SEALS, SEA-LIONS. 391 



very limited. The glutton, badger, otter, marten, acd ermine oc- 

 cur in the Post-Pliocene deposit of Europe, while in the equivalent 

 American series we have species of Galictis and Mephitis. Taxidea, 

 Lutra, and Mustela are Pliocene in North America, and MelUvora 

 in India (Siwalik Hills). 



The fourth group of the Carnivora, the Pinnipedia or seals, 

 comprise three very distinct families: 1. Otaridae, the eared or fur- 

 seals, sea-lions, with about nine species, whose habitat is the tem- 

 perate and cold waters of the southern oceans (as far north as the 

 Galapagos Islands) and the North Pacific (south to California). No 

 species is known from the North Atlantic. To this group belongs 

 the highly-prized northern fur-seal (Callorhinus ursinus), which was 

 at one time abundant along the greater part of the American coast 

 between Alaska and Lower California, but is now rapidly disap- 

 pearing, although still very abundant among the Prybilov or Fur- 

 Seal Islands ; the species appears to be found also along the coasts 

 of Kamtchatka and the island of Saghalien. Of the sea-lions, 

 commonly so-called, the best-known species are the northern sea- 

 lion (Eumetopias Stelleri), whose range extends from Behring 

 Strait to California and Japan, and the Califomian or black sea- 

 lion (Zalophus Californianus), the familiar animal of the harbour 

 of San Francisco. The common species of the west coast of South 

 America is the southern sea-lion (Otaria jubata). Other species of 

 the family, popularly known as sea-bears, whose domain covers 

 much of the southern seas, from South America to Africa and New 

 Zealand, are referred to the genus Arctocephalus. 2. The Tri- 

 chechidffi, walruses, containing a single species, the walrus or morse 

 (Trichecus rosmarus), whose habitat is the icy waters of the Arctic 

 regions of North America (from Labrador), Europe, and Asia. 

 The animal appears not to exist on the American coast between the 

 ninety-seventh and one hundred and fifty-eighth meridians of longi- 

 tude, nor on the Eurasiatic coast between the one hundred and 

 thirtieth and one hundred and sixtieth meridians. East of the 

 Yenisei it is very rare. The North Pacific form is by some authors 

 considered to be a distinct species (T. obesus). 3. Phocidae, the 

 earless or true seals, which ar& almost universally distributed over 

 the temperate and colder portions of the globe. One species, the 

 monk-seal (Monachus albivente;) inhabits the Mediterranean and the 



