562 PHOCA VITULINA HARBOR SEAL. 



Phoca seu vitulus marinas, RAY, Syn. Quad. 1713, 189. BRISSON, Reg. Anim., 

 1760, 162. 



Phoca, WORM, Mus. Worm., 1655, 289. 



Phoca dentibus caninis tectis, LINNE, " Syst. Nat., 36"; Fauna Suec., 1746, 4. 



Phoca media magnitudinis, STELLER, Nov. Comm. Petrop., ii, 1751, 290. 



Spraglet, EGEDE, Gronlands Naturel-Hist., 1741, pi. facing p. 46. 



Eobbe, Soslhund, PONTOPPIDAN, "Norg. Nat. Hist., ii, 1752, 203, fig. "; Nat. 

 Hist, von Norwegen, ii, 1753, 237. 



Eassigiak, CRANZ, Hist, von Gronl. (zweite Aufl.) i, 1770, 163 (1st ed. 1765, 

 not seen) ; Hist, of Greenl., i, 1767, 123. 



Phoque de notre Ocean, BUFFON, Hist. Nat., xiii, 1765, 333,339, pi. xlv. 



Phoque commune, BUFFON, Hist. Nat., Suppl., vi, 1782, 330, pi. xlvi. G. 

 CUVIER, Oss. Foss., iv, 1823, 278; v, 200. F. CUVIER, Hist. Nat. 

 desMam., livr. xli, 1824. 



Seal, PENNANT, Brit. Zool., 1766, 34. 



Common Seal, PENNANT, Syn. Quad., 1771, 339; Arctic Zool., 2nd ed. i, 1792, 

 175. PARSONS, Phil. Trans., xlvii, 1753, 120, pi. vi. 



Leopard Seal, SCAMMON, 1. c. 



Seel; Scelhund ; Landscel; Spragled Seel, Danish. 



Enubbsjal; Spracklig Skdl; Wikare Sja>l, Swedish. 



Steen-Eobbe, Norwegian. 



Seehund ; Gemeine Seehund ; Gefleckte Seehund; Robbe ; Seekalb, German. 



Phoque; Phoque commune ; Veau-marin ; Loup-marin; Chien-marin ; French. 



Seal; Common Seal ; Harbor Seal; River Seal ; Bay Seal ; Land Seal ; Fresh- 

 water Seal; Sea-Calf; Sea-Cat; Sea-Dog, English authors and Eng- 

 lish local names. 



Selchie; Selch (Scotland) ; Tangfish (Shetland); Rawn (Hebrides). 



Native Seal ; Banger ; Dotard, Newfoundland sealers. 



EXTERNAL CHARACTERS. Color variable. Above, usually 

 yellowish-gray, varied with irregular spots of dark brown or 

 black ; beneath, yellowish- white, usually with smaller spots of 

 dark-brown. Sometimes uniform brownish-yellow above, and 

 somewhat paler below, entirely without spots ; or uniform dark- 

 gray above, and pale yellowish- white below, everywhere unspot- 

 ted. ^Not unfrequently everywhere dark-brown or blackish, 

 varied with irregular streaks and small spots of yellowish- 

 brown; the head wholly blackish from the nose to beyond the 

 eyes ; the lips and around the eyes rusty-yellow. Length of 

 male, 5 to 6 feet; of female, somewhat less. Young at birth 

 uniform soiled- white or yellowish- white, changing to darker 

 with the first moult. 



The variations in color are almost endless, ranging from uni- 

 form yellowish-brown to almost uniform dark-brown, and even 

 nearly black, with, between these extremes, almost every pos- 

 sible variation, from dark spotting on a light ground to light 



