271 [Packard. 



Of the PJioca Idspida Erxl., no information could be obtained 



Pagophilus grcenlandicus Gray. (Phoca grcenlandica auet.) This 

 species is most abundant and extensively hunted by the sealers. 

 The young soon after birth weigh 70-80 pounds, while the adult 

 weighs 140-150 pounds. 



Erignatlius harhatus Gill. (Phoca barbata Fabr.) It is probably 

 this species which is called by the sealers the "Square Flipper." It is 

 very rare, and much the largest species known. The young weigh 

 140-150 pounds, while the adult will weigh 500 to 600 pounds. 



Cystophora cristata Nilsson. The Hooded seal is not uncom- 

 monly, during the spring, killed in considerable numbers by the seal- 

 ers. The young " pelt " weighs 70-80 pounds, while the old male or 

 ''dog hood," weighs 400 pounds. 



Rosmarus obesus (lUiger) Gill. The "Walrus was formerly as 

 abundant on this coast, and about the Magdalen Islands and certain 

 parts of Nova Scotia, as it now is in Greenland and Spitzbcrgen. 

 In the sixteenth century, its great abundance in the islands of the 

 Gulf of St. Lawrence, especially the Magdalen Islands, was com- 

 mented upon by the early French voyagers, Cartier and Charlevoix, 

 and its bones are still found in abundance on those islands. 

 According to tradition, it also inhabited some of the harbors of 

 Cape Breton ; and I have been informed by a fisherman in Maine, 

 whose word I do not doubt, that on an islet near Cape Sable, Nova 

 Scotia, its bones are found abundantly on the sandy shore, fifteen to 

 twenty feet above the sea. In the St. Lawrence Gulf they were exter- 

 minated by the Canadian and American fishermen during the middle 

 of the last century. The last one seen or heard of in the Gulf, so far 

 as I can ascertain, was killed at St. Augustine, Labrador, twenty-five 

 years since. One was seen at Square Island fifteen years since, and 

 two shortly before that, and another was killed at the same place 

 about eight years since. I saw the head of a young walrus, which 

 was found floating, dead, having been killed, apparently by a har- 

 poon, in the drift ice north of Belle Isle. 



Balrenoptera. The Fin-Back is frequently seen upon the coast. 



Dalccna m>/st(cetus Linn. The Hump Backed Whale is commonly 

 seen. This species shows its tail and the pale under side of the body, 

 when it '-breaches" ; the Finback does not show its tail. 



Plij/.^cfcr macronephnlus Linn. For many years the fishermen on 

 the coast have noticed a school of nine sperm whales passing up and 

 down the coast. Lately the number has been reduced to five, one of 

 which, probalily, was seen off Domino IIarl)or, in a large school of 

 "Finners" and ''Hump backs." The three genera can be easily distin- 

 guished by the differences in the stream of vapor spouted out when 

 the animal comes to the surface to breath. Thus, according to my 



