FAMILY PHOCIDjE. 55 



authority of Indian traders, that seals have heretofore been seen on the borders of the Lake, 

 though the circumstance is one of rare occurrence. A species of seal was captured, some 

 years since, near Lynn, Massachusetts, which is mentioned in the newspapers as being beau- 

 tifully spotted, especially on the under side, and referred to the P. vitulina. In August, 

 1824, a seal was exhibited alive in New- York, which had been taken in a seine in the Che- 

 sapeake, near Elkton, Maryland. Dr. Mitchill, who saw it, supposed it to be the P. vitulina; 

 although, as he states in a newspaper paragraph, " in the written account, (alluding to a 

 "description he had drawn up in 1818 of a seal taken near Amboy,) there is no note 

 " of the natural mark in the breast of the present creature, nor of more than five claws on 

 " the fore feet." What this natural mark could have been, or what is meant by more than 

 five claws, must be left to conjecture, or to await the examination of another individual. 



GENUS STEMMATOPUS. F. Cuvier. 



Form and habits of the preceding, but the head is furnished with a dilatable hood. Teeth 

 30 ; four incisors above, and two beneath. 



Under the barbarous name of Mirounga, Mr. Gray has proposed to group together several 

 species of this family, which are characterized by " the nose elongated into a trunk, and the 

 " teeth with simple roots." In the present state of our knowledge of this family, we prefer 

 the name and characters noted above. 



THE HOODED SEAL 



Ste.mmatopus cristatus. 



PLATE XV. FIG. I. 



Phoca cristata. Gmklin. 



Hooded Seal. Penn. Arct. Zool. Vol. I, p. 162. 



P cristata. De Kay, Ann. Lye. New-York, Vol. 1, p. 94, pi. 7. Kino & Ludlow, ib. p. 99. Haklan, Fauna, p. 106. 



Godman, Am. Nat. Hist. Vol. I, p. 336, figure. 

 The Crested Seal. Hamilton, Nat. Hist. Amphibious Carnivora, p. 197, pi. 14. 



Characteristics. Grey, varied with brown. Nasal sac bright brown. Feet blackish brown. 

 Length 6-7 feet. 



Description. Body robust, cylindrical, tapering gradually to the tail, and covered with 

 flattened decumbent hairs. Head small in proportion to the body, with a moveable muscular 

 bag on its summit, extending from the muzzle to about five inches behind the eyes, and in 

 certain positions nearly covering the internal canthi. This sac is twelve inches long, and 

 when fully distended, nine inches high, covered with short hairs, and with slight transverse 

 wrinkles. The nostrils are round, each two inches in diameter, and pierced in the anterior 

 part of this hood. When the hood or nasal sac is not inflated, the septum nasi can be dis- 

 tinctly felt, elevated into a ridge about six inches high. Eyes large, distant 6" 5 from the 



