INDIVIDUAL AND SEXUAL VARIATION. 603 



length of the male, from the nose to the end of the tail, as 5 

 feet 2 inches, or 1,500 mm., and from the nose to the end of 

 the hind flippers as 5 feet 7 inches, or 1,710 mm. The same 

 dimensions of the female he gives as, respectively, 4 feet 6 

 inches (1,380 mm.) and 4 feet 9 inches (1,470 mm.).* Malmgren 

 states that the largest full-grown individuals he had seen 

 (in the Gulf of Bothnia) attained a length of 5.J Swedish 

 feet from the nose to the end of the tail, and measured nearly 

 6 feet to the end of the hind flippers. He further states that 

 old or full-grown specimens are rarely taken, and that the meas- 

 urements usually given are those of specimens one or two 

 years old. He further observes, "Sogar in den finnischen 

 Landseen Ladoga und Pyhafelka soil die ganze Lange der 

 alten Individuen nach der Aussage erfahrener Manner beinahe 

 einer Klafter, d. h. sechs Fuss betragen. Doch in diesen Seen 

 wird diese Kobbe gewohnlich im zweiten und dritten Jahre, 

 selten erwachsen, geschossen. Dasselbe ist nach Fabricius 

 auch Gronland der Fall ; ich vermuthe daher, dass dies die 

 Ursache ist, wesshalb die Lange des Thieres zu klein angege- 

 ben ist, da sie wahrscheinlich nach den ein- oder zweijahrigen 

 Individuen, die man am gewohnlichsten erhalt, bestimmt 

 worden ist."t It is certainly evident that the specimens de- 

 scribed by Nilsson and Wagner were young. Lilljeborg and 

 Malmgren are the only authors who have apparently examined, 

 or at least described, full-grown specimens. 



Mr. Kumlien states that the young are about two feet long 

 when born, and weigh from 4 to GJ pounds, and that they aver- 

 age 30 inches in length (varying from 23 to 36 inches). 



Individual Variation and Variations dependent upon 

 Age and Sex. The Ringed Seal, like the Harbor Seal, varies 

 greatly in color, irrespective of sex and age, both in respect to 

 the ground color and the markings, as has been already shown 

 in the description of the external characters. Like nearly all 

 the Phocids, the young when born are coveted with a white or 

 yellowish-white coat of rather soft, woolly hair, which is 

 changed in about four weeks for the sparser, harsher, and 

 darker livery of the adults. The younger animals, however, 

 are grayish or yellowish brown, darker along the middle of the 

 back, and marked irregularly with small dusky spots, the mar- 



* Fauna Ofver Sveriges och Norges, i, pp. 683, 684. 

 t Archiv fiir Naturg., 1864, pp. 83, 84. 



