750 MR. J. W. CLARK ON THE EARED [Nov. 18, 



developed, and Cowper's glands were absent ; the os penis was deeply 

 grooved, li inch long, and slightly curved. 



That this animal is a true Canis is therefore clear ; but that the 

 peculiarities of the caecum are not certain characters to employ in 

 classification in this case is evident, as is likewise the case with Nan- 

 dinia binotata, which, as pointed out recently by Prof. Flower*, is 

 the only known iEluroid animal which does not possess a caecum. 



It will be interesting to observe whether the other South- American 

 Canidse, all of which are peculiar in that the temporal ridges only 

 meet across the skull for a very short distance at their posterior ex- 

 tremity (though some other species present this peculiarity) and are 

 considerably separated in front, agree with Ca?iis cancrlvorus in the 

 simplicity and shortness of their cseca. 



8. On the Eared Seals of the Auckland Islands. 

 By John W. Clark, F.Z.S. 



[Eeceived October 18, 1873.] 



The skulls which I have the pleasure of exhibiting to the Society 

 to-night were brought from the Auckland Islands by M. Dumoutier, 

 one of the naturalists who accompanied the French expedition sent 

 in the 'Astrolabe' and 'ZeleV between the years 1837-1840 to the 

 Antarctic Seas. The largest of the two smaller skulls was purchased 

 in Paris by my late father in 1853, of M. Dumoutier himself; and 

 the two others, together with some fragments of a third, were found 

 by me a few weeks ago in the shop of M. Vasseur, Rue de l'Eeole 

 de Me'decine. He stated that they had formed, to the best of his 

 belief, part of M. Dumoutier's collection — a fact which is put beyond 

 all doubt by the handwriting upon them ; for it is clearly the same 

 on all three, and is also not to be distinguished from that on other 

 objects received from him, and now in the Cambridge Museum. 

 The skulls are marked respectively "Phoque cles Auckland," "Phoque 

 des lies Auckland," and "Phoque male adulte des lies Auckland du 

 Sud." 



The Auckland Islands lie between 800 and 900 miles S. of Tas- 

 mania, in lat. 50° 48' S., long. 166° 42' E. They were first dis- 

 covered in 1 806 by Captain Bristow, on board a whaler belonging to 

 the Messrs. Enderby. During the next thirty-four years they appear 

 to have been occasionally visited by vessels in search of whales and 

 seals, but never to have been scientifically explored, nor was any note of 

 their fauna or flora made. In 1840 they were visited by no less than 

 three exploring-expeditions, viz. : — by the American brig ' Porpoise,' 

 commanded by Lieut. Wilkes ; the French corvettes 'Astrolabe' and 

 ' Zelee ; ' and the English ships ' Erebus ' and » Terror,' under the 

 command of Sir J. C. Ross. Wilkes investigated the botany of the 

 islands, and the birds ; but as he says that " besides the birds, the 

 the only living creature was a small mouse," he evidently paid but 

 * P. Z. S. 1872, p. 683. 



