GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION. '615 



common on both sides of the Isthmus of Boothia, where it forms 

 the chief means of subsistence to the inhabitants during eight or 

 nine months of the year.* It is common in Iceland, and Malm- 

 gren and Yon Heuglin state it to be numerous at Spitzbergen. 

 The last-named author gives it as abundant in summer in the 

 Stor-Fjord and its branches, in Hinlopen Strait, and in the 

 bays of the northwest coast of Spitzbergen, occurring in great 

 herds as well as singly, in the open water along the shores and 

 in the openings in the ice-floes. He states that it is also numer- 

 ous about Nova Zernbla, where great numbers are killed for 

 their skins and fat.t It is a common species on the coast of 

 Finland, and further eastward along the Arctic coast of Europe 

 and doubtless also of Western Asia.f It is also a common in- 

 habitant of the Gulf of Bothnia and neighboring waters, and 

 also of the Ladoga and other interior seas of Finland. It is 

 said by Blasius to extend southward along the coast of Middle 

 Europe to Xorth Germany, Ireland, and the British Channel. 

 Professor Flower has recorded its capture on the coast of Nor- 

 wich, England, and it undoubtedly occurs at the Orkneys and 

 the Hebrides, where it is supposed to be represented by the 

 species known there as "Bodach" or " Old Man". A specimen 

 was also taken many years since on the coast of France, but here, 

 as on the shores of the larger British Islands, it can occur as 

 merely a rare straggler. Its fossil remains have been reported 



* Ross's Sec. Voy., App., 1835, p. xix. 



t Reise iiack deni Nordpolarmeer, Th. iii, p. 50. 



tin an account of Professor Nordenbkj old's late Arctic voyage, published 

 in " Nature" (vol. xxi, p. 40, Nov. 13, 1879), it is stated that Phoca foctida 

 "was caught in great numbers, and along with fish and various vegetables 

 forms the main food of the natives" at Ca,pe Serdze (about 120 miles from 

 Behring's Straits), the point where the " Vega " wintered, this and the Polar 

 Bear being the only marine mammals seen. 



Respecting the southern limit of the habitat of this species in Europe, 

 Professor Flower has the following : " Nilsson speaks of it as being found 

 on all the Scandinavian coasts, and as having been met with as far south 

 as the Channel, on the strength of specimens in the Paris Museum from that 

 locality ; but he was unable to find any proofs of its having been met with 

 on the coast of England. Nor have I been able to discover any positive evi- 

 dence that it can, at the present day, be reckoned a British species, although 

 there is little doubt that it must occasionally visit our shores, where its 

 occurrence would be easily overlooked." Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., 1871, p. 510. 



Collett, contrary to the testimony of Nilsson, excludes it from the mam- 

 malian fauna of Norway, and states that he does not know of an authentic 

 instance of its capture on the Norwegian coast. Bemcerkninger til Norges 

 Pattedyrfauna, 1876, p. 57, footnote 2. 



