492 FAAIILY PHOCID^. 



late beeu repeatedly described, while tlieir considerable pow6r 

 of locomotion on land has been known for a century. Dr. Miirie, 

 however, in 1870, described a mode of progression among the 

 common Seals intermediate in character between that usually 

 recognized as characteristic of these animals and that of the 

 Otaries and Wah-uses. From observations made on a living 

 Greenland Seal or "Saddle-back" {Phoca grcenlandica) in the 

 Gardens of the London Zoological Society, Dr. Miirie has de- 

 scribed this "third sort of land-movement," and given figures of 

 the various attitudes assumed by this Seal, ijarticularly when 

 moving on land. The Greenland Seal, he says, " very often uses 

 its fore limbs, placing these on the ground in a semigrasping 

 manner, and by an alternate use of them drags its body along. 

 The hind legs meantime are either trailed behind slightly apart, 

 or with opposed plantar surfaces slightly raised and shot stiffly 

 behind. On uneven ground, or in attempting to climb, a pecu- 

 liar lateral wrigghng movement is made ; and at such times, be- 

 sides alternate j)almar action, the bddy and the hind limbs de- 

 scribe a sinuous spiral track." He also states that he has seen 

 the Crested Seal {Cystophora cristata) assume similar attitudes, 

 and says that in the Harp Seal [Phoca grcenlandica), as well as 

 the Crested Seal, "the fore legs and paws, and, to a very mod- 

 erate extent, the hind limbs are freely brought into action," 

 while in the common Seal {Phoca. vituUna) the "hmb-append- 

 ages on land are of slight subservience to progression, the fore 

 paws only oc casionally being used among rocks." * 



Other observers report that other kinds of Earless Seals pos- 

 sess a considerable power of locomotion. Michael Carroll, in his 

 account of the Harp Seal, sayst that when Seals get "embayed" 

 and cannot get into the water owing to the ice being jammed, 

 "they begin to travel out in a direct line for the water. . . . 

 Much depends upon the character of the ice they have to travel 

 on, as to their rate of speed ; they travel i3rincipally by night. 

 I have killed them with the hair and skin worn off the fore flip- 

 pers and bleeding. Were it not for the fore flippers they could 

 not mount the ice or travel over it. All kinds of Seals known in 

 Newfoundland travel to that degree so as to overheat themselves ; 

 then the fur or hair is loosened and the skin becomes almost 

 valueless. In a cool night Seals will average about one mile per 



hour. Much depends on the character of the ice they have to 







* Proc. Zool. Soc. Loudou, 1870, p. 606. 



t Seal aucl Herring Fisheries of Newfoundland, 1873, ijp. 24, 25. 



