Zoological Society. 419 



process, but that on the anterior rim of the orbit is very strongly 

 developed ; there is also an ali-sphenoid canal whose outer wall is 

 very thick ; the mastoid is a large thick process, projecting very 

 much as in Arctocephalus, but its surface is for the most part con- 

 tinuous with that of the flattened auditory bulla. 



If we adopt all the five subfamilies into which this family is 

 divided in the list published by Mr. Gray, the Walrus, and the 

 Arctocephaline group, which differ so decidedly from the other 

 Seals, would almost seem entitled to the rank of families ; but rather 

 than so completely dismember such a well-marked group as that of 

 the Seals, I should feel disposed to assign to the differences of the 

 teeth no more than a generic value, and to restrict the number of 

 subfamilies to three, — the Phocina, Trichecina, and Arctocephalina, 

 including in the latter the genera Otaria and Arctocephalus, the 

 Walrus alone constituting the Trichecina, and all the other Seals 

 falling under the first-named section. 



I cannot conclude without offering some apology for the length 

 of my communication, more particularly as the number of minute 

 details of form alluded to may render it a little tedious, and among 

 the facts enumerated the number is so small that possess any claim 

 to be considered new ; but if I have to any extent succeeded in 

 placing in a clearer light the mutual affinities of the different 

 genera of Carnivora, a subject of which I think all will admit the 

 difficulty, or if I have but brought into its due importance any 

 character, however small, which may render the determination of a 

 fragment more easy to the palaeontologist, — if I have achieved but 

 a very small share in the important task of elucidating those real 

 affinities existing throughout nature, which must, when completely 

 made out, render classification not a mere alphabet of reference for 

 the determination of species, but a key to higher generalizations, I 

 trust that my labours have not been thrown away, and that my ap- 

 parent prolixity may be overlooked. 



In offering the annexed synopsis with a view to render the ar- 

 rangement I would propose more readily comprehensible, I must 

 observe, first, that the lists of genera include only those whose crania 

 I have examined, and therefore I must not be considered as rejecting 

 any that I have omitted, nor do I pledge myself to adopt all that 

 are inserted. Secondly, that the difficulty of expressing in a man- 

 ner sufficiently decided, and at the same time sufficiently brief for a 

 synoptical form, the characters I have made use of, has compelled 

 me to omit some of them. In order to place the Herpestine genera 

 of the Viverrine subfamily in juxtaposition with the Weasel group, 

 it is advisable that the series of terrestrial Carnivora should either 

 commence with the Bears and terminate with the Dogs, or vice 

 versd ; and as I have not seen in the Seals anything which, in my 

 opinion, warrants their approximation to any of the other families 

 more than to another, it matters little which mode be followed. 



27* 



