OCR Text |
Show 1875.] MR. J. W. CLARK ON EARED SEALS. 667 The upper surface of the skull is nearly flat; it is much contracted between the orbits. The orbital processes of the frontals curve outwards and backwards, and are truncated at their hinder extremity, which is free. From between these processes the face slopes slightly Fig. 7. Otaria forsteri, palate-bones. a, pterygoids; b, alisphenoid; c, alisphenoid canal; d, palatine. downwards. The nasals are very long and narrow (fig. 8, p. 668). The prsemaxilla, which projects forwards 1\ inch beyond the nasals, is hollowed out at its sides, and terminates in a very marked knob, to which is attached the ligament which holds the cartilaginous snout in place. These last characters are well shown in Dr. Gray's figure of his Euotaria cinerea (Hand-List of Seals, etc. plate xxvi.), based on one of the specimens sent by Dr. Hector from Milford Sound. Most of the teeth, however, have unfortunately been lost. There is a better figure of the same skull, with the teeth, in P. Z. S. 1872, p. 656, figs. 1, 2, where, as afterwards explained by Dr. Gray, it is wrongly marked Arctocephalus nigrescens; and I think that the appearance of a second subsidiary lobe on the posterior side of the molars is due to the artist having placed the skull in such a position that he saw the edge of the prominent internal cingulum. |