TECHNICAL HISTORY SPECIES. 431 



l*hoca cucuUaia {=P. cHstata, Erxl.) ; 4. Phoca maculata (? = 

 P. mtuUna). 



. The next work of iniportance in this connection is Gmelin's 

 'Systeuui Naturaj", which appeared in 1788. Here Erxleben's 

 five species appear without change of name, and in addition to 

 them the Moidv Seal {Phoca monachus) of the Mediterranean.* 

 Under Phoca vitulina are three named varieties, to wit, hotnica, 

 sihirica ("colore argenteo. Habitat in lacuhus Baikal et Orom") 

 and caspica ("colore vario"), which are respectively Erxleben's 

 varieties a, ,5, and ^, and Schreber's "graue Seehnnd", "sibi 

 rische Seeliunde", and "caspische Seehund". 



In 1790 and 1791 Fabricins published his celebrated memoir 

 on the Seals of Greenland, t in which all the Greenland species 

 are described in great detail, and the skulls of Phoca grcenland- 

 ica, Cystojihora cHstataj Erignathus harhatus, and Halichcerus 

 grypus are for the first time figured, while the last-mentioned 

 species is for the first time named. In this series of papers the 

 general subject is exhaustively treated in all its bearings, nearly 

 eighty pages being devoted to the "Svartside" (Harp Seal, 

 Phoca grmnlandica) alone ; twenty-four to the Fiordssel (Ringed 

 Seal, Phoca fceUda) ; twenty- two (including nearly four pages of 

 l)ibliographical references) to the " Spraglede Seel" (Harbor Seal, 

 Phoca vitulina)', about the same number each to the "Klap- 

 mydsen" (Hooded Seal, Cystophorn cristata); and the "Rem- 

 melstel" (Bearded Seal, Erignathus harlatus). In the bibliogra- 

 phy of these species are, however, given various references that 

 are not pertinent, particularly under Phoca crintata, under which 

 name are confounded the Sea-Elephant of the Southern Hemi- 

 sphere with the Crested Seal of the Northern. The Halichcerus 

 grypus is mentioned (but not fully described), and the skull 

 figured, under the names "Krumsuudede Seel {Phoca grypusy\ 

 As regards changes in nomenclature, he abandons the names 

 foetida and leonina respectively for hispida and cristata. His 

 memoir is greatly marred by the introduction into its closing- 

 portion of various species (already referred _to in his "Fauna 

 Groenlandica") that are either mythical or have no relation to 

 the Greenland fauna, as the Sea-Bear ( "S/)ebiyJrne, Phoca ursina)''\ 

 the"Sviinsa'l(P/tocajJorcm)", the " S^ehare {Phoca Ieporinay\ 



*Ex "Hermann, Act. Nat. Scrutat. Berol. iv, i). 246, t. xii, xiii." 

 t"Udf0rlig Beskrivelse over de Gr^nlandske Stele", Skriv. af Naturli. 



Selsk., Iste Bind, Iste Hefte, 1790, pp. 79-157, 2det Hefte, 1791, pp. 73-170, 



Tab. xii, xiii. 



