620 PHOCA FCETIDA RINGED SEAL. 



nished me by Mr. Ludwig Kumlien, naturalist of the recent 

 Howgate Polar Expedition. His observations, made chiefly 

 during several months spent in Cumberland Sound,* are sub- 

 stantially as follows : 



" This Seal is very common in all the fjords and bays, from 

 Hudson's Straits, nortliward, along Cumberland Island, to the 

 extreme head of Cumberland Sound ; on all the outer islands 

 about Cape Mercy, and on the west coast of Davis Straits. 

 I have seen skins from Lake Kennedy that I could not distin- 

 guish from those found in Cumberland Sound. This Seal was 

 never noticed more than a few miles from land ; was not met 

 with in the pack-ice, nor on the Greenland coast, except far up 

 the tjords. This was in July and August ; but I am informed 

 that they become more common toward autumn, and are found 

 in considerable numbers some distance from land; they are 



less common here, however, than on the west coast 



In the Cumberland waters they are resident and do not migrate 

 at aU unless much disturbed, and then they merely seek a more 

 secluded locality. On the Greenland coast they appear to mi- 

 grate up the ice-fjords in summer but to be more generally dis- 

 tributed at other seasons. 



'^ The Netsick, as this species is called by the Cumberland Es- 

 kimo, shows a decided predilection for the quiet, still bays and 

 fjords, seldom venturing far from land. They are the only Seal 

 caught through the ice in winter, and are consequently the 

 chief and almost sole dependence of the Eskimo for food, fuel, 

 light, and clothing. The skins of the adults are made into 

 summer clothing, while the young are in great demand for un- 

 der garments and for trousers. Children often have entire suits 

 made of the skins of the young in the white coat. Such cloth- 

 ing looks very beautiful when new, but they are new but for a 

 few days, and after this they are repulsive enough. The fe- 

 males were found enceinte in the latter part of October, and a 

 foetus nearly ready for birth was taken from the uterus Jan- 

 uary 16. It was 2 feet from the end of the nose to the end of 

 the hind flippers. It was so doubled in the uterus, however, as 

 to occupy a space hardly a foot in length ; the hind flippers 

 were turned forward on the tibise ; the fore flii)pers hugged the 



*^ What Mr. Kumlieu's opportunities were for tlie study of this specica 

 may bo iui'erred from the fact that among the spoils brought with him ou 

 hi.s returu are skulls, skins, and skeletons, r:inj>ing from the foetal to the 

 adult stage, to the number of about liftj' specimens. 



