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Show 1875.] MR. .1. W. CLARK ON EARED SEALS. 669 nued to live : nay, more ; after their skull had been fractured by an axe they continued to groan loudly for several hours. Old animals stink most foully. The flesh of the young is very delicate ; and was eaten by us, not from necessity, but on account of its excellence. Some weighed as much as 2201b.*, cubs scarcely 10 or 12. The former exceeded 6 or 7 feet in length ; the latter hardly reached 2\. The body is conical from the shoulders to the tail, and conical in the reverse direction from tbe shoulders to the head f. The hair all over the body is adpressed, short, soft, black, with reddish grey tips. Beneath the hair is a soft, thick, delicate, reddish fur. Head rounded ; snout, from the eyes forwards, pointed ; behind the eyes the head suddenly bulges out"];. Mouth prominent. Nose black, naked. Septum hollowed out into a channel. Nostrils vertical at first, then diverge sideways at a right angle. Lips moderate. Whiskers few, strong, bristly, arranged in five rows, after the manner of a quincunx, bh.ck ; the hindermost, especially in the old individuals, stronger, white. Teeth separate, white. Incisors with broad crowns, 4 in each jaw ; the upper have their crowns double, with points before and behind ; the lower simple. Upper canines 2 on each side, strong, subconical, recurved, sharply keeled on their inner edge : tbe inner smaller than the outer, which is six tenths of an inch longer. Lower canines one on each side, smaller than the outer one of the upper jaw, but larger than the inner. Upper molars 6 on each side, strong, subconical, like those of a dog; at their roots on each side are rudiments, like the germs of new teeth§. Lower molars 5 on each side. Total-upper teeth 20, lower teeth 16,-36. Tongue beset with papillae; the point indented or emarginate. Palate disposed in folds. Eyes rather prominent, full, spherical, with a "membrana nictitans" on their inner edge. Iris dark. Ears small, folded, erect, rather stiff, sublanceolate, hairy on the outside, smooth on the inside. Hands free, fin-shaped (not, as in most Seals, concealed beneath the skin). On the upper surface they are covered with hair down to the nails ; the rest, and the under surface, destitute of hair, black; in form subtriangular; ou the under surface, from the apex up to the body, the skin is disposed in wavy folds. The rudimentary nails are very small, shaped like lentil seeds, and situated at the apex of the phalanges before tbe cartilaginous prolongations commence. The entire hand is a shapeless, undefined mass, but jointed within beneath the skin ||. * Dr. Hector gives the weight of two males as 258 and 270 lb. respectively ; of a female 208 lb. (Trans. N.Z. Inst. iv. 296). t " Corpus subconicuni a humeris ad caudam, et obconicum a humeris ad caput." t " Caput subglobosum, versus rostrum attenuatum ad oculos, versus corpus subito incrementum capit." § " Ad quorum radices utrinque sunt gemmpe quasi novorum dentium." II " Eudimenta unguiculorum minima, lentiformia, ad apices phalangium, ante epiphyses cartilagineas sita*;. Tota forma manuum moles rudis et indistincta, at interius sub cute articulate." |
