1922 ) KcUogg; Pinnipeds from Miocene and Pleistocene Deposits 29 



The specimens that are numbered 275, Calif. Acad. Sci. coll., were 

 collected by Charles Morrice near center of Section 28, Township 28 

 South, Range 29 East (Caliente Sheet), in the Temblor beds of the 

 Kern River region. Those from locality 3083 were collected by Clar- 

 ence L. Moody in Anderson's Zone "C," Sections 24 and 30, Town- 

 ship 28 South, Range 29 East ; those from locality 1292 were collected 

 by R. C. Stoner. All these men collected near the Kern River, about 

 twelve miles from Bakersfield, California. As Mr. Morrice directed 

 Messrs. Moody and Stoner to this collecting site, it is quite possible 

 that all this material was obtained in a rather limited area. Specimens 

 from localities 3083, 1292 are in the paleontologieal collections of the 

 University of California. 



It is by no means certain that all the material described hereafter 

 belongs to the species or even to the genus that we are discussing. 

 There is a strong possibility that the fragment of the skull may belong 

 to some unknown pinniped of great size. The shape and size of the 

 occipital condyles are suggestive of the cetaceans. 



Skull. — While the lateral aspect (fig. 2&) is characterized by the 

 backward prolongation of the occipital crest considerably beyond the 

 plane of the occipital condyles, the outline of the supraoccipital (fig. 

 2a) immediately above foramen magnum is more nearly vertical in 

 contrast with the marked retreating outlines of recent Otariidae. On 

 the posterior surface of the supraoccipital bone there is a heavy 

 median ridge, which terminates inferiorly some 30 mm. above the 

 superior margin of the foramen magnum, reaching its greatest devel- 

 opment at its junction with the occipital crest, under which it acts 

 as a brace for the latter 's conspicuous posterior development. The 

 posterior margins of the occipital crest are broken too much to allow 

 accurate measurement. It extends backward 63 mm. beyond plane 

 of the supraoccipital above foramen magnum. 



From an inferior aspect the base of the skull presents a broad, 

 slightly convex surface in contrast with existing Otariidae, owing in 

 part to poor development of the median longitudinal ridge of basi- 

 oecipital and in part to the absence of the lateral vacuities which are 

 so noticeable in the latter. The anterior portion of the skull is broken 

 away near what might correspond to posterior margin of foramen 

 lacerum posterius, which, however, according to P. W. True, is absent 

 in Pontolis mag n us. 



It is unfortunate that the material upon which this discussion is 

 based represents only a small part of the cranium, namely, the occipital 



