420 FAMILY PIIOCIDM 



(Stenorhynchtts and Lepionyx) were .preoccupied in other de- 

 imrtmeuts of zoology, and consequently untenable ; ten were 

 exclusively based on four species, so that six of these ten may 

 be set down as pure synonyms. The remaining thirteen, have 

 at times been more or less current, either in a generic or sub- 

 generic sense. But leading writers have employed several of 

 them with widely differing scopes. Calloc&plialus, as at first 

 used, was synonymous with Phoca, as commonly interpreted, Cal- 

 locephalus being employed for all of the smaller species of the 

 family (cltulina, fact Ida, groenlandica, fasciatdj ca^plca, &c, with 

 all their numerous synonyms, as well as for barbata). In the 

 subjoined history of the species of the family, the varying sig- 

 nificance attached by different writers to the more prominent 

 generic names will become sufficiently apparent, but in the pres- 

 ent connection a few examples may be cited. 



In 1820, Desmarest placed all the Pinnipeds, except the 

 Walruses, under Phoca, which he divided into two subgenera 

 ("sous-genre") PJioca (including all the Phocidcc of recent au- 

 thors) and Otaria ( = 0tariidw of late writers), in this following 

 Perou's classification of 1816. F. Cuvier, in 1824, divided the 

 Earless Seals into five genera, which classification was followed 

 by the same writer in 1820, and by Lesson in 1827, when he 

 adopted strictly the generic nomenclature of F. Cuvier, but 

 abandoned it in 1828. Gray, at a,bout the same date, employed 

 only two genera, Phoca and Hirounga, while Fischer, in 1829, 

 placed all the species once more in Phoca. 



Nilsson, in 1837, recognized five genera, Stenorhynclms, Pela- 

 yius, Phoca, Halichozrus, and Cystophom. Gray, in 1844 and in 

 1850, adopted ten, Lobodon, Leptonyx, Ommatophoca, Stcno- 

 rhynchus, Pelag'ms, Calloccphalus, Pagophilus, Plioca (with one 

 species), HaUchcerm, Morunga, and Cystophora. Wagner, in 

 1840, adopted four, HaUchcerua, Phoca (with six species), Lep- 

 tniii/.c (with five species), and Cystophora. Turner, in 1849, ad- 

 mitted eight, Montnga, Cystophora, Halicliwrus, Ommatophora 

 (ty]K)graphical error for Ommatophoca), Lobodon, Lcptonyx, Sten- 

 rhynchus, and Phoca. Giebel, in 1855, adopted the same genera 

 as AVagner in 184G. Gray, in I860 and in 1871, admitted thir- 

 teen, Lobodon, Leptonyx, Ommatophoca, Stenorliynchus, Mona- 

 chitN, Callocephalus, Pagomys, PagophHus, Halicyon, Phoca, Hali- 

 clttrntx. J[ori<nga,i\i\(\. Cystophora; Gill, in 1866 and 1872, twelve, 

 1'liot-a, Pagomys, Pagopltiliix, Erignathus, Hal i cheer us, Monachits r 

 Cijxtophora, Macrorhinus, Lobodon, Stenorlvynclius, Lcptonyx, and 

 Ommatophoca ; in 1877, twelve, Phoca, Pagophilus, Erignathus, 



