GENUS MONACHUS. 707 



GENUS MONACHUS, Fleming. 



Monaclms, FLEMING, Phil. Zool., ii, 1822, 187. 



Pelage [Pelagius], F. CUVIER, Me"m. du Mus., xi, 1824, 193, 196, pi. xiii. 



Type, Phoca monachus, Hermann. 

 Pelagim, F. CUVIER, Diet, Sci. Nat., xxxix, 1826, 550. 

 Heliophoca, GRAY, Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist., xiii, 1854, pi. xiii (young). 



"Muzzle rather elongate, broad, hairy, with a slight groove 

 between the nostrils ; whiskers small, quite smooth, flat, taper- 

 ing. Fore feet short ; fingers gradually shorter to the inner 

 one ; claws 5, flat, truncate. Hind feet hairy between the toes ; 

 claws very small ; hair short, adpressed, with very little or no 

 under-fur. Skull depressed ; nose rather depressed, rather elon- 

 gate, longer than the length of the zygomatic arch ; palate an- 

 gularly notched behind. Cutting-tfeeth , large, notched within, 

 the middle upper much smaller, placed behind the intermediate 

 ones. Canines large, conical, sharp-edged. Grinders ~^ large, 

 crowded, placed obliquely with regard to the central palatine 

 line; crown large, conical, with several small conic rhombic 

 tubercles. Lower jaw angulated in front below, with diverg- 

 ing branches, the lower edge of the branches rounded, simple. 

 The grinders, except the two first in both jaws, are implanted 

 by two roots ; their crown is short, compressed, conical, with a 

 cingillum [sic] strongly developed on their inner side, and de- 

 veloping a small anterior and posterior accessory cusp ; the up- 

 per jaw is much less deep than in Halichwrus ; the canines are 

 relatively large, and the nasal bones are much shorter." Gray. 



The genus Monachus was placed by Gray, as late as 1866 and 

 previously, in the subfamily Stenorliyncliince. In 1871 he raised 

 it to the rank of a distinct " tribe" (Monachina) or subfamily. 

 The single species usually referred to it the Mediterranean 

 Seal, Phoca monachus, Hermann has even been placed by Wag- 

 ner, Giebel, and other German writers in the genus Leptonyx, 



En af de mserkeligste af disse Afvigelser er Tidspunktet for dens Yngletid. 

 Denue indtrseffer nemlig i Norgeom Hasten, efterat Individerne iMidten af 

 September have samlet sigpaa de bestemte Ynglepladse ; umiddelbart deref- 

 ter foregaar Ungens Kastning, i Regelen i den sidste Uge af September." 

 SemcerJcninger til Norges Pattedyrfaiina, 1876, p. 59. See also Lilljeborg's 

 " Fauna ofver Sveriges ocb Norges Ryggradsdjur," 1874, p. 702, where the 

 same is given in substance, and also Lilljeborg's note (note 2, p. 702) in ref- 

 erence to Fabriciua's and Malragren's observations on the breeding season of 

 Phoca barbata. 



