486 DR. ST. G. MIVART ON THE PINNIPEDIA. [May 19, 



distinct suborder, the iEluroid, CynoiJ, and Arctoid Carnivora 

 beins united to form the other suborder. I think moreover that 

 there is not the slightest question that their cranial characters 

 indicate most strongly their approximation to the Arctoid type, as 

 has often been noticed before on other grounds (De Blainville says, 

 ' Les Ours, dont les rapports avec les Phoques ont etc sentis de tout 

 temps et meme par Aristote,' Osteographie, tome ii. p. 49). Indeed 

 their skulls seem to be simply a further modification of this type, 

 showing resemblances to the true Bears on the one hand, and the 

 Otters on the other." 



Before stating ray own general conclusions, I will proceed to give 

 my notes upon the various genera of Pinnipeds. 



Phoca ^ — This genus consists of half-a-dozen or a few more 

 species, confined to the northern arctic and temperate regions of the 

 Old and New Worlds, including the Aral and Caspian Seas and the 

 coasts of Japan. P. vitulina is found in both hemispheres. They 

 liave the palms and soles haii-y, five well-developed claws to each 

 foot, those of the manus being the broader and more curved. The 

 hind limbs are constantly extended backwards, and cannot be turned 

 forwards. Tliere is no external ear and no scrotum. The toes of 

 the pes do not differ quietly in length, the first and fifth not greatly 

 exceeding the others. There are 14 or 15 dorsal, 5 lumbar, 4 sacral, 

 and from 11 to 15 caudal vertebrae. 



The skull presents the following general characters : — 



The premaxiila is much separated from the frontal by a more or 

 less wide junction of the nasal with the maxilla. The nasals are 

 not generally, if at all, anchylosed together, and they join the 

 premaxillse. There is no lachrymal foramen. The infraorbital 

 foramen is of moderate size, or rather large. There is no distinct 

 foramen rotundum, one opening re]iresenting both it and the spheno- 

 orbital fissure. Sometimes there are defects of ossification between 

 the basisphenoid, alisphenoid, and pterygoid. There are one or 

 two large openings in the palatine, representing the spheno-palatine 

 foramen, with defects of ossification above it between the frontal, 

 maxilla, and palatine. There are also, generally, defects of ossi- 

 fication in the basisphencid and basioccipital. The alisphenoid is 

 joined by a long descending process of the parietal. There is no 

 postorbital jii'ocess from the frontal, and the zygomatic postorbital 

 process is formed partly by the malar and partly by the squamosal. 

 There is a large crista galli. The cerebellar fossa of the petrosal 

 is very deep. The bulla is dense and undivided, traversed by a 

 carotid canal the posterior aperture of which is on the hinder sur- 

 face of the bulla. There is, in most cases, hardly any paroccipital 

 process. The mastoid is prominent and forms an outwardly directed 



^ Linn. Fn. Suec. ii. p. 2, 4; Syst. Nat. 12, i. p. .56; Schveb. Siiug. toI. vii. 

 p. 17 ; Buffon, Hist. Nat. xiii. p. .333, pi. 45, and Suppl. vi. pi. 46 ; Gray 

 IC'aUoccphabts, Pnqoi)i7/s, Pagophilus, Hulicyon, and Phoca), CafiJogiie of Seals 

 and Whales in Brit. Mus. pp. 20-32 ; J. J. Alien, North Amer. Pinnipeds, 

 pp. 412, .557, &c. ; De Blainville, Osteog., Phoca; Cuvier, Ossem. Foss., Atlas, 

 vol. ii. pi. 219. 



