HARE-LIKE SEAL. 171 



and feeble, ending abruptly ; the membrane of the 

 hind feet is not lunated, but straight. Its colour 

 is a uniform dull white, with a tinge of yellow, and 

 it is never spotted ; the hairs are erect, and inter- 

 woven, and soft like those of the hare, especially 

 when the Seal is young. The skin is very thick ; 

 and the dental formulary marks it as belonging to 

 this genus. This species frequents the White Sea, 

 during the summer months, and ascends and de- 

 scends the mouths of its rivers with the tide, in quest 

 of prey. It is also found on the coasts of Ice- 

 land, and within the Polar circle at Spitzbergen and 

 Kamskatka. It is appropriated to the same uses as 

 its congeners. 



Pallas makes the following remarks on this Seal. 

 " There are many kinds of Seals in the frozen 

 ocean, and this species, known among the Samo- 

 yedes as the Hare of the Sea, differs wholly from 

 the common kind. The young Hares of the Sea, 

 whose skins I "have procured, are white as snow, 

 and shining like silver. Their hair is longer than 

 that of other Seals, so that if the head and feet 

 were removed, the skin might be mistaken for that 

 of a young sea-Bear. It is in spring that the 

 Samoyedes usually hunt these Seals, on their leav- 

 ing the water, near the mouths of the Lina and 

 other rivers, through those holes in the ice which 

 the Seals keep open for the purpose of respiration. 

 They place a number of planks nailed together in 

 the'neighbourhood of these holes, and fix a rope to 

 them. They then conceal themselves behind the 



