HOOKER’S SEA-LION. 61 
than the back; and the whole of the face, the chin, muzzle, cheeks, eyebrows and 
throat are all distinctly darker and browner than the remainder of the body. From 
the forehead, over the crown of the head, nape and back of the neck as far as the 
shoulders, the colour is paler than any other part, and may be described as a pale buff 
or light yellowish brown. 
I would draw attention to the possible significance of this pale coronal patch of 
colour in connection with the question of the origin of the Sea-lions. It is more marked 
in this youthful individual than in older specimens, though it is plain enough in some 
of the fully adult examples of other sea-lions (in Otaria lobata, for example, and to a 
less degree in Otaria jubata) in the collection of the British Museum, and it is highly 
suggestive, occurring thus prominently in this new-born example, of the very similar 
coronal white and light patches of colour that occur in certain of the Mustelide, 
notably, for example, in the Badgers and Ratels, and the Sea-Otter, the most seal-like, 
in some respects, of all. 
The specimen we procured was, as I have said, on the point of moulting its natal 
coat, and in place of the reddish hair, which had been shed in more or less confluent 
patches over the centre of the back and sides, mouse-grey coloured hairs had appeared, 
darker upon the back and paler laterally, a colour which characterises many of the 
young adults. It is noticeable that the moult commences in a different way in this 
animal to that which obtains in the natal moult of Leptonychotes, where the head, fore 
flippers, and hind flippers are invariably the first parts to show new hair, sometimes 
accompanied, but never preceded, by the moult of the median dorsal area. In this 
young example of Hooker’s Sea-lion, although the back is moulting, there is no sign 
of moult upon the head or flippers. The hairs composing the new coat are very fine 
and short (10 mm. in length), their terminal quarter being white, and the remainder 
dark grey or black, the mixture of black hairs and white ends producing the soft 
mouse-grey colouring characteristic of the young and some of the females of Hooker’s 
Sea-lion. 
The fore and hind limbs are uniformly covered to the roots of the nails with the 
same red-brown hair that covers the body. The naked parts of the limbs are black. 
On the fore limb are five minute rudimentary nails, and on the hind limb well-formed 
nails, 12 mm. long, upon the second, third, and fourth digits, and rudimentary nails 
only upon the first and fifth. The ears are comparatively long and pointed, measuring 
fully 20 mm. in length, the pinna drooping downwards and backwards. The facial 
bristles are long, strong, and white for the most part. The hinder ones are the stronger 
and in some cases, are of a slightly darker shade. The nostrils, 12 mm. long, open 
directly forwards, and are divided by a comparatively narrow septum. The 
distance separating the bare black skin of the nose from the upper lip is 7 mm., and 
this space is covered with short reddish hair. In the pes the first digit extends its 
palmation 25 mm. beyond that of the fifth, that of the second, third, fourth, and fifth 
being equal. The tail measures 35 mm. in length. 
