668 ERIGNATHUS BARBATUS BEARDED SEAL. 



their accounts to either Phoca vitulina or P. groenlandicuSj it is 

 impossible to trace its western range ; it is, however, much rarer 

 in the north than in the south of Davis's Strait. Accordingly 

 the natives of the former region are obliged to buy the skin 

 from the natives of the more south of [sic] settlements, as it is 

 of the utmost value to them. This Seal comes with the pack- 

 ice round Cape Farewell, and is only found on the coast in the 

 spring. Unlike the other Seals, it has no atlukj but depends 

 on broken places in the ice; it is generally found among loose, 

 broken ice and breaking-up floes."* 



Mr. Kumlien (MS. notes) says, " This Seal was first noticed a 

 little to the southward of Cape Chidly, and thence northward to 

 our winter harbor, in about lat. 67 K. According to the Eski- 

 mo, they are the most common about Cape Mercy, Nugumeute, 

 and the southern Cumberland waters, where they remain all the 

 year, if there is open water. They remain in Cumberland Sound 

 only during the time when there is open water, as they have no 

 atluk. On the west coast of Davis Straits they are not rare, 

 but are said by whalemen to diminish in numbers above lat. 75 

 K. They appear to be more common on the southern shores of 

 the west coast of Davis Straits than on the northern, so that the 

 natives go southward some distance to secure the skins. We 

 noticed them among the pack-ice in Davis Straits in July and 

 August. . . In Cumberland Sound they begin working north- 

 ward as fast as the floe edge of the ice breaks up, arriving in 

 the vicinity of Annanactook about the latter days of June. In 

 autumn they move southward as fast as the ice makes across the 

 sound, always keeping in open water. They are seldom found 

 in the smaller fjords or bays, but delight in wide expanses of 

 water." 



Bespecting its southern limit on the coast of Europe, there 

 appears to be no unquestionable record of its capture south of 

 the "North Sea", which locality is given by Gray for various 

 specimens in the British Museum. It was for many years sup- 

 posed to inhabit the Western Islands of Scotland, and to have 

 occurred at other localities in the British Islands, but on further 

 investigation the species proved to be the Gray Seal. It is 

 consequently omitted from the second edition of BelFs "His- 

 tory of British Quadrupeds ". Dr. Gray, writing in 1872, said, 

 " I have never seen a specimen from the coast of Great Britain; 



* Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., 1868, p. 424; Man. Nat. Hist., Geol., etc., Green- 

 land, 1875, Mam., p. 54. 



