DISTINCTIVE CHARACTERS. 565 



It is sometimes stated that the ftetal coat is retained for four 

 or Ave days after birth, but other writers affirm that it is shed 

 at the time of birth. Mr. Kumlieu, in his MS. notes * on this 

 species, says that the Esquijnaux affirm that the "youngs remain 

 in the white coat but three or four days, differing greatly in this 

 respect from Pngomys fcetidus.^^ 



Distinctive Characters. The common Harbor Seal, the 

 Kinged Seal, and the Harp Seal, during its earlier stages, are 

 not always certainly distinguishable by color, and are appar- 

 ently not easy to determine by any other external characters, 

 save one, that have yet been pointed out. The Ringed Seal 

 {Phoca foetida) can always be recognized by the length of the 

 first digit of the manus, which slightly exceeds all the others. 

 When adult, and in the flesh, they must each present well- 

 marked external differences, not only in color but in proportions 

 and form. P. fcctida is the smallest of the three, while the 

 Harp Seal (P. grcenlandica) is the largest, and when adidt, is 

 easily distinguished by coloration alone. P. vituUna, judging 

 from the skeleton, is a comparatively robust form, with a large 

 head, broad nose, and rather short limbs. The others are more 

 slender, with a narrower and more pointed nose, and a smaller 

 and more delicately shaped head. By the skull, or by any of 

 the i>rincipal bones of the skeleton, particularly of the limbs, 

 they can be easily distinguished, as will be shown by the fol- 

 lowing rather extended osteological comparisons, with the ma- 

 terial for which I am fortunately well pro-vided. 



As is well known, P. vitulina is easily distinguished from the 

 other species of PJioca above named by its heavy dentition, 

 the molars especially being very broad and thick, closely 

 crowded together and set obliquely in the jaw, whereas in both 

 P, foetida and P. (jroenlandiea the teeth are very small, normally 

 implanted, and separated bj' well-marked diastema. They also 



*Mr. Ludwig Kiimlien, naturalist of the "Howgate Polar Expedition" 

 (I877-'78), kindly placed at my service Ms report, while in manuscript, on 

 the mammals collected and observed by him in and near Cumberland Sound, 

 from which the extracts given in the following pages as from Mr. Kumlien's 

 "MS. notes" were taken. A year later, and as these pages are passing 

 through the press, his full report has appeared as " Bulletin No. 15" of the 

 United States National Museum, under the title '^Contributions to the 

 Nattiral History of Arctic America, made in connection with the Howgate 

 Polar Expedition, 1877-78. By Ludwig Kumlien. Naturalist of the Expedi- 

 tion." Washington: Government Printing Office. 1879. 8vo, pp. 179. The 

 account of the Seals occupies pp. 55-64. 



