of the Falkland Islands and Southern America. 103 
1. Arctocephalus falklandicus. 
Fur very soft, elastic; hairs very short, exceedingly close, 
slender at the base, thicker above, with close reddish under- 
fur nearly as long as the hair; the upper surface pale, nearly 
uniform grey, minutely punctulated with white; hairs brown, 
upper half black, with minute white tips. The nose, cheeks, 
temples, throat, chest, sides, and underside of the body yellowish 
white. 
Falkland Seal, Penn. Quad. ii. 
Phoca Falklandica, Shaw, Gen. Zool. i. p. 256 (from Pennant). 
Otaria Falklandica, Desm. Mamm. 252 (from Pennant ; not Peters or Bur- 
_ meister). 
Otaria Shogwi Lesson, Dict. Class. d’H. N. xiii. p. 424 (from Pennant). 
Arctocephalus Falklandicus, Gray, Cat. Mamm. in Brit. Mus., Seals, p. 42. 
Fur-Seal of commerce (Otaria falklandica), Hamilton, Ann. & Mag. Nat. 
Hist. 1838, ii. p. 81, t. 4; Jardine, Nat. Lib. vi. p. 271, t. 25 (not Peters). 
Hab. Falkland Islands. Brit. Mus. 
This is a most distinct species, and easily known from all 
the other Fur-Seals in the British Museum by the evenness, 
shortness, closeness, and elasticity of the fur, and the length of 
the under-fur. The fur is soft enough to wear as a rich fur, 
without the removal of the longer hairs, which are always 
removed in the other Fur-Seals. Unfortunately the specimen 
is without any skull; and therefore I cannot give a description 
of the teeth, or refer it to any of the restricted genera of Otariade. 
In the British Museum there is_a skull of a young Arecto- 
cephalus (No. 311 a) like the skull of Capt. Abbot’s specimen, 
but in a much younger state. It was presented to the Museum 
by Sir John Richardson as the “skull of the Fur-Seal from 
the Falklands.”’ The teeth in the skull belonging to Capt. 
Abbot’s skin are much larger than they are in the one received 
from Sir John Richardson. The fifth or last grinder in the series 
of the lower jaw, that was being developed, but which had not 
et cut the gums or been raised above the alveolus, is divided 
into three lobes, the middle. lobe being the largest and most 
external, the lateral ones being on the inner side of it. In Sir 
John Richardson’s specimen, the same tooth in the lower jaw 
is triangular, compressed, with regular, sloping, sharp-edged 
sides, and has only a small lobe on the lower part of the 
hinder edge, which is on the same plane as the rest of the 
tooth. It looks like the skull of a large species. The tento- 
rium of this skull of a young animal is well developed and bony. 
If the habitat assigned to this skull is the correct one (and 
I have no reason to doubt it), itis probably the skull of a very 
young Arctocephalus falklandicus, with the grey back and 
white underside: it is certainly not the skull of A. nigrescens. 
