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Show 192 SURGEON F. DAY ON NEW FISHES FROM MADRAS. [Mai*. 12, 3. THE FUR-SEAL*. (Otaria falklandica.) This is one of the Fur-Seals of commerce, of which I fancy there are many varieties. It is not uncommon in the Falkland Islands, but, as it is much sought after on account of the value of its skin, only frequents places difficult of access. A favourite locality is the Volunteer Rocks, at the northern entrance to Berkeley Sound, these rocks, owing to the heavy swell, being inaccessible, except in fine weather and after many days of calm. I once procured a specimen from this place, but it was only half-grown. Others full-grown were killed at the same time; and, on measuring one of the latter, the skin appeared to be about the same size as that of the common English Seal. The largest skin I have ever seen I do not think measured more than 4 feet in length, perhaps hardly as much. The hair differs in colour, being sometimes grey, and at other times of a brownish tint; that of the young is of a dark or brown colour. In speaking of the hair of this Seal, which gives the colour of the skin, it must be understood that the fur lies underneath, and the coarse hair is removed in the process of preparing the skins for the various purposes for which they are now used, such as ladies' cloaks, &c. The skin and skull of m y half-grown specimen are now in the British Museum. 4. THE SEA-LEOPARD*!;. (Stenorhynchus leptonyx.) This Seal is so scarce in the Falkland Islands that I have little to say in reference to it. I once saw a specimen which had been washed ashore dead near Port Louis ; and afterwards the sealers brought me a skin, but, as they had neglected to preserve the flippers, it was of no use as a specimen. The spots on the skin render it easily distinguishable from other species. 3. O n some N e w Fishes from Madras. B y Surgeon F R A N C I S D A Y , F.L.S., F.Z.S. The following fishes have either been personally collected in the Madras, Coimbatore, and Kurnool collectorates, or received from * On accompanying Capt. Abbott to the British Museum in order to identify his specimen of this animal, we found it labelled Otaria jubata, as Dr. Gray has already mentioned (Ann. Nat. Hist. Feb. 1868, p. 104), having been supposed to be the young of the same animal of which he had sent the adult! Dr. Gray has now identified this specimen, and, I believe, correctly, with his Euotaria nigrescens {I. e. p. 106). I am, however, inclined to doubt whether there is really more than one species of Fur-Seal in the Falkland Islands, which should be called Otaria falklandica, being the Phoca falklandica of Shaw (from Pennant). I do not deny that Dr. Gray's Arctocephalus falklandicus {I. c. p. 103) may be different from his Euotaria nigrescens; but there may have been some error in the locality of his specimen.-P. L. S. t A fine skull of this Seal, now in the Museum of the Royal College of Surgeons, was presented by the Directors of the Falkland-Island Corporation, having been obtained in the Falklands, and sent to England by their Manager at Port Stanley.-P. L. S. |
