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



ossification in the basi- and exoccipitals they are very small. The 

 palate is much prolonged behind the last molars, and its hinder 

 margin is concave. The palatine foramina are situated in its hinder 

 halt. There are botli a subansular and an angular process to the 

 ascending ramus ot the mandible, but both these processes are very 

 small. The skull agrees generally with that of Phoca, in points 

 not here mentioned. 



Dentition :— I. \, C. \, P. \, M. j=30. 



Only the last upper molar has generally two roots. The roots of 

 the molars are long and swollen ; their crowns are small and rather 

 plaited than lobed. 



Macroi-himis^.- — This genus contains two species; one ranging 

 the South Pacific, Indian, and Antarctic Oceans, and the other in- 

 habiting the coasts of iMexico and Southern California. Here the 

 claws of the manus are small, and those of the pes are quite rudi- 

 mentary or altogether absent. The nose of the male has a short, 

 dilatable proboscis. The first and fifth toes exceed the others and 

 have prolonged cutaneous lobes. 



There are 15 dorsal, 5 lumbar, 3 or 4 sacral, and 9-11 caudal 

 vertebrae. 



The skull has rather small nasals, which are separate and are not 

 attained by the premaxilla?. The anterior nares are wide, especially 

 dorsally, as in the last-described genus. The skull of this genus 

 differs from all those of the genera yet noticed in that the posterior 

 half of the petrosal and the condyloid foramina may look directly 

 backwards. There is hardly any paroccipital process, and the 

 mastoid process is only developed in old males. The palate may 

 have a deeply concave hinder margin, or, being generally concave, 

 may have a prominent process in its middle. The crista galli is large, 

 but the cerebellar fossa of the petrosal is small. There are small venous 

 channels in the supraocci])ital which open on the dorsal margin of 

 the foramen magnum. There is a deep groove behind the post- 

 glenoid process, in which is a small glenoid foramen. There is a 

 moderate suborbital foramen, with no deep fossa beneath it. I have 

 observed no defects of ossification in the occipital or between the 

 palatine and pterygoid and the sphenoid. The foramen ovale is 

 thrown outside the vertical wall formed by the pterygoid, which 

 passes backwards to join the petrosal. 



There is a minute subangular process, pushed up very closely to 

 the angular process, which itself is but little below the condyle. 



Dentition :— I. \, C. \, P. \, M. | = 30. 



■^ Phoca leonina, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. (17G5) p. 38. 

 PJioca elcphantina, Molina, Sagg. sul Stor. nat. del Chili (1782), p. 280. 

 Thoca inohoscidea, Peron, Voy. aux Terr. Austr. ii. (1817) p. 34, pl.xxxii. 

 Cysiophora frohoscidm, Nilsson, Vet. Akad. Handl. (1837) ; Schreber's 

 Fortgesetzt Waguer, vii. p. 42. 

 . Morunga eleplianfina, Gray, Cat. Seals Brit. Mas. (186fi) p. 38. 

 MacrorhimislconimiR, Allen, N. Amer. Pinnipeds, pp. 463, 4(>6, 743. See also 



Flower, P. Z. S. 1881, p. 145, an important memoir. 

 Grand Phoque a inuseau ride, Buffon, Supp. vi. p. 316. 



