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Show 1867.] • DR. J. MURIE ON THE SEA-BEAR. 243 1. On the Cause of Death of the Sea-Bear (Otaria hookeri) lately living in the Society's Gardens. By J A M E S M U R I E , M.D., Prosector to the Society. The loss which the Society's Collection has recently sustained in the death of the Sea-Bear, a species of Otaria, is one which cannot readily be repaired. The animal was attractive in a threefold manner,-its rarity in the live state in this country, its curious mode of progression in the water and on the land (differing much in this respect from its allied neighbours the true Seals), and, not the least attractive point, if only in a pecuniary sense to the Society, its remarkable intelligence and docility serving at ail times to gather round it a crowd of interested visitors. The anatomy of this Otaria I shall treat of at length in a separate communication, and in this confine myself alone to the symptoms of illness and the morbid appearances disclosed, as an answer to the very general question put to me, " What did the Sea-Bear die of?" Adolphe Lecomte, its keeper, reported to m e that on Friday the 8th of February he first noticed the animal's appearing to him dull, out of sorts, and careless of food. On the day following (Saturday) it exhibited decided symptoms of illness, besides continued want of appetite. It lay on the straw in the little railed enclosure in front of the outhouse, and, as he said, had swelling of the abdomen and breathed unnaturally. I myself saw the creature for the first time after the commencement of symptoms of illness on the Sunday morning. The symptoms then were as follows:-It lay on its right side, breathing at regular intervals, taking each time a long inspiration, and which seemed mainly abdominal; the body and flippers felt unusually cold ; the eyes were watery and languid, the pupils contracted ; there was no swelling of the abdomen, and there no tenderness on pressure, but pressure at the posterior part of the thorax elicited manifestations of uneasiness. Over this last region there was dulness on percussion ; •and auscultation revealed indistinct crepitation. Altogether there existed no very evident symptoms of great pain. There was thus a difficulty in exactly determining the nature of the illness, and consequently the proper treatment. Some castor-oil was given along with a fish, and afterwards a clyster, as Lecomte believed the animal to be constipated. A mat having been laid over the creature and the trelliswork well protected from the cold wind with straw, the next day the body and the flippers had become warmer; the breathing, however, was shorter and more oppressed. During the night there had been a slight evacuation. On Tuesday morning there passed along with other alvine matter a piece of canvas rolled tightly together in a cord-like manner, and in this was contained a bent fish-hook, which I now exhibit. The symptoms were somewhat relieved, and there were hopes ot amendment; but towards night the animal became worse, and died on the 14th iust. |