334 



VERTEBRATA. 



to ili" fore-feel in this species being placed near the center of the body, it can sit erect, in an atti- 

 tude much resembling thai of a penguin. 



Genus I >TAUIA. or PLATYRB VXCIIUS: Platyrhynckus.— As several species of large seals 

 have been confounded under the name of Sea-bear, so several have been included under the title 

 of Ska-Lion. One of these, described by Forster, P.marinus, belonging to this genus, has a 

 thick skin; hair reddish, yellowish, or dark brown; no fur or short woolly hair under the long 

 hair; :i mane on the neck of the male reaching to the shoulders; head small in proportion to 

 the body, which is everywhere equally thick-looking, as Buffon describes it, "like a great cylin- 

 der, more suited for rolling than walking;" ears conical, about six or seven lines long, cartilage 

 firm and stiff, but yet rather curled at the margin; upper lip overhanging the lower, both fur- 

 nished with long, ("arse, black whiskers, which become white with age; length from ten to 

 fourteen feet; the females shorter and more slender. It is found along the shores of the Ant- 

 arctic islands. Another species of sea-lion ,is the 0. jubata, found in Kamtschatka and the 

 Kurile Islands; a third, the 0. leonina, is found in the Falkland Islands. Some authors also 

 mention the Little Sea-Lion, Otaria molossina, and the 0. Guerinii, both of the Falkland 

 Islands, 



FIGHT WITH A SEA-LION. 



Those animals, even if of different species, seem to have a great resemblance. Captain Cook 

 states that he did not find it perilous to go among them, for they either fled or stood still. The 

 only danger was in going between them and the sea; for if they took fright at any thing thej 

 would come down in such numbers that the person in the way would be run over. When he and 

 his party cam.' suddenly upon them, or waked them out of their sleep, they would raise up their 

 lead-, anorl and snail, and look fierce, as if they meant to devour the intruder; but when the men 

 advanced, the sea-lions always ran away. He states that the male is surrounded by twenty or 

 thirty females, and that he is very careful to keep them all to himself, beating off every male 

 that attempts to come to his flock. Others again had a less number, some no more than one or 

 two; and here and there was seen one lying growling in a retired place, suffering neither males, 

 nor females to come near him. These lie judged to be old and superannuated. 



Forster relates that the rocks along the shore in New Year's Harbor were covered with multi- 

 tudes of sea-lions. He -av- that they were often seen to seize each other with.au indescribable 

 degree of rage, and that many of them had deep gashes on their backs, which they had re-; 



