654 GENUS ERIGNATHUS. 



on that which to read of, or even think of afterwards, makes 

 one shudder? In the bustle, hurry, and excitement, these 

 things pass as a matter of course, and as if necessary ; but they 

 are most horrible, and will not admit of an attempt at pallia- 

 tion." * Scoresby t and other writers refer to similar heartless 

 proceedings, as though the necessary suffering attending such 

 a sacrifice of unresisting creatures were not in itself bad 

 enough without the infliction of such needless cruelty. The 

 young Seals not only do not attempt any resistance, but are 

 said to make no effort to move when approached, quietly suf- 

 fering themselves to be knocked on the head with a club. The 

 old Seals are more wary, and are generally killed with fire- 

 arms. Scoresby relates that "When the Seals are observed 

 to be making their escape into the water before the boats reach 

 the ice, the sailors give a long-continued shout, on which their 

 victims are deluded by the amazement a sound so unusual 

 produces and frequently delay their retreat until arrested by 

 the blows of their enemies ". J 



The annual catch of Harp Seals in Greenland is stated by 

 Eink to be 17,500 full-grown " Saddle-backs " and 15,500 "Blue- 

 sides", or 33,000 in all. The catch from the Newfoundland 

 ports alone often reaches 500,000, and in the Jan Mayen seas 

 often exceeds 300,000, so that the total annual catch of this 

 species alone doubtless ranges from 800,000 to 900,000. 



The commercial products are the oil used in the lubrication 

 of machinery, in tanning leather, and in miners' lamps and 

 the skins, which are employed for the manufacture of various 

 kinds of leather and articles of clothing. The skins are said 

 to be mostly sold to English manufacturers, who employ them 

 in the preparation of a superior article of "patent" or lacquered 

 leather. The flesh is esteemed by the Greenlanders as superior 

 to that of their favorite Neitsek (Phoca fcetida). 



GENUS ERIGNATHUS, Gill. 



Phoca, GRAY, "Zool. Erebus and Terror, 1844"; Cat. Seals Brit. Mus., 1850, 

 27, not of Linne". Type, Phoca barbata, Fabricius. 



Erignathus, GILL, Proc. Essex Inst., v, 1866, 9. Type, Phoca larlata. 



Muzzle broad, forehead high, convex; small supraorbital 

 processes. Dental formula as in Phoca; teeth small, molars 



* Excurs. in Newfoundland, vol. i, p. 290. 

 tHist. of the Arct. Reg., vol. i, p. 510. 

 t Ibid., vol. i, p. 512. 



