1875. ] MR. J. W. CLARK ON EARED SEALS. 669 
nued to live: nay, more ; after their skull had been fractured by an 
axe they continued to groan loudly for several hours, Old animals 
stink most foully. The flesh of the young is very delicate ; and was 
eaten by us, not from necessity, but on account of its excellence. 
Some weighed as much as 220 lb.*, cubs scarcely 10 or 12. The 
former exceeded 6 or 7 feet in length; the latter hardly reached 23. 
The body is conical from the shoulders to the tail, and conical in 
the reverse direction from the shoulders to the head+. The hair all 
over the body is adpressed, short, soft, black, with reddish grey tips. 
Beneath the hair is a soft, thick, delicate, reddish fur. Head 
rounded ; snout, from the eyes forwards, pointed ; behind the eyes 
the head suddenly bulges outt. Mouth prominent. Nose black, 
naked. Septum hollowed out into a channel. Nostrils vertical at 
first, then diverge sideways at a right angle. Lips moderate. 
Whiskers few, strong, bristly, arranged in five rows, after the man- 
ner of a quincunx, black ; the hindermost, especially in the old in- 
dividuals, stronger, white. Teeth separate, white. Incisors with 
broad crowns, 4 in each jaw; the upper have their crowns double, 
with points before and behind; the lower simple. Upper canines 
2 on each side, strong, subconical, recurved, sharply keeled on their 
inner edge: the inner smaller than the outer, which is six tenths 
of an inch longer. Lower canines one on each side, smaller than 
the outer one of the upper jaw, but larger than the inner. Upper 
molars 6 on each side, strong, subconical, like those of a dog; at 
their roots on each side are rudiments, like the germs of new teeth§. 
Lower molars 5 on each side. Total—upper teeth 20, lower teeth 
16,=36. 
Tongue beset with papille; the point indented or emarginate. 
Palate disposed in folds. Eyes rather prominent, full, spherical, 
with a ‘‘membrana nictitans”’ on their inner edge. Iris dark. 
Ears small, folded, erect, rather stiff, sublanceolate, hairy on the 
outside, smooth on the inside. 
Hands free, fin-shaped (not, as in most Seals, concealed beneath 
the skin). On the upper surface they are covered with hair down 
to the nails; the rest, and the under surface, destitute of hair, black; 
in form subtriangular; on the under surface, from the apex up to 
the body, the skin is disposed in wavy folds. The rudimentary 
nails are very small, shaped like lentil seeds, and situated at the 
apex of the phalanges before the cartilaginous prolongations com- 
mence. The entire hand is a shapeless, undefined mass, but jointed 
within beneath the skin ||. 
* Dr. Hector gives the weight of two males as 258 and 270 lb. respectively ; 
of a female 208 lb. (Trans. N.Z. Inst. iv. 296). 
+ “Corpus subconicum a humeris ad caudam, et obconicum a humeris ad 
caput.” 
, “ Caput subglobosum, versus rostrum attenuatum ad oculos, versus corpus 
subito incrementum capit.” 
“ Ad quorum radices utrinque sunt gemmz quasi novorum dentium.” 
| ‘“Rudimenta unguiculorum minima, lentiformia, ad apices phalangium, 
ante epiphyses cartilagineas sit. Tota forma manuum moles rudis et indistincta, 
at interius sub cute articulate.” 
