103 



description of the adult male of the species, and is most distinct in 

 external character and colour from the Fur-Seal {A. falklandicus) 

 of the Falkland Islands and of A. lobatus from Australia. 



The skull is equally distinct from the various skulls of all the 

 species of the genus Arctocephalus (both Fur- and Hair-Seals) which 

 are in the collection of the British Museum, and is easily known 

 from them by the shortness of the face and the height and convexity 

 of the nose. See Plate LXVIIl. 



The skull of this specimen is quite distinct from the skull of the 

 Arctocephalus gilliespii of California, recently described by Dr. Mac 

 Bain in the ' Proceedings of the Physical Society of Edinburgh,' 

 under the name of Otaria gilliespii, from a skull in the Edinburgh 

 Natural History Museum, of which we have a cast in the British 

 Museum : but we are not able to ascertain with certainty whether this 

 is aFur- or Hair-Seal, though, from the length of the palate, compared 

 with the width of the skull at the hinder grinders, I am induced to 

 believe that it may belong to an animal which has a soft under fur. 

 This proves that the Seals from the different parts of the West Coast 

 of America are distinct from each other, each specimen having a 

 specific geographical range. 



Arctocephalus ubsinxjs. Northern Fur-Seal. 



Adult male grey-black ; hair of the back long, black, reddish, with 

 a subterminal band and a short grey tip ; under fur short, woolly, 

 red ; the hair of the neck and front of the body longer, forming a 

 kind of mane ; lips and nose reddish ; whiskers very long, strong, 

 white, smooth, tapering to a fine point. Skull short, forehead very 

 convex and rounded. 



Hab. Behring's Straits. 



I may state that the name Arctocephalus ursinus is usually applied 

 to the various species of Eared Fur- Seals found in the different 

 English and Continental Museums. 



7. Description of a New Species of Fish, Peristethus 

 RiEFFELi. By Prof. Dr. Kaup. 



(Pisces, PI. VIII.) 



This new species is an inhabitant of the seas of China and perhaps 

 Japan, and shows, with a species of Japan and two of the Moluccas, 

 that the Mediterranean species is not so isolated as we have hitherto 

 believed. 



The genus Peristethus (Peristedion) is to be placed in the middle 

 of the subfamily Triglince, and connects the similar forms of Bac- 

 tyloptera with those which are near to the genus Trigla. 



The highest genera, Cephalacanthus and Bactijloptera, have no 

 separated rays on the pectorals, a thorn-shaped prolongation, of the 

 preopercle, and a normal covering of scales without a trace of lateral 

 line. 



