COMPARISON WITH ALLIED SPECIES. 609 



Caspian Seal* is distinguished not only by well-marked exter- 

 nal and cranial characters but by certain strongly-marked pe- 

 culiarities of habits, coupled with which are to be considered 

 its long-continued geographical isolation and otherwise excep- 

 tional conditions of environment. 



Radde's views are misrepresented is evident from the following: " Phoca 

 caspica," says Radde, " steht in dieser Hinsicht [i. e., allgemeinen Shadel- 

 form], wenn ich den eiuzigen nur vorliegenden Schadel als typischen be- 

 tracten darf, nubedingt der Phoca annellata niiher als der gemeiuen Robbe" 

 (Reisen im Slid, vom Ost-Sibirions, i, p. 297); and throughout his article takes 

 pains to show how wide are the differences between Phoca caspica and Phoca 

 vitulina ! 



* PHOCA (PUSA) C ASPIC A, Nilsson. 

 > 



Caspian Seal. 



Der Seehund, S. G. GMELIN, Reise durch Russl., iii, 1770, 246. 



Der caspische Seehund, SCHREBER, Saugth., iii, [1776?] 310. 



Phoca vitulina, y, ERXLEBEN, Syst. Reg. Anim., 1777, 588. 



Phoca vitulina, 6, caspica, GMELIN, Syst. Nat., i, 1788, 64. KERB, Anim. King., 1792, 124. 



Phoca caspica, NILSSON, "R. "Vet. Akad. Handlgr. Stockholm, 1837, "; Arch, for Natnrg., 

 1841, 313. SCHINZ, Synop. Mam., i, 1844, 481. WAGNEK, Schreber's Saugth., vii, 

 1846, 33. RAPUE, Reisen im Siid. vom Ost-Sibiriens, i, 1862, 297-302 (passim). 



Callocephalus caspicus, GRAY, "Zool. Erebus and Terror, 1844, 3"; Cat. Seals Brit. Mus., 

 1850, 24. 



Callocephalus ? caspicus, GRAY, Cat. Seals and Whales, 1866, 22. 



Phoca canina [var. caspica], PALLAS, Zoog. Rosso- Asiat., i, 1831, 116, nota 1 (in part only). 



The history of the Caspian Seal, in relation to its literature and syn- 

 onymy, is briefly as follows : It appears to have been first described in 1770 

 by S. G. Gmelin in the narrative of his travels in Russia. It was first intro- 

 duced into systematic zoology by Schreber, about six years later, but only 

 under a vernacular name. Schreber's account of the animal was wholly com- 

 piled from Gmelin. Erxleben, in 1777, recognized it as a variety of Phoca 

 vititlina, without, however, naming it, his citations embracing Gmeliu and 

 Schreber, as above. J. F. Gmelin, in 1788, referred it also to Phoca vitulina, 

 of which he made it a variety, bestowing upon it the name caspica. The next 

 reference to it of importance is made by Nilsson, who, in 1837, dissevered it 

 entirely from Phoca vitulina, claimed its specific distinctness, and showed its 

 closer relationship to P. fcetida than to P. vitulina. Its subsequent history 

 has already been amply detailed. Respecting the habits of the Caspian 

 Seal, Schultz writes as follows : 



"These Seals gather in large herds, and, plunging continually into the 

 water, chase scaly fish, of which they eat only the breast, leaving the re- 

 mainder of the body, with the entrails, to the sea-birds, which are constantly 

 hovering above them. Endowed with a very acute sense of smell, the Seals 

 at times escape the vigilance of their enemies, the fishermen, with the excep- 



Misc. Pub. No. 12 39 



