TECHNICAL HISTORY SPECIES. 437 



Phoca fasciata (1783) ; 9. Halichcerus grypus (1791). Two other 

 species had been distinguished as varieties, namely, 10. Phoca 

 caspica; 11. Phoca sibirica (both 1788). As will be seen later, 

 only two northern species (Macrorhinus angustirostris and the 

 West Indian Seal), and three others from the Southern Seas, 

 remained to be added, although the literature of the subject 

 has since been burdened by the addition of not less than sixty 

 synonyms ! 



In the year 1800 Shaw, in his "General Zoology " (Quad- 

 rupeds, vol. i, pp. 250-272) redescribed Pennant's nineteen 

 species, under Latin as well as English names, bestowing new 

 Latin names upon five of them, none of which, however, have 

 proved to be valid species. So far as the Seals are concerned, 

 his work is little more than an abridged paraphrase of Pen- 

 nant, being strictly a compilation (based almost wholly on Pen- 

 nant), with the most of the bibliographical references omitted 

 (he cites usually only Gmelin and Pennant), with the form of 

 the matter changed by throwing the descriptions of the external 

 characters into brief Latin diagnoses, duplicated in English.* 

 His species are the following, the new names added being here 

 printed in heavy type : 1. Phoca mtulina ; 2. P/toc&bicolor(=Le 

 Phoque a ventre blanc, Buffon, hence Monaclms albiventer) ; 3. \ 

 Phoca monachus; 4. Phoca longicollis (= Long-necked Seal, Pen- 

 nant); 5. Phoca falklandica (= Falkland Isle Seal, Pennant = 

 Phoca australiSjZtimm.); 6. Phoca testudinea (Tortoise-head Seal, 

 Pennant, ex Parsons = Phoca testudo, Kerr) ; 7. Phoca fasciata 

 {= Eubbon Seal, Pennant); 8. Phoca Icporina (= Leporine Seal, 

 Pennant ; Lepechin not cited) ; 9. Phoca barbata ; 10. Phoca 

 hispida ( = Eough Seal, Pennant) ; 1 1 . Phoca porcina (= Porcine 

 Seal, Pennant; Molina not cited) ; 12. Phoca flavescens(= Eared 

 .Seal, Pennant); 13. Phoca cristata ; 14. Phoca grcenlandica ; 15. 

 Phoca pusilla; 16. Phoca ursina ; 17. Phoca leonina ( = Anson's 

 Sea-Lion); 18. Phoca jubata (= all the Sea-Lions then known); 

 19. Phoca lupina (Urigene Seal, Pennant ; Molina not cited). 



* The author of the work under consideration thus expresses its raison 

 d'etre : ' ' The general history of quadrupeds has been so often detailed in the 

 various works on Natural History, that a fresh publication on the subject 

 must of necessity labour under peculiar disadvantages. The valuable works 

 of the Count de Buffon and Mr. Pennant have diffused such a degree of in- 

 formation on these subjects, that it does not seem an easy task to improve 

 upon their plan otherwise than by the introduction of the Linnaean method 

 of arrangement, the rectification of errors relative to synonyms, the addition 



of proper specific characters, and the introduction of new species " 



Gen. ZooL, Introd. to vol. i, pp. vii, viii. 



