680 HISTRIOPHOCA FASCIATA RIBBON SEAL. 



information respecting the species appeared till Pallas in 1831* 

 redescribed the species from the original fragment mentioned 

 by Pennant, and renamed it Plioca equestris. In the meantime 

 the species had been uniformly relegated by authors to the list 

 of doubtful or inadequately described species. Pallas cites 

 Pennant's Rubbon Seal as a synonym of his Phoca equestris^ and 

 also refers in his description of it to Pennant's figure, but to 

 neither Ziininerinanu nor Shaw. He says it is rare in the 

 Ochots Sea, but is reported to be of frequent occurrence around 

 the Kurile Islands. His description t adds-little of importance 

 to the information given by Pennant, and apparently relates 

 to the same specimen. 



According to von Schrenck, Hrn. Wosnessenski obtained, 

 during his residence in Kamtschatka, the first perfect speci- 

 mens, embracing the old and young of both sexes, thereby es- 

 tablishing beyond doubt the validity of the species; but this 

 valuable material remained uudescribed until the appearance 

 of von Schrenck's work on the Mammals of Ainoor Land, in 

 18594 Von Schrenck himself was so fortunate as to also ob- 

 tain skins of this animal during his journey in Amoor Laud, 

 and to him we are indebted for the first detailed description of 

 the species, accompanied by excellent colored figures of both 

 sexes. He, however, adopted Pallas's name Plioca equestris in 

 preference to the very appropriate name given half a century 

 before by Zimmermaun, and somewhat later also by Shaw, for 

 wholly arbitrary reasons. || 



*Zoogr. Rosso-Asiat., vol. i, 1831, p. 111. 



t His description iii full is as follows : "Magnitudine praecedentes aequasse 

 vel excessisse videbatur [hence about five feet four inches long from the 

 nose to the tail, or rather more], pellis euim portio e solo dorso exsecta 

 quatnor fere dodrantuui latitudiuem et sex ad septem dodrantum longitudi- 

 neni habebat. Color totius brunneus, seu fuscus, cum brunnei tinctura, 

 uniibrmis. Pili breves, laevigati, rigidi ut in Ph. canina (=P/ioca vitulina). 

 Insnla lata alba, ut amiciss. Pennant delineavit, aiitice angulo versus 

 cervicem coeuns, per latera introrsum arcuata, postice transversa trabe 

 couuexa, totum dorsi discum includit. Optandum, ut haec singularis 

 species perfectius innotescat." 



t Von Schrenck alludes to a very brief and unimportant reference to the 

 species by Siemaschko, in a work published in the Russian language in 1851. 



$ Reiseu und Forschungen in Amur-Lande, i, 1859, pp. 182-188, pi. ix. 



|| He appears not to have known of Zimmermann's reference to the spe- 

 cies, but speaks of Shaw's name as "eiue Bezeichnung, die jedoch gegeu- 

 wartig gegen den uhrspriinglichen, vom Entdecker selbst stammendeu und 

 nur durch das verziigerte Erscheinen der Zoographia Rosso- Asiatica spilter 

 bekannt gewordeuen Namen Ph. equestris zuriicktreten muss." L. e., p. 182. 



