13 



great importance of the Seal fishery is not to be calculated from the 

 basis of its present yield, since each year adds to its extent, as with 

 proper care the number can be increased until both islands are fully 

 occupied by these valuable animals. 



" Previous to 1866 these skins were worth only three dollars each, 

 but owing to recent improvements in their manufacture they have 

 become fashionable for ladies' wear, and soon after the transfer of the 

 Territories to the United States the price rose to seven dollars." l 



AncTOCEPiiALTrs FALKLA^TOICUS, Shaw. The Southern Fur-Seal of 

 Commerce. 



Synonyms Falkland Island Seal, Pennant. 

 Phoca Falklandica, Shaw. 

 Plwca antarctica, Thunberg. 

 Otaria Falklandica, Desmarest. 

 Otaria cinerea, Peron. Desm. ; Peters. 

 Otaria Delalandii, F. Cuvier. 



Otaria Falklandica, 9 or young. JardineVNat. Libr." 

 Arctocephalus antarcticus, Gray, S. and W. and Suppl. 



Cape Fur-Seal. 



ArctocepJialus cinereus, Gray. Australian Fur-Seal. 

 Arctocephalus nigresccns, Gray. Southern Fur-Seal. 

 Arctophoca Philippii, Peters. Chilian Fur-Seal. 



The few remarks in regard to the variations arising from the 

 asymmetry of the cranial structure, and to the diiferences exhibited by 

 external colouring of the skin, all referable to natural or incidental causes, 

 which I presented for the consideration of the reader, when discussing 

 the natural position of the Northern Fur-Seal, apply with equal force 

 to the Fur-Seals which inhabit the Southern Seas; and although 

 several of these animals are considered as distinct species by most 

 writers, yet I have ventured to include them under the one kind, the 

 Falkland Island Seal of Pennant and Shaw. 



In adopting this course, it becomes necessary that some valid 

 reasons should be given for departing so materially from the usual 

 arrangement. 



In instituting the following comparisons, I refer the student to the 

 list of the alleged distinct species enumerated in the foregoing 

 synonyms, and which are described by Dr. Gray, in his Catalogue of 

 the Seals in the British Museum of 1866, and Supplement 1871 ; for 

 these publications are of great authority, inexpensive, and more easily 

 attainable here than any others with which I am acquainted. 



First, then, as to the scientific value of those distinctions said to be 

 so readily seen in the form of the skulls and in the minor differential 

 points in the dentition, so as to constitute well defined species. 



1 On the Eared Seals (Otariadse), by J. A. Allen and Charles Bryant. Aug., 1870. 



