SEALS. 225 



Whitish grey, covered with small and large black 

 spots; whiskers wavy; the colour varies, becoming 

 darker with age. Length 4 to 5 ft. 

 May certainly be said to belong to the Scandinavian 

 fauna, as it has been taken off the north coast of Finland, 

 but it has never been killed on any more southern coast. 



37. P. BARBATA, Mull. Haf-ert Skal. The Great Seal. F. 



Teeth as in vitulina, but not placed obliquely. Whis- 

 kers large and numerous ; front feet rounded, the side 

 toes being the shortest j colour grey, unspotted. Length 

 8 to 10 ft. 



The largest of all the northern true seals, and its peculiar 

 home is the Polar Seas. It never by any chance appears to 

 stray further south. 



B. Molars, simple, conical. 

 Gen. HalichoeruSj Nilss. 



38. HALICHOERUS GRYPHUS, Fab. Gra Skal. The Grey 



Seal. . D. F. 

 Jaw-bone arched. 



Irregular black or blackish spots on a white grey, 

 ash grey, steel grey, or black grey ground. Length 

 4 to 6 ft. 



This species, when young, may easily be confounded with 

 the young of the last, but among other distinguishing marks 

 Nilsson mentions that the ear opening is placed at a distance 

 from the eye equalling two-thirds of that from the eye to the 

 tip of the nose. In barlata it is equal to not quite half that 

 distance ; and the whiskers are much thicker and the tail 

 longer. 



This is the common species in the Baltic and the 

 Bothnia, from which latter gulf (where they winter and 

 bring forth their young) they wander down into the Baltic 

 about March. It is now that seal hunting is pursued on 

 a larger scale than in perhaps any other of the European 

 seas. Nilsson gives a good description of this seal- 

 hunting : 



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