TECHNICAL HISTORY SPECIES. 431 



Phoca citcuUata (=P. crisiata, Erxl.) ; 4. Phoca maculata (? = 

 P. vitulina). 



The next work of importance in this connection is Gmelin's 

 -Systema Naturae", which appeared in 1788. Here Erxleben's 

 five species appear without change of name, and in addition to 

 them the Monk Seal (Phoca monachus) of the Mediterranean.* 

 Under Phoca vitulina are three named varieties, to wit, botnica, 

 xibirica ("colore argenteo. Habitat in lacubus Baikal et Orom") 

 and caspica ("colore vario"), which are respectively Erxleben's 

 varieties , <3, and ^, and Schreber's "graue Seehund", a sibi 

 rische Seehunde", and "caspische Seehund". 



In 1790 and 1791 Fabricius published his celebrated memoir 

 on the Seals of Greenland, t in which all the Greenland species 

 are described in great detail, and the skulls of Phoca grcenland- 

 ica, Cystophora cristata, Urignathus barbatus, and Halichcerus 

 grypus are for the first time figured, while the last-mentioned 

 species is for the first time named. In this series of papers the 

 general subject is exhaustively treated in all its bearings, nearly 

 eighty pages being devoted to the "Svartside" (Harp Seal, 

 Phoca grcenlandica) alone j twenty -four to the Fiordssel (Einged 

 Seal, Phoca fcetida) 5 twenty- two (including nearly four pages of 

 bibliographical references) to the " Spraglede Sa3l" (Harbor Seal, 

 Pkoca vitulina)', about the same number each to the u Klap- 

 mydsen" (Hooded Seal, Cystophora cristata); and the u Eem- 

 melssel" (Bearded Seal, Erignatlms barbatus). In the bibliogra- 

 phy of these species are, however, given various references that 

 are not pertinent, particularly under Phoca cristata, under which 

 name are confounded the Sea-Elephant of the Southern Hemi- 

 sphere with the Crested Seal of the Northern. The Halichcerus 

 grypus is mentioned (but not fully described), and the skull 

 figured, under the names " Krumsuudede Sael (Phoca grypus)". 

 As regards changes in nomenclature, he abandons the names 

 fcetida and leonina respectively for hispida and cristata. His 

 memoir is greatly marred by the introduction into its closing 

 portion of various species (already referred to in his "Fauna 

 Grrenlandiea") that are either mythical or have no relation to 

 the Greenland fauna, as the Sea-Bear ( "S^ebiyfrne, Phoca ursina)", 

 the "Sviinssel (Phoca porcina) ", the " S^ehare (Phoca leporina)", 



*Ex a Hermann, Act. Nat. Scrutat. Berol. iv, p. 246, t. xii, xiii." 

 t"Udf0rlig Beskrivelse over de Gr0nlandske Saele", Skriv. af Naturk. 



Selsk., Iste Bind, Iste Hefte, 1790, pp. 79-157, 2det Hefte, 1791, pp. 73-170, 



Tab. xii, xiii. 



