﻿Webb. — On the Fur Seal of Neio Zealand. 201 



was an exaggerated estimate, bnt it is probable that there are still sevei-al 

 forms confused under this general name. Owen calls Arctocejihalus Australis 

 " the Ursine Seal."* This seal Dr. Gray assigns to King George's Sound, and 

 describes as " yellow grey above, fulvous beneath, whiskers white." This may 

 be but a variety of our seal. As I have said, the whiskers of the specimens 

 we have here are, for the most part, nearly white, and the female is much 

 lighter in colour than appears to be common with these seals in this part of 

 the world. 



Formerly the name Otaria ursina was given in common to our seal and 

 the Northern Fur Seal. From the lists, as they now stand, the former 

 appears to have dropped out. Dr. Hector's examination of the skulls of 

 the specimens captured at Milford Sound has shown that it belongs to the 

 genus Arctocephalus. The Northern Seal, with which it had been confused, 

 has different characters, and is now called Callorhinus ursinus. Since the 

 two are distinct generically, there seems to be no reason why they should not 

 both retain the old and familiar specific name ursinus. They have one 

 important feature in common in their fur, and since they are, on the 

 other hand, thoroughly distinct, both in important structural characteristics 

 and in habitat, there can be no fear that the adoption of the name ArctocepJialus 

 ursinus for our New Zealand seal will lead to any confusion. 



Since the above was written I have had the opportunity of consulting 

 Mr. J. A. Allen's paper on the Eared Seals.t Although it is chiefly with 

 the Otariadce of the northern hemisphere that Mr. Allen is concerned, this 

 paper contains incidentally a good deal of information about southern forms, 

 and the very confused and im certain chai-acter of the descriptions which 

 naturalists have hithei'to received of them. From this soui'ce I learn that 

 Dr. Gray has, in one of his monographs on the subject, distinguished our New 

 Zealand Sea Bear as a sepai'ate species, calling it after Forster, but being 

 evidently without any information with regard to it of later date than that 

 given by this naturalist. He himself considers that there is but one Fur 

 Seal in these seas, and that the New Zealand species is the same as that which 

 has been found on the coast of Australia, Arctocephalus cinereus. He restricts 

 the seals of the southeiui hemisphei^e, which have true fiu', to three species, 

 one [A. Falklandicus) belonging to the South American region, another to the 

 seas in the vicinity of the Cape of Good Hope [A. atitarcticus), and the third 

 to the Australasian region. He suggests that these may all be mere varieties 

 of one species, but having no acquaintance with any of them, except through 

 descriptions, has nothing of importance to offer in support of this opinion. 

 A. ciyiereus is described by Gray as "yellowish with the under fur red." If 



*Oomp. " Aiiatomy of Vertebrates," Vol. II., p. 496. 

 + " Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard College," Vol. II., No. 1. 



