MUSEUiJ OF COMPARATIVE ZOOLOGY. 19o 



PHOCIDJE. 



1G. Phoca vitulina Li\x. (CaUocephalus vitulinus F. Cuv.) 

 Common Harbor Skal. Abundant. I have observed it to be par- 

 ticularly numerous about Ipswich, as many as eight or ten being some- 

 time- seen at once. In June the females are. accompanied by their 

 young, then apparently about one fourth grown. Though so com- 

 mon, their habits seem to be little known. They are rarely cap- 

 tured, as when killed they sink to the bottom and are thus difficult 

 to obtain. A fine nearly adult male, now in the Museum of Com- 

 parative Zoology, was obtained at Wellfleet, in June, 1868, by Mr. C. 

 J. Maynard and the writer. The specimen having been stranded, 

 it had just died of exhaustion when discovered, from its frantic efforts 

 to regain the water. It had repeatedly floundered several yards up 

 the steep sand beach. 



In reply to inquiries of mine respecting our seals, Captain N. E. 

 Atwood, of Provincetown, has kindly written me respecting this species 

 as follows: "At Provincetown we occasionally see a straggling speci- 

 men of what we call the Harbor Seal ; in the vicinity of Cape Cod it is 

 not very common ; but there are localities on our New England coast 

 where, in summer, they are found in great numbers. In Boston Har- 

 bor, west of Kainsford Island, there is a shoal-water bay of considei-able 

 extent, in which is a small ledge of rocks that at low water rise 

 several feet above the surface ; on these rocks many hundreds of these 

 seals may be seen at any time during the summer. If the ledge is 

 approached, they all dive into the water and rapidly disperse, but soon 

 return again if they perceive no danger. These seals are small, and 

 of little value, and are hence unmolested." 



17. Cystophora cristata Nilsson. Hooded Seal. From 

 accounts I have received from residents along the coast of a seal of 

 very large size observed by them, and occasionally captured, I am led 

 to think this species is not of very unfrequent occurrence on the Massa- 

 chusetts coast. Mr. C. W. Bennett inform- me of one taken some 

 years since in the Providence River, a few miles below Providence, 

 which he saw shortly after. From his very particular account of it I 

 cannot doubt that it was of this spe.cies. Mr. C. J. Maynard also in- 



