614 PHOCA FCETIDA RINGED SEAL. 



time when these basins formed a part of the great Tertiary sea, 

 of which the Mediterranean and connected interior waters are 

 now the greatly diminished remnants, whence came the stock 

 from which these two allied species of Seal are the descendants? 

 Are we to look for an ancestor in Phoca foetida, or in some allied 

 extinct species, from which came not only these species but also 

 their present northern ally ? As shown by the researches of Van 

 Ben eden, Seals were abundant in the Pliocene seas of Southern 

 Europe, and among them were forms more or less nearly re- 

 lated to each of the existing types, his genus Phocanella being 

 the early representative of the modern Phoca fcetida. 



GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION. Although the Ringed Seal is 

 a well-known inhabitant of the Arctic Seas, of both hemispheres, 

 the southern limit of its distribution cannot be given with cer- 

 tainty. Wagner * records specimens from Labrador, which is the 

 most southern point on the eastern coast of North America from 

 which it seems to have been reported. It is not enumerated by 

 Jukes or Carroll as among the species hunted by the Newfound- 

 land sealers,t nor is it mentioned by Gilpinf as occurring in Nova 

 Scotia. Its occasional presence here and in the Gulf of Saint 

 Lawrence is doubtless to be expected. Further northward, and 

 especially along the shores of Davis's Straits and Greenland, 

 its abundance is well attested. It has also been found as far 

 north as explorers have penetrated, having been met with by 

 Parry as high as latitude 82 40'. J. C. Boss states that it is 



* Schreber's Saugt., vii, 1846, p. 31. 



t Professor Jukes says four species are known on the coast of Newfound- 

 land, namely, the "Bay Seal" (Phoca vitulina}, the Harp Seal (Phoca grcen- 

 landica), the Hooded Seal (Cystophora cristata), and the "Square Flipper" 

 (probably Halichwrus grypus). The first he did not see on the ice among the 

 Seals pursued by the sealers. The second is the one that forms the principal 

 object of the chase. The third seems not to be numerous, but occurs occa- 

 sionally out on the ice-floes with the Harp Seals. The fourth is referred to 

 as very rare, and as being larger than the Hooded Seal. Not one was heard 

 of or seen that season. He supposes it may be the Phoca barbata. Excur- 

 sions in Newfoundland, vol. i, pp. 308-312. 



Carroll states that the species of Seal that are taken on the coiist of New- 

 foundland are the " Square Flipper Seal " (probably Halichverus grypus), the 

 'Hood Seal" (Cystophora cristata), the " Harp Seal " (Phoca grcenlandica), and 

 the "Dotard" or "Native Seal" (Phoca vitulina). Seal and Herring Fisheries 

 of Newfoundland, 1873, p. 10. 



t The species given by Gilpin as found on the coast of Nova Scotia are the 

 Harbor Seal (Phoca vitulina), the Harp Seal (Phoca grwnlandica), the Gray 

 Seal (Halichoerus grypus), and the Hooded Seal (Cystophora cristata). 



