PHOCID.E 197 



feet from the water, in which they quickly take refuge on T)e- 

 coming alarmed. 



There are three families, two of these having species living 

 on the California coast, the third. Odobenidx, containing only 

 one genus with two species. Walrus, being restricted to Arctic 

 seas. Altogether there are now about eighteen genera and thirty 

 species recognized in this suborder. 



Family Phocidae. Earless Seals. 

 Hind legs not capable of l^eing turned forward and not ser- 

 viceable for use on land; front limbs smaller than hind limbs: 

 neck short: no external ears; upper incisors pointed; no distinct 

 posterbital process ; uelage without underfur. 



Subfamily PhOCinse 

 Incisors 3 — 2 ; all claws well developed ; first and fifth toes 

 of hind foot not much longer than the other three : interorbital 

 region greatly constricted. 



Genus Phoca Linn. (Seal.j 

 Molariform teeth, except the first, large, double rooted, 

 three lobed. planted more or less obliquely; head short; males 

 not much larger than the females ; size small for the suborder. 

 Dental formula, I. 3—2 ; C. i— i ; P. 4—4; ^I- i— i'X2=34. 



Phoca richardii Gray. fFor Captain Richards, j 



PACIFIC HARBOR SEAL. 



Color variable; alxj\e sellowish gray, yellowish brown or 

 blackish, blotched with, black, brown or bufify ; below buffy whitish 

 or dull brown, more or less spotted with dark brown; skull thin 

 and comparatively smooth; premaxillaries extending to the nasals 

 and a short distance along them. The spots or blotches may be 

 verv few and indistinct, or numerous and well marked, and are 



