ORDER CARNASSIER. 507 



appears to be inaeeurate, from some error of the press. 

 Fabricius gives it six incisors above, and four below, whence 

 it has been concluded that those writers described different 

 species. 



Cuvier suspects that the head in the Surgeons' College, 

 engraved in the Philosophical Transactions, pi. 28, and de- 

 scribed by Sir Everard Home, is, in fact, of this species. 



M. de Blainville has named P. Leptonyx, a new species, 

 lately received in the French Museum, and which appears 

 to be the same as that, the head of which has been long in 

 the Surgeons' College here, and engraved in the Philoso- 

 phical Transactions for 1822, and pi. 29, described by Sir 

 Everard Home. 



It is about eight feet long, blackish-gray, slightly tinted with 

 yellow, becoming yellower by degrees on the sides by small 

 yellowish spots mixed with the general colour. The flanks, 

 under part of the body, feet, and over the eyes, are pale 

 yellow. The mustachios short, and the nails much shorter 

 than in other species. 



The Hooded Seal, P. Cristata, Gm., has the power of 

 bringing a fold of skin, placed on the forehead, forward, so 

 as to cover the eyes, which it does when threatened, or 

 about to be struck. This singular appendage appears to 

 be filled with blood vessels, and to contain a vast quantity 

 of blood ; when at rest, or drawn back, it considerably en- 

 larges the apparent size of the neck and shoulders. For 

 the rest of its particulars, we refer to the table. 



One of the largest and most celebrated of these animals, 

 is that described in Lord Anson's voyage, found on the 

 island of Juan Fernandez, and which he names the Sea 

 Lion. Peron has described it since, under the name of the 

 Elephant or Proboscis Seal. 



It attains from twenty-five to thirty feet in length, and 

 appears to be almost uniformly brown. It is the male 

 which is distinguished by the extensible faculty of the nose 



Vol. II. 2 M 



