22 



the Mde and oil only. Mr. Morris informs me he never saw this species 

 at the Auckland Isles. In our Museum there are two stuffed speci- 

 mens of very young animals, and it is much to be regretted that the 

 adults, existing almost at our very doors, should remain unrepresented. 



HAIE SEALS — Adults, without any under-fur. 

 Genus Otaeia, Peron. 

 Incisors 5^, canines pij molars grj, or 5:5 = 34 or 36. 

 Upper outer incisors large, resemhUng canines ; canines large, of 

 the males extremely so ; teeth of the female altogether much weaker 

 and more sharply pointed than those of the male ; cranium, subject 

 to great individual variation, of the male broad, occipital portion 

 elevated, which, in the very aged becomes immensely developed into 

 crests ; of the female, much narrower, and shallower, almost deficient 

 of any occipital crest; mandible elongate, strong: limbs large, front feet 

 with rudimentary nails ; hinder, vrith the three middle nails long, the 

 outer ones rudimentary ; toe-flaps long ; body clothed with hair, with- 

 out any under-fur in the adults ; males much larger than the females, 

 and exhibit greater swimming powers, by possessing ilippers proportion- 

 ately much longer and stronger. 



Otaeia Steedeei, Lesson. The Northern, or SteUer's, Sea Lion. 



Synonyms-^ieo marinus, Steller, 1751. 

 Otaria jubata, Peron, 1816. 

 Otaria Stelleri, Lesson, 1828; Miiller, 1841; Gray, B.M.C., 



1850, p. 47, and 1866, p. 60 ; Sclater, P.Z.S., 1868, 



p. 190. 

 Arctocephalus monteriensis, Gray, P.Z.S., 1859, and B.M.C., 



1866, p. 49. 

 I]umetopias Calif ornianus, Q-ill, 1866. 

 Humetopias Stelleri, Peters, 1866 ; G-ray, A. and M.N.H., 



1866 ; Allen, Bull, Mus. Comp. ZooL, vol. ii.'p. 46 ; 



Gray, B.M.C. ; Suppl. 1871, p. 46. 



General colour : upper portion from pale yellow to reddish-brown, 

 much darker towards the tail ; under portion, dusky reddish-brown, 

 darkest on the hinder part of the abdomen ; frequently assuming a 

 brindled appearance on some parts. Limbs, black-brown. The colour, 

 however, varies much in different individuals — irrespective of age 

 or sex. 



The males attain to 13 feet in length, with a weight of from 1,500 to 

 1,800 lbs. : the females are more slender, and scarcely reach to one- 

 fourth the weight of the male. 



Inhabits the American coast, from California to Behring's Strait, and 

 down the Asiatic coast to the Kurile Islands. 



