MARINE MAMMALS 



201 



doubt penetrated thus far from its ancestral abode in the 

 Antarctic Ocean. 



Returning to the central Atlantic we find two species 

 of Seals inhabiting these waters, both belonging to the same 

 genus, Monachus. One of these (M. albiventer) inhabits 

 the Mediterranean and the adjoining coasts of the Atlantic, 



Fig. 43.— The Common Seal. 



(Pit oca vitulina.) 



while the other (M. tropicalis) is in these days restricted to 

 some of the smaller and less known islands of the West 

 Indies. 



The Phocidse of the Antarctic Ocean all belong to genera 

 distinct from the Arctic forms and more nearly allied to 

 Monachus, the Seal of the Mid-Atlantic. They are of 

 four species, belonging to as many genera: Ogmorhinus, 



