An account of the Pkoca cristata. 97 



inflated this part, and made a bellowing noise, and that it con- 

 tinued inflated until he expired. Its use in defending the head 

 and eyes from hail, sand, &c. as related by Egede, and impli- 

 citly followed by all subsequent writers, is, to say the least, 

 problematical. The fishermen believe, that it is a sort of re- 

 servoir for air, which the animal uses when under water. Its 

 great bulk, when distended, would however prevent the animal 

 from descending freely, or moving with facility beneath the 

 surface of the water. It is said by most writers to be a sexual 

 distinction ; and there can be little doubt but that it is more 

 strongly developed in the males. The connexion of the nos- 

 trils with the hood, the configuration of this part, and the nu- 

 merous mastaces with which it is furnished, indicate its impor- 

 tance as subsidiary to the sense of smell. The weak arms of 

 offence and defence allotted to this animal render it necessary 

 that this faculty should be exercised in the greatest possible 

 degree. 



With respect to the place it should occupy in the systems, 

 1 have little hesitation in considering it as the Phoca cristata 

 of Gmelin, Phoque a capuchon Cuvier, the Hooded Seal of 

 Pennant.* In the " Histoire des Peches des Hollandois," vol. I. 

 p. 216, it is stated that the usual residence of this seal is at the 

 entrance of Davis' Straits. Pennant mentions, that it is some- 

 times seen in Newfoundland. This is the first individual, as 

 far as I can learn, that has been found within the limits of the 

 United States. 



* As Pennant's Arctic Zoology is a work to which few have access, I 

 have added an abstract of his description of the hooded seal. " P. with 

 four cutting teeth above and below ; fore-feet like the human ; thumb 

 long ; membrane on the hind feet extends beyond the claws. On the fore- 

 head of the male is a thick folded skin, ridged halfway up, which it can in- 

 flate, and draw down like a cap, to defend its eyes against storms, &c. The 

 females and young have only the rudiments of this guard. It has two spe- 

 cies of hair, the longest white, the shortest thick, black, and woolly, which 

 gives it a beautiful gray colour ; grows to the length of eight feet. The 

 Germans call it Klapmutz, from its covering its face as if with a cap," &q. 



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