1873.] SEALS OF THE AUCKLAND ISLANDS. 757 



wider ; but this, 1 think, is explained by the skulls being evidently 

 those of younger animals. The mastoid process shows signs of ulti- 

 mately developing into the peg-like process of the larger skull ; and 

 though there is not the same decided interval between the periotic 

 and the basioccipital, there is yet no union or coherence between 

 the bones, and I think that with iucreased age the bulla and the 

 mastoid process would develop and absorb the canal now existing 

 between them and the basioccipital. The dental formula in the two 

 smaller skulls is 



y 3—3 p 1—1 tut 6—6 



*■• 2—2' V " 1—1' 5—5* 



The outermost incisor in the upper jaw is very large, quite half as 

 large as the canine. The upper molars are pointed ; each has a small 

 anterior tubercle ; and the last two have their crowns bifid, with a 

 double root. The lower molars are similar in shape ; but the last 

 only has a bifid crown and a double root. The same characters ob- 

 tain in the large skull ; but the incisors have fallen out by age, and 

 the molars are much worn. 



The points of similarity that I have enumerated are so remarkable 

 that I cannot but conclude that the three skulls are all of the same 

 species ; and I explain the difference in size, strength of build, deve- 

 lopment of crest, and dimensions of canine teeth by suggesting that 

 the large skull is that of a male, and the two smaller those of females. 

 It follows that Otaria hookeri has been determined and hitherto known 

 only from female skulls. 



The colour of Captain Musgrave's Sea-lion, a yellowish grey, will 

 agree very well with that of the specimens of O. hookeri in the British 

 Museum. One of those is grey, inclining to black ; the other, and 

 smaller one (perhaps a female), a warm golden grey. I conclude 

 therefore that the Seal described by him with so much minuteness 

 is O. hookeri, and that the Auckland Islands may be set down for the 

 future as one of its habitats. 



There has been hitherto much difficulty in ascertaining the precise 

 locality of Otaria hookeri. Dr. Gray says it "inhabits Falkland 

 Islands and Cape Horn"*. I cannot, however, discover any 

 authoritative statement that the skulls described by him, and now 

 in the British Museum, belonged to animals actually killed at either 

 of those places ; and as regards the Falkland Islands, all the Seals 

 that inhabit them have been most accurately enumerated by Captain 

 Abbott (P. Z. S. 1868, p. 189), and O. hookeri is not among them. 

 As regards Cape Horn, we unfortunately do not possess equally pre- 

 cise information. 



It will be useful here to turn to the original account of Forster, 

 who accompanied Captain Cook on his second voyage t, and on 

 Dec. 31, 1774, being then at Staten Land, describes the Seals he 

 met with in the following terms : — 



<( After dinner we hoisted out three boats, and landed with a large 



* Zoology of ' Erebus ' and ' Terror,' p. 5 ; Catalogue of Seals and Wales, ed. 

 1866, p. 54; Supplement to do. 1871, p. 16. 



t Captain Cook's Second A r oyage, 4th ed 1784, vol. ii. p. 194. 



