1922] Kellogg: Pinnipeds from Miocene and Pleistocene Deposits 81 



clays of Dunbar, Scotland, and described by D'Arcy Thompson, 1 " 

 which have been made the subject of much controversy. The absence 

 of an entepicondyloid foramen in the humerus has been the stumbling- 

 block for all of those who have discussed this specimen. There is 

 undoubtedly considerable variation in regard to the presence of this 

 foramen. Robert B. Thompson 101 found that the entepicondyloid 

 foramen was absent in the humeri of the Lobodoninae, Mirounga, and 

 Monachns. Two humeri of Phoca vitulina were also found which 

 lacked this foramen. A comparison of the figure of this fossil humerus 

 with a humerus of a young Haliehoerus grypus reveals a striking 

 resemblance, though the latter lacks the entepicondyloid foramen. 



PHOCINAE 



The ancestry of the Phocinae previous to the Miocene is unknown 

 and our present information concerning them during that stage is far 

 from satisfactory. Our knowledge of the prevailing forms of the 

 Oligocene is based upon such dubious material that it may well be 

 disregarded entirely. The few teeth and vertebrae from Holland are 

 totally insufficient to afford a basis for any deductions as to their real 

 affinities. 



No phocids are known from the Lower Miocene in Europe and as 

 late as the Middle Miocene their remains are still a rarity. Several 

 teeth found in the Baltringen quarries may be related either to this 

 group or to the Monachinae. The phocid remains which have been 

 found in the diatomaceous earth at Lompoc, California, are limited 

 to impressions of flippers. The discussion of their relationships will 

 have to await more detailed studies of these impressions. With the 

 beginning of the Upper Miocene, phocids become better known. The 

 genus Prophoca, whose relationships are still uncertain, was present 

 in the Antwerp Basin. In Austria-Hungary two forms, Phoca vindo- 

 l)onensis and Phoca holitschensis, occur. At the same time an allied 

 form, Phoca pontioa, existed in the region now known as the Black Sea. 

 Evidence for the occurrence of additional forms in North America is 

 unsatisfactory, resting as it does upon four forms, the Phoca wymani, 

 of Virginia, the Leptophoca lenis, of Maryland, the phocid from the 

 Santa Margarita formation in California, and the phocid flippers from 

 Lompoc, California. An interesting thing is that the three European 

 forms, Phoca vindobonensis, Phoca holitschensis, and Phoca pontica 



100 Thompson, d 'A. W., On some bones of a fossil seal from the Post-Tertiary 

 clay at Dunbar. Jour. Anat. and Physiol., vol. 13, pp. 318-321. 1879. 



101 Thomson, E. P>., Osteology of the Antarctic seals. Trans. Roy. Soc. Edin- 

 burgh, vol. 47, pp. 187-201. 1909. 



