No, 27, (Phocaurjina. Linn.) and die fourth, the animal, which
Lord Anion calls a Sea-lion, ( Phoca leonina. Linn, leonine feal,
P. S. No. 272 ) Some failors on board the Refolution, affirm^
cd they hadfeen a little quadruped at Dufky Bay, in New-Zeeland,
o f the ihape o f a fox. or jackal j but as we never on our frequent
-excurfioas in the woods, met with any thing o f this kind, nor
have, on the moil careful enquiry, found that any gentleman who
had vifited New-Zeeland in the Endeavour, had ever feen fuch an
animal, we are o f opinion, ( efpecially confidering the tranfient
manner, in which, and the time when this was feen, being in the
dawn o f the morning) that it mull have been a miftake. As the
Southern coails which we faw, have both thefe feals, and another
cogeneric animal, befides the feal with a mane, ( Phoca juba^a )
all in greater number, and iize, I ihall now mention them together.
I t is an obfervation o f the great naturaliil M . de Buffon, that the
large animals in the creation, are all to be coniidered as fo many
genera (efpeces.ifolees) to which we can refer no other fpecies; and
to prove the truth o f this, he mentions the inftances of the elephant,
rhinoceros, tapir, hippopotamus, and giraffe, which are really fo
many genera, to which only one fpecies belongs: and adds likewife
the cabiai, the beaver, and the lion.
W e fhall mention a circumflance making againft his affertion:
the fpecies o f feals in the antar&ic hemifphere, are as large as
moll
moil quadrupeds on the globe,, except the elephant and rhino- a n i m a l
■ 1 H ■ . . . y ' k i n g d o m
ceros. But two o f them,, which undoubtedly are diftind fpe- -
cies, can hardly be defined, unlefs b y th e . colour and menfural
difference. One o f thefe is the urfine feal, the other the jubated
feal. This lafl is mentioned, and defcribed by the great zooiögift,
the late M . Steller, in his account o f the animals o f Beering’s ifles,.
near Kamtchatka : there is alfo a tolerably good account o f thisanimal
in Don Pernetty’s voyage to the Malouines or Falkland Ifles:.
they both call it thefea lion j a name given to it with the greatefl juflice,
as its anteriors bear a great refemblance to the lion; which its fhaggy
inane and tawny colour helps to flrengthen, while Lord Anfon’s
lea lion with its wrinkled nofe, has not the leaft fimilarity with it.
As there is not one animal entirely new, among the eight quadrupeds
o f th e ‘ South Sea, it may feern to indicate that this clafs.
is already more compleat than is generally fuppöfed ; but what we-
have already obferved in regard to plants, holds good equally in the-
animal kingdom: for never were filial 1 iflands known to abound:
with'a great variety o f quadrupeds. It is from thé interior- parts of
Africa, India,, and perhaps ton of New-Holland,. that we muff
expert thófe fupplies to the fcienee,. whenever the munificence o f
princes fhall enable the naturalifls,: ever ready to undergo - fatigue
and hardfhips, for the fake of difcovery, to fearch the hidderi trea-
fiires o f thofe vafl continents..
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