614 PHOCA FCETIDA EINGED SEAL 



time when tbese basins formed a part of the great Tertiary sea, 

 of which the Mediterranean and connected interior waters are 

 now the greatly diminished remnants, whence came the stock 

 from which these two allied species of Seal are the descendants? 

 Are we to look for an ancestor in Pltoca fceiida, or in some allied 

 extinct species, from which came not onlj^ these species but also 

 their present northern ally ? As shown by the researches of Van 

 Beneden, Seals were abundant in the Pliocene seas of Southern 

 Europe, and among them were forms more or less nearly re- 

 lated to each of the existing types, his genus Phocanella being 

 the early representative of the modern Phoca fectida. 



Geographical distribution. Although the Ringed Seal i 

 a well-known inhabitant of the Arctic Seas, of both hemispheres, 

 the southern limit of its distribution cannot be given with cer- 

 tainty. Wagner * records spe(;imens from Labrador, which is the 

 most southern i)oint on the eastern coast of North America from 

 which it seems to have been reported. It is not enumerated by 

 Jukes or Carroll as among the species hunted by tbe Newfound- 

 land sealers,! nor is it mentioned by Gilpin| as occurring in Nova 

 Scotia. Its occasional presence here and in the Gulf of Saint 

 Lawrence is doubtless to be expected. Further northward, and 

 especially along the shores of Davis's Straits and Greenland^ 

 its abundance is well attested. It has also been found as far 

 north as explorers have penetrated, having been met with by 

 Parry as high as latitude 82 40'. J. C. Ross states that it is 



* Scbreber's Saugt., vii, 1840, p. :>1. 



t Professor Jukes says four species are known on the coast of Newfound- 

 laud, namely, the "Bay Seal" {Phoca vitulinn), the Harp Seal {Phocn gnen- 

 landica), the Hooded Seal {Cyslophora cristata), and the "Square Flipper" 

 (probably Halicliwrus grypus). The first he did not see on the ice among the 

 Seals pursued by the sealers. The second is the one that forms the principal 

 object of the chase. The third seems not to be numerous, but occurs occa- 

 sionally out on the ice-iioes with the Harp Seals. The fourth is referred to 

 as very rare, and as being larger than the Hooded Seal. Not one was heard 

 of or seen that season. He supposes it may be the Phoca barbata. Excur- 

 sions in Newfoundland, vol. i, pp. 308-312. 



Carroll states that the species of Seal that are taken on the coast of NeAv- 

 foundland are the " Square Flipper Seal " (probably Halichoerus grypus), the 

 'Hood Seal" {Cysiophora crhiaia), the " Harp Se.al " (Plioca grcenlandica), and 

 the "Dotard" or "Native Seal" {Phoca vituUna). Seal and Herring Fisheries 

 of Newfoundland, 1873, p. 10. 



t The species given by Gilpin as found on the coast of Nova Scotia are the 

 Harbor Seal {Phoca vituUna), the Harp Seal {Phoca grocnlandica), the Gray 

 Seal {Halichwrus grypus), and the Hooded Seal {Cystophora cristata). 



