676 HISTRIOPHOCA FASCIATA RIBBON SEAL. 



molars, we seem to liave a type generically distinct from the 

 ordinary Phocw, and in accordance witli tliis view the genus 

 Histriophoca is here provisionally adopted for the Phoca fasciata 

 of the early systematic writers. 



HISTRIOPHOCA FASCIATA {Zimm.), Gill 



Ribbon Seal. 



Bubbon Seal, Pennant, Hist. Quad., 1st ed., 1781, ii, 523; 3d ed., ii, 1793, 



276, fig. p. 265. 

 Phoca fasciata, Zimmermann, Geogr. Gesch., iii, 1783, 277 ( = "EuLbon 



Seal," Peiiuaut). Kerr, Au. King., 1792, 127 (the same). Shaw, 



Gen. Zopl., i, 1800, 257 (= "Rubbon Seal," Pennant). 

 Phoca {Olariaf) fasciata, Richardson, Zool. Beechey's Voyage, 1830, 6 



( = "Ribbon Seal of Pennant, Avct. Zool., ii, 165"). 

 Phoca equestris, Pallas, Zoog. Rosso-Asiat., i, 1831, 111. Von Schrenck, 



Amnr-Lande, i, 1859, 182, pi. ix, fig. 1-3 (animal). 

 Histriophoca \_fasciata'\, Gill, Amer. Nat., vii, 1873, 179. 

 Histriophoca fasciata, Scammon, Marine Mam., 1874, 140, pi. xxii, fig. 1, 2 



(animal, from Ton Sclu'enck). 

 Pagophilus f equestris, Gray, Suppl. Cat. Seals and Whales, 1871, 2 (in part ; 



includes Phoca annellata, Radde!). 

 Bubbon Seal, Pennant, 1. c. 

 Bibbon Seal of Alaska, Gill, 1. c. 



External Characters. Adult male. General color, dark 

 brown. A narrow yellowish-white band surrounds the neck 

 extending forward to the middle of the head above ; another 

 broader yellowish-white band encircles the hinder portion of 

 the body, from which a branch runs forward on each side to the 

 shoulder, the two branches becoming confluent on the median 

 line of the body below, but widely separated above. In other 

 words, the (1) front part of the head, the (2) hind limbs, and 

 the posterior fourth of the body, the (3) top of the neck and 

 the whole anterior half of the back, as well as (4) the fore- 

 limbs and a considerable area at their point of insertion, are 

 dark brown ; these four regions being separated by bands of 

 yellowish- white, of variable breadth over different regions of 

 the body. The brown of the anterior part of the dorsal region 

 also extends laterally in the form of a narrow band around the 

 lower part of the neck, where it expands to form a small shield- 

 like spot on the breast. There are also very small spots of 

 brown on the posterior part of the abdominal region. 



Adult female. Uniform pale grayish -yellow or grayish-brown, 

 with the exception of au obscure narrow transverse whitish 



