the cranium had been taken was caught by a whaler at New Georgia.* Finally, M. Hauville presented his specimen to the Museum of the Jardin des Plants at Paris, where it fell under the examination of Baron Cuvier. He minutely states that it was seven feet long, and the head ten inches: all the upper parts of the body are dark grey, somewhat tinged with yellow; the yellow colour gradually predominates on the sides, owing to the presence of a great number of small yellow spots; whilst the flanks, the under part of the body, the feet, and a portion immediately over the eyes, are of a pale greyish-yellow colour. This specimen, which has supplied our plate,† was brought from the Falkland Isles. We are not aware that a single fact respecting the Natural History of this species has been supplied; and, accordingly, we proceed to the only other known species of this genus, viz.— THE LEOPARD SEAL. Ph. Leopardina.-JAMESON. PLATE XII. Phoca Leopardina, Professor Jameson. Leopard Seal of Weddell. Otaria? and Stenorhyncus Weddellii, Less. WE feel happy that we can present to the student of Zoology a correct delineation of this very peculiar and curious-looking Seal, taken from an excellent specimen in the Edinburgh Royal Museum, presented by Captain Weddell, who captured it in the Southern Ocean. We believe it is the only specimen in Britain, or in Europe, and, with the excep tion of the representation given in Captain Weddell's "Voyage towards the South Pole," is the only published one; so that it is so far new in the Repository of Natural history. The very scanty information supplied by Captain Weddell, embraced in the few lines following, we shall now lay before the reader. "Having seen some Sea-Leopards on shore, (on the South Ork neys,) I sent the second mate to take them, who soon returned with six he had captured." This creature resembles the quadruped of the same name in being spotted; one is deposited in the Edinburgh Museum; and Professor Jameson has kindly communicated to us a description of the animal. He considers it a new species of Phoca, and gives it the following distinguishing characters:-"Leopardine Seal. The neck long and tapering, the head small; the body pale greyish above, yellowish below, and back spotted with pale white. This species to be referred to the division Stenorhynque of F. Cuvier ; the teeth, however, do not quite agree with those of the Ph. Leptonyx, nor with those of Sir E. Home, figured in pl. 29 of Phil. Trans. 1822." Mr W. again says "In the evening the boat returned, having coasted these islands for fifty miles. They had found some Sea-Leopards, the skins of which they brought on board." About a week afterwards he writes" In the evening the boats returned with two Seals, and ten Leopard skins ;" and once more, when off the Shetlands, "Some Sea-Leopards have been seen. ** Beyond these sentences there is not in the volume before us another word about this Seal, of which, however, he talks as familiarly as of one of our domestic animals. The scantiness of the details, we have no doubt, arose from his conviction that Naturalists were quite familiar with this animal, when in truth it was to them wholly unknown. Voy. p. 22, 24, 134. We are therefore induced to give a somewhat extended description. As seen in our plate, the head is proportionally very small, and produced; the neck also is small, long, and tapering; the body is largest about the middle, and gradually tapers off again towards the tail; the fore-paw is small, and devoid of all projecting membrane; the first finger, (or thumb,) as in most of the true Phoca, is by much the longest ; the others diminish gradually, and all are furnished with sharp black claws, slightly curved and grooved, carinated on the under side; the posterior extremity has neither nails nor projecting membrane. The hair is rather soft, and thin set; it covers the whole of both extremities, below as well as above, a character not found on many of the Otaries; the colours, which we take from Weddell, are a pale greyish above, yellowish beneath, and the back spotted with pale white. There is no trace of external ear; the eye is in the perpendicular over the angle of the mouth, distant three inches. The dental formulary is 232; the incisors are conical in their form, and somewhat curved inwards; those in the upper jaw are by much the longest, and the two middle ones are placed further within the mouth than the other two, and are also much smaller; the canines are conical, they are very much developed at the base, and slightly grooved: the body of the molars is composed of three parts, the central conical part by much the longest and largest, with a small tubercle on each side. We shall add some measurements. 2.1.5 to tip of tail.... Total length (over the back) from tip of snout Length of tail....... From snout to anterior edge of the base of fore paw.......... 3 5 0 From base of posterior margin of fore-paw to the tip of the tail 6 4 From base of one fore-paw to base of the other across the back Circumference at upper part of the neck.......... round the body, broadest part..... 6 above the tail.... Length of fore-paw, round anterior margin....... 1 Greatest breadth of fore-paw Greatest length of posterior extremity..... Breadth at base of the foot..... Distance between inner angles of the eyes........ angle of the mouth, and tip of 3 1 11 4 2 posterior margin........... 0 0 1 0 0 lower jaw 0 The only habitats mentioned by Captain Weddell are the South Orkneys and Shetland, and of its habits, &c., he says nothing. The learned and able author of the Manuel de Mammologie has designated the Sea-Leopard an Otary, without assigning any reason for doing so, but probably misled by an analogy connected with the position of the fore-paws. We need scarcely add, this is a mistake. The acute author of the article Phoque, in the Dict. Classique, again, makes this same Seal synonymous with the Long-necked Seal of Parsons-the Longicollis of Grew, subsequently alluded to by Pennant, Shaw, Desmarest, Cuvier, &c. By turning to our account of the Fur Seal, |