108 Dr. J. E. Gray on the Fur- and Hair- Seals 



Buenos Ayres] a young half-grown specimen [oi Arctocephalus 

 falklandicus] nearly 3 feet in length. From this I have taken 

 the skull, of which I send you a description and drawings." 

 (Ann. N. H. 1866, xviii. p. 99, t. 9. f. 1, 2, 3, 4.) From the 

 comparison of the figures, and especially of the teeth and the 

 form of the palate, with our older skull oi ArctocejihaJus Hooheri, 

 I have little doubt that it is the skull of a specimen of that 

 species before the grinders were all developed. It is not the 

 skull of Otaria juhata^ which the other specimen he called A. 

 falklandicus is, as proved by the form and position of the 

 hinder nasal openings. The figure of the young skull differs 

 from the older skull of ^. HooJceri in the British Museum in 

 having a notch in the middle, while the older skull of A. 

 Hookeri has a conical prominence in the same place. Such 

 differences are found in skulls of Seals at different ages. 



IV. In 1865, a French sailor named Leconte, serving on board 

 the '■ Paulina,' of Buenos Ayres, brought to England a young 

 male Sea-Bear that was captured near Cape Horn, in the 

 month of June 1862. A female he had obtained shortly after- 

 wards had not survived to reach Europe. Having been pre- 

 viously shown in France, in England it was first exhibited 

 in the Cremorne Gardens, Leconte having taught it several 

 tricks, such as ascending a ladder, firing off a pistol, and 

 sitting in his lap and kissing him, rewarding it for each of 

 its tricks with a piece of fish. The animal was at length 

 purchased by the Zoological Society, and Leconte retained to 

 attend to it. It is well figured in the ' Illustrated London 

 News,' the ' Boy's own Book,' and in the ' Proceedings of the 

 Zoological Society ' for 1866, p. 80. 



The animal died in 1867 ; and Dr. Murie has undertaken 

 to give an account of its anatomy, which I look for with much 

 impatience, as I am not aware that the anatomy of the family 

 has ever been given. Leconte has been sent by the Society 

 to the Falkland Islands in hopes that he may bring to Europe 

 some other Seals of the southern hemisphere. 



When I first saw this Seal, on account of its short fur, dark 

 colour, and yellow nape, I named it Otariajuhata ; and it was 

 so named for a time in the Zoological Gardens ; afterwards 

 Mr. Sclater determined it to be the Arctocejyhakis Hooken\ 

 and figm-ed it as such (P. Z. S. 1866, p. 80), overlooking the 

 pale colour of the fur of that species. 



Dr. Burmeister (Ann. Nat. Hist. 1866, xviii. p. 99) says 

 the Sea-Lion ( Otariajuhata) and Arctocerphalus falklandicus are 

 the only Seals " found in the Atlantic near the mouth of the 

 Rio de la Plata. Thev were formerly common on the small 



