Afiftcellaneous. 325 



thought it important to make a fresh examination of admitted ori- 

 ginal specimens. Such a specimen, transmitted directly by Dawson, 

 was placed at his disposal by I'rofessors Schimpcr and Benecke, on 

 the occasion of his visiting the mnscum at Strasburg. From his 

 investigation of this specimen and of some received from Carpenter, 

 the author confirmed, and showed in numerous drawings, the pre- 

 sence of a highly developed canal-system in many of the calcareous 

 bands, especially the broader ones. The form and arrangement of 

 these canals is often beautifully preserved, even though their in- 

 terior is tilled with a crystalline silicate. Here and there the struc- 

 ture has the greatest resemblance to that of the dentine of the 

 teeth, which is also traversed by canals. But for many reasons 

 there can be no question of dentine in this case. The application 

 of stronger powers shows that in the finer structure of the canals 

 there is so great an agreement with that of Poli/trema among the 

 living Acervulinae, that, weighing all the other conditions of struc- 

 ture which come into consideration, there can be no serious doubt 

 as to the foraminiferous nature oi Eozoon canadense. — From a report 

 of the Meeting of the N iederrheinisclie GeseUschaft far Natiir- uml 

 Heilhunde at Bonn, Jidy 7, 1873, in the 'Koln.'r Zeitung,^ August 

 14, 1873. 



Notes on the Skulls of two undescribed Species of Sea-lions (Otaria). 

 By Dr. J. E. Gray, F.R.S. &c. 



The British !Museum has a series of fourteen skulls of the common 

 sea-lion, from the largest size (16 inches long) to that of the pups, 

 and of both sexes. 



They are all characterized by their short, broad lower jaws, the 

 space between the under part of the two sides' being bowed out, and 

 the lower margin, from the gonyx to the angle of the jaw, being of 

 the^ame length as the space between the two jaws at the angle. 



The lower jaws are swoUen on the sides and broad in front. The 

 scar of the temporal muscle on the hinder part of the lower jaw is 

 broad, rounded in front. There are specimens in the Museum from, 

 various parts of South America, as Peru, Chili, the Falkland Islands, 

 and the Coast of Patagonia. 



The skulls of the young and of some of the older ones have the 

 sixth upper grinder behind the back edge of the front of the zygo- 

 matic arch ; but in the skulls of the aged animals the zygoma is dila- 

 ted, and the tooth comes to be partially or entirely before the hinder 

 edge of the zygoma, sometimes differing on the two sides of the 

 same skull. 



In the British Museum there are two skulls of adult animals 

 which differ in ha^*ing the lower jaws straight, not bowed on the 

 side, and elongate, the lower margin from the angle to the gonyx 

 being considerably longer than the space between the two sides of 

 the jaw at the angle, and the front of the lower jaw flattened on the 

 sides, and the scar of the temporal muscle is elongate, narrow in 

 front. 1 propose to name them 



Ann. & Mag. N. Hist. Ser. 4. Vol xili. 23 



