632 PHOCA GRCENLANDICA HARP SEAL. 



EXTERNAL CHARACTERS. Adult Male. General color 

 whitish or yellowish- white, nose and head to behind the eyes 

 black ; chin and throat usually with black spots. A broad, 

 lunate spot of black on the sides, extending from the shoulders 

 nearly to the tail, generally broadest anteriorly where the two 

 bauds unite on the median line; narrower, and sometimes in- 

 terrupted, posteriorly, but usually again meeting on the hinder 

 portion of the back, thus forming an ellipsoidal figure. These 

 black bauds usually begin over or a little anterior to the shoul- 

 ders, and extend backward to the end of the tail. There are 

 also generally irregular spots of black on the hind limbs. 

 Length about 5 to 5i feet, rarely, it is said, attaining the length 

 of 6 feet. 



Adult Female. Similar in general color to the male, but with 

 the black markings indistinct or wholly absent. Size about 

 one-fourth less. 



Youny. The new-born young are white or yellowish-white, 

 sometimes pale golden, the pelage soft and woolly. This, after 

 a few weeks, gives place to the coarser, harsher pelage of the 

 adult, and the color becomes pale-gray, darker on the head and 

 lighter below, often with small, dusky spots on the dorsal sur- 

 face. In the second and third years the general color remains 

 the same, but the spots become larger and darker. In the fourth 

 year, in the males, the spots are still larger, and begin to coa- 

 lesce ; the head becomes black, and the saddle-shaped mark on 

 the sides begins to be clearly distinguishable, but the mature 

 pattern of coloration is said to be not fully developed till the 

 fifth year. 



Few Seals* vary so much in color with age as the Harp Seal. 

 This was long since mentioned by Cranz, who says : "All Seals 

 vary annually their colour till they are full grown, but no sort so 

 much as this [the Attarsoak] , and the Greenlanders vary its 

 name according to its age. They call the foetus iblau ; in this state 

 these are white and woolly, whereas the other sorts are smootli 

 and coloured. In the 1st year 't is called Attanak, and 't is a 

 cream-colour. In the 2d year Atteitsiak, then 'tis gray. In 

 the 3d Aylektol;, painted. In the 4th Hilaktok, and in the 

 5th year Attarsoak. Then it wears its half-moon, the signal of 

 maturity."t 



Fabricius states that it is called during the first year Atdrak, 



* Probably parallel variations occur in Histriophoca fasciata. 

 tHist. of Greenland, English ed., vol. i, 1767, p. 124. 



