of the, Antarctic Seas and the Cape of Good Hope. 217 



known of a dark-grey colour, with a whitish underside, that I 

 have seen. 



The A. falklandicus is very like the Fur-Seal from Australia 

 {A. cinereus) in the length of the under-fur as compared with 

 the length of the hairs, and also in the colour of the under- 

 fur and hair ; but the fur is much softer, and its general colour 

 is much darker, both above and below. 



M. de Buffon describes a small Eared Seal, which he calls 

 a " second Phoque " (vol. xiii. p. 341, t. 43, where it is named 

 " le petit Phoque"), which he was assured came from India, 

 but very probably came from the Levant ; and he considers it 

 adult, because it has all its teeth. It is only one-fifth of the size 

 of the Seal of the European seas (Hist. Nat. xiii. p. 344) . He 

 further speaks of it as " le petit Phoque noir des Indes et du 

 Levant" (p. 345). It is evidently a young Eared Seal. The 

 figure is probably from the skin, with the bones of the toes 

 and jaws, presented to the cabinet by M. Mauduit (mentioned 

 at p. 433. n. 1273), and said to have come from India. 



The specimen Buffon figured, then being in the Paris Mu- 

 seum, was thus described by Cuvier (Oss. Foss. v. p. 220) : — 

 " Get animal a deux pieds de long ; ses oreilles sont grandes 

 et pointues ; son pelage est fourrd, luisant, d'mi brun noir tr^s- 

 fonc^ et a sa nuance blanchatre. Le ventre seul est brun jau- 

 ndtre." The teeth show that it is young. 



The figure and description of the Petit Phoque of Buffon 

 have had the following names given to them : — 



Little Seal by Pennant and Shaw. 

 Phoca pusilla, Schreber, Saugeth. 314. 

 Phoca parva^ Bodd. Elench. 78. 

 Otaria pusilla^ Desm. N. Diet. 

 Otaria Pero7iii^ Desm. Mamm. 



Fischer, in his ' Synopsis,' under Phoca pusilla^ p. 252, gives 

 the Cape of Good Hope and Kotteness Island, on the coast of 

 Australia, as the habitat of the species. 



The description of Cuvier much more nearly fits that of the 

 young Arctocephalus nigrescens from the Falkland Islands. 

 The fur of the young Cape Seal is dark, black above and be- 

 low ; the hairs are slender, and brown (not whitish) at the 

 base ; and the underside is not yellowish brown ; so that it is 

 very doubtful if it is the young of the Cape Seal. 



Dr. Peters, believing Buffon's specimen to be a young Cape 

 Seal, changed the name of Delalandii to pusilla. 



There formerly existed in the Museum of the Royal Society 

 an Eared Seal without any habitat; it is called the Long-necked 

 Seal in Grew's '■ Rarities," 



