GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION. 695 



GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION. The Gray Seal appears to 

 be not only one of the least abundant of the northern Phocids, 

 but also to be restricted to a rather narrow range. It is wholly 

 confined to the North Atlantic, and even here is found only 

 within comparatively narrow limits. On the American coast 

 it occurs as far southward as Sable Island, Nova Scotia, where 

 its presence is attested by specimens in the National Museum, 

 collected there by Mr. P. S. Dodd. This, however, is the south- 

 ernmost point at which it is known to occur. Mr. Eeeks says, 

 "It is comparatively rare in the Straits of Labrador and Belle 

 Isle, although very few seasons pass without a few being cap- 

 tured either on the ice or in the i seal frames.'"* Beyond this 

 point to the northward it has been recorded by Mr. Brown as 

 probably occurring on the coast of Greenland. He says, " In 

 1861, a little south of Disco Island, we killed a Seal the skull 

 of which proved it to be of this species ; and again this sum- 

 mer [1867J I saw a number of skins in Egedesminde and other 

 settlements about Disco Bay, which appeared to be of this spe- 

 cies. Though the natives do not seem to have any name for it, 

 the Danish traders with whom I talked were of opinion that 

 the GrasJcalj with which they were acquainted as an inhabitant 

 of the Cattegat, occasionally visited south and the more south- 

 erly northern portions of Greenland with the herds of AtaTc 

 (P. grcenlandicus). The skull to which I refer, though carefully 

 examined at the time, was afterwards accidentally destroyed 

 by a young Polar Bear which formed one of our ship's com- 

 pany on that northern voyage; therefore, though perfectly con- 

 vinced of its being entitled to be classed as a member of the 

 Greenland fauna, I am not in a position to assert this with, 

 more confidence than as being a very strong probability. It 

 should be carefully looked for among the herds of P. grcen- 

 landicus when they arrive on the coast." t It is not, however, 

 given by Dr. Rink as an inhabitant of Greenland, nor was it 

 obtained by Mr. Kumlien during his recent sojourn in Cum- 

 berland Sound. I find, in short, no evidence of its occurrence 

 on the North American or Greenland coasts other than that 

 already given. Its occurrence in Iceland, however, is abun- 

 dantly substantiated, and it is also rather common along the 

 shores of Northern Europe. Nilsson states that it has been 



* Zoologist, 2d ser., vol. vi, 1871, p. 2549. 



tProc. Zool. Soc. Lond., 1868, p. 427; Man. Nat. Hist. Greenland, etc., 

 1875, Mammals, p. 55. 



