436 FAMILY PHOCID^E. 



Of these nineteen species six are Otaries ; of the remaining- 

 thirteen one is described for the first time; three are pure syno- 

 nyms, and two are not certainly determinable. Three valid 

 species are confounded under the name " Common Seal," which 

 embraces (a) Phoca vitulina, (b) P. caspica, (c) P. sibirica, the 

 two last already thus named as varieties of Phoca mtulina by 

 Gmeliu. With this exception, all of the species of Earless Seals 

 of the Northern Hemisphere, up to that time indicated, were 

 duly recognized and clearly distinguished by Pennant, as well 

 also as one from the Southern Seas. 



In 1798 Thimberg, in a small work on the mammalian fauna 

 of Sweden,* recognized five species of Seals, three of which 

 appeared under new names, but they are so briefly described it 

 is nearly impossible to determine to what his various names re- 

 late, especially as he gives no synonyms, and no subsequent 

 author appears to have been able to positively identify them. 

 The names are accompanied by short Latin diagnoses, which I 

 here transcribe: 1. u P[hoca] liispida : corpore pallido fusco- 

 inaculato." He adds the Swedish names " SMI, GrdsMl, Hofs- 

 skdl." Perhaps the Phoca "Mspida" of authors, but of this 

 there is no certainty. 2. "P.sericea: corpore albido immacu- 

 late." "Stat-skal." Undeterminable. 3. "P.canina: corpore 

 griseo immaculate." u Vihare-skdl och Grd ViJeare j sTcdL" 4. U P. 

 mtulina: corpore fusco." " Svart ViMre-sMl." 5. U P. varie- 

 gata : corpore griseo nigro-maculato." " Morunge." This by 

 some authors is judged to be Phoca mtulina. Eight of the 

 eleven pages devoted to the Seals in this work are occupied 

 with the account of the present species. Thus Thimberg ob- 

 tained the distinction of adding five species to the numerous 

 list of Seals too inadequately described for recognition, and of 

 contributing three new names to the synonymy of the subject. 



Pausing now for a hasty retrospect, we find that prior to the 

 year 1800 the following species (exclusive of synonyms and un- 

 identifiable " species"), named in the order of their first recogni- 

 tion in technical nomenclature, had already made their appear- 

 ance in works, on systematic zoology: 1. Phoca vitulina ; 2. Ma- 

 crorhinus leoninus ; 3. Cystophora cristata (1-3 as early as, or 

 prior to, 1758); 4. Phoca fcetida ; 5. Phoca grcenlandica ; 6. Erig- 

 nathus barbatus (4-6, 17C6); 7. MonacJms albiventer (1779); 8. 



* Beskrifning pa Svenske Djur. Forsta Classen, om Mammalia eller Dag- 

 gaudejuren, af Carl Peter Thimberg, Upsala, 1798. 8 vo. pp. 100. Seals, 

 pp. 85-96. 



