2 LETTER FROM MR. C. FRASER. [Jan. 14, 
lowing extract from a letter addressed to him by Mr. Skues relating 
to this animal :— 
‘The large Potto (the mother) was offered to me for sale, at Cape 
Coast, by a native, about the commencement of this year; but I 
declined it. On the 31st March he brought it again to me, with a 
young one which it had given birth to on the 8th February ; and I 
bought them, and they remained in my rooms till the end of April, 
when I went to Accra. All the time at Cape-Coast Castle they kept 
in excellent condition, but I could not succeed in taming either of 
them. They used to sleep all day, the mother usually perched on 
the top of a door, with the young one hanging in front of her belly, 
clasping her with both fore and hind extremities. As soon as it was 
dusk they came down, and wandered about the room all night. 
For some time the mother carried the young one about at night 
hanging to her belly, but afterwards it used to travel about by itself. 
I fed them on pine-apples and bananas, with water; milk and bread 
they would not eat. ‘Though there were insects about the room, as 
is the case always in tropical climates, I never detected them eating 
them ; but one day I found the large Potto busily munching at a tray 
of beetles I had drying, and before I detected her she had eaten a 
good many. At Accra I was unable to afford them the same liberty 
as at Cape-Coast Castle, and, moreover, being constantly ill with 
fever, was unable to pay them as much attention as formerly. On 
the 9th July the young one died, aged 212 weeks, with all the 
symptoms of intermittent fever, of which it had experienced several 
previous attacks. The mother I took on board the steamer on the 
7th August in tolerable condition ; but being an invalid I was unable 
to look properly after her, and she died on the 20th, a little before 
we reached Teneriffe. The natives call the Potto “Aposoro,” and 
seem much afraid of it.”’ 
A note was read from Mr. Charles Fraser, M.A., F.G.S., Christ- 
church, Canterbury, New Zealand, dated Sept. 5, 1868, relating to 
a female Seal (Stenorhynchus ’) caught in the harbour of Lyt- 
telton, Canterbury, New Zealand, in the month of August 1868. 
The worn state of the teeth indicated that it was an aged animal. 
Incisors i canines = molars —, in all 32. The total length was 
11 feet 8 inches, and the girth at the thickest part of the body 
6 feet. The nails were very small on the fore paws, and very small, 
‘but still present, on the hinder extremities. The whole body was 
covered with thin, sparse, longish hairs lying close to the skin. In 
colour the animal was grey above, with black flakes, and a brownish 
tinge all over the central part. On the sides the black spots were 
replaced by white flakes or spots; while the underpart of the body 
was light grey. The fore paws were white, with light grey flakes ; 
the hinder extremities black, with light grey flakes. There was no 
tail, nor rudiment of one; the vertebral column terminated in a 
round compressed manner under the skin, which extended about 
3 inches beyond it, so as to form the curve uniting the hinder extre- 
mities. 
