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Art. VI. — On a (probably new) variety of the Small-nailed Seal, — Stenor- 

 hyncus LeptonyX; of Cuvier, and De Blainville, and allied to the Phoca 

 Leopardina, of Jameson. By the Rev. Charles Fraser, M.A., F.G.S. 

 (Read before the Philosophical Society of Canterbury, December 2, 1S68.J 



Early in the month of August, 1868, a Seal was caught in the hai-bour of 

 Lyttelton, and afterwards was exhibited in Christchurch, which seemed to 

 present some characteristics worthy of notice, and which, indeed, seems to 

 differ from any of the varieties hitherto described. 



It measured over eleven feet eight inches in entire length, and six feet in 

 girth at the stoutest part. From the decayed state of some of the teeth — the 

 two under-canines being broken off near the gum, and one having a hole 

 three-fourths of an inch deep — the animal must have been full-grown, and 

 even aged. The upper cauines projected fully an inch and a half from the 

 level of the gum. Teeth, incisors, -; canines, 1=2 ; molars, ~. The dentition, 



and the very marked tricuspid appearance of the molars, proved its identity 

 with the genus Stenorliyncus. 



There was no external ear. Bristles only on the upper lip. No soft, 

 upstanding, furry hair, as in the Stenorliyncus Weddellii, or Sea Leopard, but 

 only the thin, sparse, longish hairs, lying close to the skin, and distributed over 

 the whole body. The swimming paws much resemble those of the 

 Macrorhinus, or Sea Elephant, having more the shape of a fin, or wing, than 

 of a paw. The nails are small upon the fore-paws, and very small, but still 

 present, upon the hinder extremities. These last were scarcely, if at all, 

 lobed, and more resembled fish-tails. 



In colour, the animal was grey above, with black flakes, and a brownish 

 tinge, all over the central part of the upper surface. On the sides, the black 

 spots were replaced by white flakes ; while the under part of the body was 

 light grey. The fore-paws were white, with light grey flakes. The hinder 

 extremities were black, with light grey spots. 



There was no tail, nor even the rudiment of one. The vertebral column 

 terminated, in a round compressed manner, under the skin, which extended 

 about three inches beyond it, so as to form the curve which united the two 

 hinder extremities. 



The anal aperture was quite distinct from the urethro sexual canal, as if 

 there were no common cloacal sphincter muscle ; this appearance may, however, 

 have been partly owing to the relaxed state of the animal's flesh, it having 

 been dead for some time, and partly to the great pressure of the body upon 

 the lower surface. 



The weight of the animal was said, by the capturer and exhibitor, to be 

 about l,2001bs. ; it was, probably, a little over half that figure. 



I had an opportunity of afterwards examining a Sea Leopard f Stenor- 

 hyncus Weddellii), and comparing it with the above description. But this 

 second individual exactly suited the ordinary account of the animal as I have 

 named it. It possessed a covering of fur on the upper part of the body, and 

 a tail about three inches long, and was decidedly smaller in size. 



In attempting to define the place of the seal, described above, it may be 

 sufficient to refer to the number and kind of the teeth. Of the eight genera, 

 into which seals are now distributed, two possess the same number of teeth, — 

 thirty two, — viz., Stenorhyncus and Pelagius, but the under molar teeth of 

 the latter are not tricuspidated, and the upper molars are but slightly notched. 



Confining our attention to the two species of the Stenorhyncus, the 

 Leptonyx, or Small-nailed, and the Sea Leopard, we find the character of the 

 former, which notes the presence of the small nails both in the hinder and 



