162 SPECIMENS OF PINNIPEDIA. 



The OTARiiDiE. — So many diversities are to be found in the 

 writings of naturalists regarding this family that it is difhcult to 

 construct a classification which can be regarded as conclusive. 

 Dr J. E. Gray made nine genera and eighteen species of Eared Seals, 

 Dr Peters three genera and thirteen species. Mr Allen, founding upon 

 differences in the character of the pelage, proposed two subfamilies, 

 Tricophocacere and Ouliphocacse, which correspond with the older 

 division Hair Seals or Sea Lions, and Fur Seals or Sea Bears. Sir 

 Wm. Flower, again, included all the Eared Seals in the single genus 

 Otaria, and regarded the Sea Lions and Sea Bears as merely species 

 of that genus. It is indeed questionable if a sharp line of demarca- 

 tion separates the pelage of the Sea Lions from that of the Sea Bears, 

 though in the latter a thick coat of under -fur constitutes the 

 important structural character which gives to these seals their special 

 economic value. Differences undoubtedly exist in the cranial 

 characters in different species of Eared Seals, which justify a certain 

 amount of subdivision of the old genus Otaria. Along with Peters 

 and Allen, I restrict the name Otaria to the Sea Lion of the South 

 Atlantic and South Pacific. The species of Sea Bears, again, may be 

 arranged, as was done by Peters, in two genera, Arctocephalus and 

 Eumetopias, though it should be admitted that Peters gave too brief 

 a specification of their generic difference, and some zoologists prefer 

 to regard this division as unnecessary, and combine all the species 

 in the genus Arctocephalus. 



The Phocid^. — The Phocidse or True Seals are distinguished by 

 the absence of the pinna of the ear, by the hind limbs not being 

 used for support and progression, but being directed backwards at 

 the sides of the tail, by the palms and soles being hairy, and by the 

 body being covered by short, stiff hairs without under-fur. They are 

 the Hair Seals proper. They have a wide distribution. Several 

 species frequent the North Atlantic as far north as the Arctic Ocean ; 

 others are found in the Southern and Antarctic Oceans, and one 

 species, Monachus, seems to be restricted to the Mediterranean ; 

 others occur in the Caspian and Aral Seas and in Lake Baikal. Two 

 species frequent the coast of Scotland, Phoca vitulina and Halicliwrus 

 gri/pus, and occasionally a specimen of an Arctic seal is met with. 

 Isolated examples of the Hooded Seal, Oystophora crisfata, have been 

 seen in the Orkneys, and in 1872 one was caught in St Andrews 

 Bay. The Harp Seal, Phoca grmnlandica, has been seen in Shetland, 

 and in 1875 I recorded the capture in the preceding year of a specimen 

 in Morecambe Bny. The Arctic seals are very gregarious, and in the 

 spring are slaughtered in enormous numbers for the oil and skins. 



The family Phocidse is divided into three sul)families : Phocinae, 

 Ogmorhininfe, and Cystophorinae. The Museum contains upwards of 

 one hundred and forty specimens. 



