CHAPTER III. 
THE BANDED SEAL. 
Histkiophoca equestris, GUI. (Plate xxi, fig. 1, 2.) 
Of this beautifully marked animal, which attains the length of six or eight feet, 
there is but very little known. Its geographical distribution is said to extend east- 
ward to Amoor land. It is found upon the coast of Alaska, bordering on Behring 
Sea, and the natives of Ounalaska recognize it as an occasional visitor to the Aleu- 
tian Islands. It is said to be found in greater numbers on the Asiatic coast than 
on the American. In April, 1852, we observed a herd of seals upon the beaches 
at Point Reyes, California ; these, without close examination, answered to the 
description given by Gill, which is as follows: "The species is remarkable for 
color as well as structural peculiarities. The male is at once recognizable by the 
color, and this may be said to be a chocolate brown, except (1) a band of whitish 
yellow, bent forward toward the crown around the neck; (2), an oval ring of the 
same color on each side, encircling the fore feet and passing in front just before 
them ; and ( 3 ) another band, also bent forward above, behind the middle of the 
trunk. There is considerable variation in extent of these bands, and sometimes the 
puribrachial rings are more or less confluent with the posterior band. The females 
are simply whitish yellow, or have very indistinct traces of the pastmidian band." 
Although we are quite confident the seals we saw on Point Reyes were the same 
as those described by Gill, still it is a remarkable fact that we have never seen 
this species on the coast of California since. The Russian traders, who formerly 
visited Cape Romanzoff, from St. Michael's, Norton Sound, frequently brought back 
the skins of the male Histrwphoca, which were used for covering trunks and for 
other ornamental purposes. 
