1875.] MR. J. W. CLARK ON EARED SEALS. 657 
is very short, hard, and coarse; but its leather is thick and strong, 
and the oil prepared from its fat is as good as it is abundant. For 
both these reasons it would be highly advantageous to fish this 
animal, as also some other species of Seals of smaller size that are 
found together with the former in great numbers on these coasts, 
and which possess fur of good quality” (ii. p. 77). 
At an island called by the French Isle Eugéne, in the Nuyts 
Archipelago, and which is, I believe, identical with the St.-Francis 
Island of Flinders and the English maps, he finds a new species “ of 
the genus I have thought it right to establish under the name of 
Otaria. They attain the length of 8 to 9 feet, and are especially 
distinguished by a large white spot on the middle and upper surface 
of the neck: from this character I have described this new seal 
under the name of Ofavia albicollis, N. Individuals of this beauti- 
ful species have their fore limbs closer together than the other 
amphibians (!) of the same family; they are moreover far more 
active and less timid than the others” *. 
Captain Turnbull, writing in 1810+, mentions that “when the 
sealing flagged in some degree at Bass’s Straits, they [the colonists] 
turned their attention to New Zealand, where the seals were known 
toabound. Every bay, creek, and river was examined by them ; and 
the fruit of their labour most amply recompensed them” (p. 505). . . 
«The intercourse between the colony of New South Wales and the 
Fejee Islands to the northward has been extremely active of late 
years. Several vessels fitted out at that colony obtained cargoes there 
amounting to 46,000 seal-skins”’ (p.509) . . ‘In 1811 some reso- 
lute adventurers, in pursuit of new objects, penetrated as far as lat. 
54° 45'S. and long 159° 42! E., where they discovered an island. 
which they named Macquarrie Island . Some time previous ‘to 
this another island had been discovered in the latitude of 52° 41! S., 
long. 169° E., which . ... the discoverer named Campbell’s 
lead The frst of these adventurers, and their immediate succes- 
sors who arrived at Macquarrie Island, killed not Jess than 80,000 
seals” (p. 515). 
The French expedition sent under Dumont D’ Urville in the ‘ Astro- 
labe,’ between the years 1826 and 1829, to the South Seas, coasted 
the south of Australia. Two species of Otaria have been described 
by the naturalists of the voyage ¢, Otaria cinerea and O. australis. 
As regards the Seals of the Aucklands I must refer to my own 
paper, P.Z:8. 1873, p. 750. 
Lastly, the French Government having determined to send an 
expedition to Campbell Island § to observe the transit of Venus, an 
excellent naturalist, M. Filhol, was selected to accompany it. He 
* 7.c.p.118. “Ont les pieds antérieurs moins éloignés de la poitrine que 
la plupart des autres amphibies de la méme famille.” 
Pr “A Voyage round the World in the years 180C-1804,’ by John Turnbull. 
Second edit. 4to, eae 1813, pp. 505 et. seg. 
t Zoologie, vol. i. 99. 
§ For an account Fo Campbell Island see Sir John Ross's Antarctic Voyage, 
i. p. 154. 
42* 
