GENERAL HISTORY AND NOMENCLATURE. 639 



GENERAL HISTORY AND NOMENCLATURE. The Harp Seal, 

 like the Crested Seal, presents characters, at least in the male 

 sex, that readily attract the attention of even the casual ob- 

 server the one by its "saddle" or "harp-mark" of black on a 

 light ground, the other by its inflatable hood. Accordingly both 

 were mentioned by various early writers, but notably by Egede, 

 Ellis, and Crauz, and the indications they gave of their existence 

 enter into the technical history of the species, forming as they 

 do the basis of the first systematic names. Erxleben described 

 the species in 1777, under the name Phoca grwnlandica, his de- 

 scription being founded mainly on information previously made 

 public by Cranz. Fabricius, however, had already designated 

 the species by this name the previous year, but the only clue 

 he furnished to the species meant consists merely in his citing 

 its Icelandic and Greeulaudic names. In 1778 Lepechin de- 

 scribed and figured the species under the name Phoca oceanica, 

 between which and grosnlandica there is thus almost a question 

 of priority.* Although Fabricius in 1790 correctly referred Le- 

 pechin's species to Phoca grcenlandica, it has since frequently fig- 

 ured in the works of compilers as a distinct species, although 

 his figures and description t clearly indicate its relationship. 



Boddaert, in* 1785, added another synonym by renaming the 

 species semilunarisj while Desmarest, in 1822, described what 

 is believed to have been a young individual of this species 

 under the name Phoca albicauda. G. Cuvier, in 1825, also de- 

 scribed a young specimen as Phoca lagura, this name having 

 for a time considerable currency as that of a veritable species. 

 Lesson, in 1828, made here his usual contribution of synonyms 

 by deliberately changing names previously given for those that 

 better suited his fancy, at his hands the Phoca grcenlandica of 

 authors becoming Phoca miilleri, and the two nominal species 

 previously mentioned as based on young specimens becoming 

 respectively Phoca desmaresti and Phoca pilayi. In 1831 the 

 species was again intentionally renamed dorsata by Pallas, who 

 quotes as synonyms of dorsata both Phoca grcenlandica and 



* Lepecliiu is usually quoted at 1777, but his paper appears riot to have 

 been published till the following year, thus giving Erxleben's name one 

 year's priority, and Fabricius's two. 



tLepechiu gave the incisive formula as f, "In maxilla superior! inci- 

 sores IV"; "in maxilla inferior! incisores modo IV." As suggested by Fa- 

 bricius nearly a century ago, in the first case "IV" is evidently a lapsus 

 for VI. (See Fabricius, Skrivter af Naturhistorie-Selskabet, Bd. i, Hf. 1, 

 1790, p. 97, footnote. } 



