301 



PHOCID^E. 



PHOCIDJE. 



303 



employment; for should their torches go out, or the wind blow hard 

 from the sea during their continuance in the cave, their lives are lost 



To the Greenlander the seal is all in all : it gives him light, food, 

 and clothing. Mr. Farrington above quoted says of the Welsh seals, 

 that they are taken for the sake of their skins, and for the oil their 

 fat yields: "the former," says he, "sell for four shillings, or four 

 and sixpence a piece, which, when dressed, are very useful in covering 

 trunks, making waistcoats, shot-pouches, and several other con- 

 veniences." Pennant, speaking of the Caithness seals, states that 

 those of six weeks old yield more oil than their emaciated dams : 

 " above eight gallons have been procured from a single whelp, which 

 sells from sixpence to ninepence per gallon ; the skins from sixpence 

 to twelve-pence." That the flesh was thought not unworthy of the 

 tables of the great in this country is evident from the bill of fare at 

 the ' intronazation ' of George Nevell, the archbishop of York ; for we 

 there find " Porposes and Seals 12 :" and, indeed, Low, in his ' Fauna 

 Orcadensis,' states that at North Rolandsha they were taken for food, 

 and that they made good hams. The numbers killed on the coast of 

 Newfoundland in a good year amount to hundreds of thousands. 



C. Orcenlandictii. This is the Phaca Greenland*:* of Muller ; P. semi- 

 limarit of Boddaert ; P. dorsata of Pallas ; Phoqne a Croissant of 

 Buffon ; Harp-Seal of Pennant and others ; and Atteraoak of Crantz. 



The hair is drier, closer to the leather, and more free from wool 

 than that of the other species ; each hair flat and lustrous. A large 

 brown oblique band, irregularly dentilated, commences nearly above 

 the shoulders, where it joins that of the other side, and is carried 

 along upon the sides and up to the hind legs, becoming by degrees 

 brighter there and losing itself hi the white of the belly ; the posterior 

 extremity approaches that of the other side at the root of the tail. 

 Some small brown spots are scattered about both in the gray of the 

 back and in the pale part of the band. The bands and spots become 

 more and more black with age. 



The females and the young have the skin of the same ground-colour, 

 but without bands, and with unequal, well-defined, angular, brown 

 spots, thrown as it were at hazard on different places of the upper and 

 lower part of the body. 



Cuvier, whose description this is, says that the ground-colour of the 

 old male is gray-white, and that he is 5 feet long. The face is 

 entirely black. 



According to Crantz this species, when newly born, is quite white 

 and woolly. In the first year it is cream-coloured ; in the second, 

 gray ; in the third, painted with stripes ; in the fourth, spotted ; and 

 in the fifth, wears half-moons as the sign ofits maturity. 



It is found in the Frozen Ocean, Greenland, Newfoundland, Iceland, 

 the White Sea, Kamtschatka. It is rare in Britain. 



Harp Seal (Catocrphatm Granlandicut], male. 



According to Fabricius this species is very numerous in the deep 

 bays and the mouths of the rivers hi Greenland. They leave the coast 

 twice a year : at first in March, returning in May; again in June, and 

 re-appear in September. Their young (one, rare two, at a birth) are 

 brought forth in spring, and ore suckled on the ice far from shore. 

 They avoid the fixed ice, but live and sleep in vast herds near the 

 floating ice-islands, among which they are sometimes seen swimming 

 in great numbers under the guidance of one who seems to act as 

 leader and sentinel for the whole. Their food consists of all kinds of 

 fish, shell-fish included, but they prefer the arctic salmon. When on 

 the feed, and one comes to the surface to breathe, be lifts his head only 

 above the water, and quickly dives without changing his place. These 

 seals swim in many attitudes, on their back, on their sides, as well as 

 in the ordinary position, and occasionally whirl themselves about, as if 

 In sport. They sleep frequently on the water, and are considered 

 incautious, especially on the ice. 



They are said to have a great dread of the toothed whales. If a 

 grampus perceive a seal of any species basking on floating ice, it is 

 asserted that he doe* bis best to upset the ice or beat the seal off with 

 his fins, when the latter becomes an easy prey. 



Crantz avers that this is a careless stupid seal, and that it is the 

 only one which the Greenlander will venture to attack alone. He goes 

 to hunt it in his kajak, which is in the form of a weaver's shuttle. 

 When he perceives a seal, he endeavours to surprise it unawares with 



the wind and sun in his back, that he may be neither heard nor seen. 

 He approaches it rapidly but silently till within 4 or 6 fathoms. He 

 then takes hold of the oar in his left hand, and with his right throws 

 the harpoon. If it is fixed, the Greenlander throws the attached buoy 

 overboard on the same side that the seal dives, and he dives upon the 

 instant. The struck victim often carries the buoy under water, but, 

 wearied and wounded, it must at last come up to breathe. The Green- 

 lander, who is on the watch, now attacks it with his long lance till the 

 animal is exhausted, when he releases it from its sufferings with his 

 short lance ; and then blows it up like a bladder that it may swim the 

 easier after his kajak. This is a service of danger to the seal-hunter. 

 If the line should be entangled, or if it should catch hold of the kajak, 

 an oar, the hunter's hand, or his neck, as it sometimes does when the 

 wind is high, or if the seal should make a sudden turn to the other 

 side of the light boat, the kajak would be drawn under the waves. 

 Then, unless the Greenlander has presence of mind and dexterity to 

 disentangle himself, he is lost. Nor is this all the danger, for the 

 dying seal may attack him ; and if it be a female followed by young 

 ones, she will not unfrequently turn on the pursuer, injure him, or bite 

 a hole in his kajak and sink it. 



C. ditcolor, Marbled Seal. This seal is a native of the coasts of 

 France, and was at first thought to be a variety of 0. vitulinus, or one 

 of that species exhibiting a modification of colouring from age or 

 sex. Baron Cuvier observes that it does not appear to be a variety of 

 the last-named species proceeding from age and sex only ; but, he adds, 

 that its cranium does not show a sensible variation from that of the 

 Common Seal. Dr. Hamilton states that Professor Nilsson regards it 

 as a distinct species, giving it the name of C. annellata. 



Marbled Seal (Ctilocejihalus discolor 



A specimen of this seal was kept for some time in the Jardiu des 

 Plantes, Paris. In the same inclosure with it were two little dogs, and 

 they amused themselves by mounting on the seal's back, barking, and 

 even biting it : the seal however took it in good part, and seemed pleased 

 with them, though it would sometimes give them slight blows wi'Ji 

 its paws, as if more to encourage their play than repress their liberties. 

 When the little dogs made their way out of the inclosure, the seal 

 tried to follow them, not deterred by the rough and stony ground. In 

 cold weather they all three huddled kindly and warmly together. If 

 the dogs snatched the fish from the seal's mouth when he was feeding, 

 he bore it patiently : but he exhibited very different conduct to another 

 seal, who shared his mess ; for they generally had a fight over their 

 meal, the combat ending, as usual, in the defeat of the weakest 



Stenorhynchus. Muzzle prominent ; teeth composed of a long 

 median, rounded, cylindrical tubercle, curved backwards, and separated 

 from two other tubercles which are rather smaller, one anterior and 

 one posterior, by deep notches. Claws very small. 



Skull of Stenorhynchus Icptonyx. 



Dental Formula : Incisors, i; Canines, ll^; Molars, ^5 =32. 

 4 1 1 6 6 



Two species only of this genus appear to be known, 5. leplonyx, 

 S. phocaleptonyr, De Blainv., the Small-Nailed Seal ; and S. WeddeUii, 

 Less., the Sea-Leopard. Of the natural history of the first-named 

 species, which is a native of the Falkland Islands and New Georgia, 

 little or nothing deems to be known ; and the accounts of the habits 



