1884.] 



SEA-LTON FROM AUSTRALIA. 



1.01 



enumerated Arctocephalus cinereus among the species which, in his 

 judgment, ought to be referred to the genus Arctocephalus, proposed 

 by Frederic Cuvier in 1824. The species is due to a brief descrip- 

 tion by Peron, who stayed from December 1802 to February 1803 

 at an island off the S. coast of Australia, near Adelaide, which the 

 French explorers called Isle Decres, but which is laid down on modem 

 maps as Kangaroo Island. After describing the numbers of Kanga- 

 roos, he proceeds : — " Parmi les Phocaces nombreux qui peuploient 

 les rivages de l'ile, on distinguoit surtout une nouvelle espece du 

 genre Otarie (Otaria cinerea, N.) qui parvient a, la longueur de 30 a 

 32 decimetres [9 a 10 piedsj. Le poil de cct animal est tres court, 



Fig. 3. 



Otaria cinerea, § ; side view of skull. 



tres dur, et tres grossier ; mais son cuir est epais et fort, et l'huile 

 qu'on prepare avec sa graisse est aussi bonne qu'abondante. Pour 

 1 un et 1' autre rapport, la peche de cet amphibie offriroit de prc'- 

 cieux avantages ; il en est de meme de quelques autres especes de 

 Phocaces plus petites qu'on trouve egalement en tres-grand nombre 

 sur ces bords, et qui portent des fourrures de bonne qualite." 1 



Peron, as is well known, did not live to write the work on the 

 Otariidte for which he had made preparations, and he brought home 

 no specimens, or, if he did, they have long since disappeared. His 

 brief notice of the Otaria which he intended to call 0. cinerea tells 

 us nothing except that the animal was what is called a " Hair Seal," 

 for he contrasts it with others which possessed abundant underfur. 



Ten years afterwards an Otaria was captured near Port Western in 

 Bass's Straits, during the voyage of the 'Astrolabe.' MM. Quoy and 



1 Peron, 'Voyage de decouvertes aux Terres Australes' (4to, Paris, 1816), ii 

 p. 77. 



