ‘ Voyage of the Erebus 
and Terror’ and in the ‘ Proceedings of the Zoological Society,’ 
formed no less than five species from the skulls of the southern 
Sea-Lion (Otaria jubata)—O. jubata, O. Byronia, O. leonina 
O. Godeffroyt, and O. Ullow,—referring the first four to the 
subgenus Otaria, and the last to Phocarctos (see Monatsbericht, 
May 1866, pp. 265, 270). In his second essay, published a few 
months later (¢bid. Nov. 1866), after his visit to London, he 
placed them all together in one subgenus (Otaréa), and seems, 
by the way in which he has numbered four of them, to doubt 
their distinctness. It would have been better if he had at once 
simply reduced them to synonyms (as they must be reduced) 
and included with them O. Ulloe, which is only the skull of 
a young specimen, such as was called O. molossina, Lesson & 
Garnot. I may observe that I had shown in my first ‘ Cata- 
logue of Seals’ (1850), from the examination of the typical 
skull, that two or three of these nominal species were only 
very old or young skulls of the southern Sea-Lion. 
It is the character of the Eared Seals or Otariade to have a 
very close, soft under-fur between the roots of the longer and 
more rigid hairs. ‘They are therefore called Fur-Seals by the 
sealers, and are hunted for their skin as well as for their oil. 
The quantity and fineness of the under-fur differ in the various 
species ; and the skin and under-fur bear a price in the market 
according to the country and the species from which they are 
obtained. 
Some species of the family have so little under-fur when 
they arrive at adult age, that they are of no value in the 
market to be made into “seal-skins;” these are therefore 
called Hair-Seals by the sealers. They are only collected for 
the oil, as the skins are of iealioeeatively little value. 
The skins of the Fur-Seal are much used in China, and are 
more or less the fashion in this country, sometimes being far 
more expensive than at others. The skins of the Hair-Seals 
are only used, like the skins of the Earless Seals or Phocide, 
for very inferior purposes, as covering boxes, knapsacks, &c. ; 
but the animals are much sought after for the oil ae afford. 
