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XIV. Notes on the External Characters and Anatomy of the Californian Sea-lion 

 (Otaria gillespii). By W. A. Forbes, B.A., Fellow of St. Johns Colleije, 

 Cambridge, Prosector to the Society. 



Received March 12th, read April 5th, 1881. 



[Plates XLVIIL, XLIX., L.] 



Of late years numerous specimens of the Californian Sea-lion [Otaria gillesjniy have 

 been brought alive to Europe and exhibited in the Zoological Gardens and Aquaria of 

 England and the Continent. A pair, the male of which has lately died, lived long at 

 the Brighton Aquarium, and on two occasions bred, one of the cubs being now a fine 

 adolescent male. Another pair were received in the year 1877 at the Southport 

 Aquarium. Of these the female was killed accidentally some fifteen months ago, as 

 already noticed in the Society's 'Proceedings' (1879, p. 460). Unfortunately no 

 further use seems to have been made of her body, though the skull was exhibited at 

 one of the Society's meetings, and determined by Prof. Flower as belonging to this 

 species {I. c. p. 551). The male did not long survive his partner, but, gradually pining 

 away, died last spring. Mr. C. L. Jackson, the Superintendent of the Aquarium, 

 having forwarded this animal after its death to Prof. Flower, our President, being at 

 that time much occupied with other duties, was kind enough to hand it over to me for 

 examination and dissection. 



Till within a few weeks ago our knowledge of the Californian Sea-lion was extremely 

 limited, all that was known about it being contained in Mr. J. A. Allen's account of the 

 species in his article on the " Eared Seals " (Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool. ii. pp. 69-73, 

 1870-71). At that time his only materials, as regards the present animal, were two 

 skulls and a skeleton ; and for his description of the skin he had to depend upon 

 Schlegel's {i. e. Temminck's) account of Otaria stelleri in the ' Fauna Japonica,' which 

 at that time, following Dr. Peters's identification, he regarded as being in reality 

 0. gillespii. 



' Mr. J. A. Allen, in the second of his valuahle memoirs mentioned helow, uses the name Zaloplius califor- 

 nianus for the present species. I am not yet prepared to split up the, in many ways, very natural genus 

 Otaria into several genera, founded, as these are, almost entirely upon cranial characters. As regards the 

 genus Zalophxis, it may be noted that Mr. 0. Thomas has lately noticed a skull of Otaria jubata with the 

 same number of molars as are supposed to characterize that genus (P. Z. S. 1881, p. 4). 



As regards the specific name, the Otaria californiana of Lesson was based, as Mr. Allen states, on a drawing 

 pubhshed by Choris in 1822, which is called by Mr. AUea himself " a rather poor figure," and has hitherto 

 been referred to 0. stelleri. As there can be no doubt as to the species intended by MacBain's name gillespii, 

 and as that name, too, has hitherto been used by nearly aU writers on the subject, I think it will be better 

 to retain it. 



VOL. XI. — PAET VII. No. 3. — October, \^%2. 2n 



