4. AECTOCEPHALTTS. 19 



tion to be distinguished from a young specimen of almost any of 

 the species. It is as likely to have come from the Falkland Islands 

 as from the Cape, as the French had traflic with Les lies Ma- 

 louines, as they call them. 



M. de Buffon describes a small Eared Seal, which he calls a 

 " second Phoque " (vol. xiii. p. 341, t. 43, where it is named " le 

 petit Phoque "), which, he was assured, came from India, but very 

 probably came from the Levant; and he considers it adult, be- 

 cause it has all its teeth. It is only one- fifth of the size of the 

 Seal of the European seas (Hist. Nat. xiii. p. 344). He further 

 speaks of it as " le petit Phoque noir des Indes et du Levant " 

 (p. 345). It is evidently a young Eared Seal. The figure is pro- 

 bably from the skin, with the bones of the toes and jaws, pre- 

 sented to the cabinet by M. Mauduit (mentioned at p. 433. n. 1278), 

 and said to have come from India. 



The specimen Buffon figured, then being in the Paris Museum, was 

 thus described by Cuvier (Oss. Foss. v. p. 220) : — " Get animal a deux 

 pieds de long ; ses oreilles sont grandes et pointues ; son pelage est 

 fourre, luisant, d'un brun noir tres-fonce et a sa nuance blanehatre. 

 Le ventre seul est brun-jaunatre." The teeth show that it is young. 



The figure and description of the Petit Phoque of Buffon have had 

 the following names given to them : — 



Little Seal, hy Pennant and Shaw. 



Phoca pusilla, Schreber, Sdugeth. 314 {Peters). 



Phoca parva, Bodd. Elench. 78. 



Otaria pusilla, Desm. iV. Diet. 



Otaria Peronii, Desm. Mamm. 

 Fischer, in his ' Synopsis,' under Phom pusilla, p. 252, gives the 

 Cape of Good Hope and Eotteness Island, on the coast of Australia, 

 as the habitat of the species. 



The description of Cuvier much more nearly fits that of the 

 young ArctoeephaMs nigrescens from the Falkland Islands. The 

 fur of the young Cape Seal is dark, black above and below ; the 

 hairs are slender, and brown (not whitish) at the base ; and the 

 underside is not yellowish brown ; so that it is very doubtful if it 

 is the young of the Cape Seal. 



Dr. Peters, believing Buffon's specimen to be a young Cape Seal, 

 changed the name of Delalandii to pusilla. 



In the Museum are three states in flat skins : — 



1. Adult male, with slight mane, called in the sale-catalogue 

 « large-wig." Fur whitish, with a few intermixed black hairs ; 

 under -fur short, reddish. B.M. 



2. Adult, without the mane, called in the sale-catalogue " mid- 

 dling." Fur reddish white, grizzled with scattered black hairs ; 

 underside of the body darker, reddish brown; under-fur short, 



reddish. B.M. „ , . „ 



3. Young, about 18 inches long, called m the sale-catalogue 

 " black pup," from the Cape of Good Hope. Fur black, polished, 

 soft, smooth, without any grey tips, rather browner black be- 



