404 MR. A. H. G. DORAN ON THE MORPHOLOGY 



malleus closely resembles that of Macrorhinics. The excavation in front of its large, flat, 

 triangular head is deeper, the articular surface is similar but wider, the neck and the 

 manubrium are even shorter ; the latter differs from that of the Elephant-seal (Macro- 

 rhinus) in being more recurved and spatulate at the tips ; its outer aspect is very 

 broad. 



There is no trace of a processus muscularis, or of the special articular process seen 

 in Phoca vitulina and hispida ; but I find the tendon of the tensor tympani is inserted 

 in a depression on the exact site of the latter process in a malleus of L. carcinophaga. 

 This would seem to indicate that the extra articulating process of some Seals is a 

 modified processus muscularis, though nearer to the head than that process is usually 

 placed ; but, on the other hand, it will be seen that in Phoca barbata, where no trace 

 of the second articulating process can be seen, there exists a sharp, tubercular processus 

 muscularis in the exact position of the same in the Eelidse and Canidse. 



In the incus the posterior part of the body is more developed than in any Seal ex- 

 cepting Macrorhinus. Internal to the facets is a deep pit, with a deep groove, which 

 runs in a line with the groove on the articular surface ; this peculiarity is better marked 

 in Lobodon and Stenorhynchus* than in the Elephant-seal. The posterior cms is very 

 short and stout ; the processus longus is short, thick, and sharply curved ; it is almost 

 plane, not channelled, on its inner aspect, and the Sylvian apophysis is placed a little 

 to the posterior side of its extremity. 



Hence this bone resembles that of Macrorliinus in its peculiar depression internal to 

 the articular surface, but Phoca in its processus longus, which, however, is not grooved 

 as in that animal. 



The stapes is rather aberrant. In the Crab-eating Seal (L. carcinophaga) it has long, 

 very divergent, and much flattened crura, with or without an aperture. The base is wide, 

 thick, and concave horizontally. In the Sea Leopard (S. leptonyx) the flattening of the 

 crura is very marked ; both limbs have rather crooked outlines. 



Among the true Phocina, the ossicula are remarkable for marked differences in closely 

 allied species. These will be enumerated after describing the ear-bones of the common 

 Seal {Phoca mtidina) (PI. LIX. figs. 27, 28, & PI. LX. fig. 1). 



The head of the malleus is flattened, as in the Seals already described ; it is rather 

 small, and nearly circular in outline. Its upper border, the site of the globular part 

 of the head in most mammals, is quite thin and sharp. The anterior aspect is com- 

 pletely occupied by a deep concavity (PI. LIX. fig. 27 c). The articular surface occupies 

 more than half the posterior aspect ; so that it is more extensive than in Macrorhinus, 

 but not quite so large as in the other Seals already described. As in most of them, it 

 is narrow vertically, and very broad horizontally ; and from the sharp, perpendicular 

 ridge on the facets, it is convex in the latter sense, though vertically it is distinctly con- 

 cave ; even the ridges slope downwards to meet each other, and are divided (or, rather, 



* Prof. Flower informs me that Prof. Peters (Monatsb. Akad. Berlin, 1875, p. 393), in a footnote, has notified that 

 the term Stenorhynchus applied by F. Cuvier (1824) to the Small-nailed Seal had been preoccupied by Lamarck (1819) 

 for a genus of Crabs ; hence Prof. Peters proposes to substitute the term Ogmorhinus for the Seal-genus in question. 

 I hare preferred, however, to use Stenorhynclius as that at present best known to naturalists. 



