GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION. 737 



Massachusetts, which has been supposed to be the Crested Seal, 

 but just what this large Seal is remains still to be determined.* 

 DeKay, in 1824, recorded t the capture of a male example of 

 this species in a small creek that empties into Long Island 

 Sound at East Chester, about fifteen miles from New York City. 

 Twenty years | later lie refers to this as the first and only 

 known instance of its occurrence within the limits of the State 

 of New York, where, he says, "it can only be regarded as a rare 

 and accidental visitor." Professor Cope, however, has recorded 

 its capture in the Chesapeake Bay, where he says it has twice 

 occurred. The first specimen was recorded in 1865 ^ as " some 

 species of Cystophora^\ taken near Cambridge, Maryland, on 

 an arm of the Chesapeake Bay, eighteen miles from salt water, 

 by Mr. Daniel M. Henry". The specimen, it is said, "measured 

 6^ feet, and weighed, when living, about 330 lbs.". Although 

 Professor Cope adds, " Whether this species is the C. cristata 

 or antillarum, can not be determined, owing to the imperfection 

 of extant descriptions", there is no reason for doubting that it 

 was really the Crested Seal, a conclusion to which Professor 

 Cope seems to have later arrived. Although Gray's sugges- 

 tion anent the English specimen naturally arises, namely, 

 transportation from the north in some ship, it seems more 

 probable that they were really wanderers from the usual home 

 of the species. 



* In my " Catalogue of the Mammals of Massachusetts," I refer to this 

 large Seal as follows, supposing it to be the Hooded Seal : ' ' F^om accounts 

 I have received from residents along the coast of a seal of very large size 

 observed by them, and occasionally captured, I am led to think this species 

 is not of unfrequent occurrence on the Massachusetts coast. Mr. C. W. 

 Bennett informs me of one taken some years since in the Providei^ce River, 

 a few miles below Providence, which he saw shortly after. From his very 

 particular account of it I cannot doubt that it was of this species. Mr. C. 

 J. Maynard also informs me that a number of specimens have been taken at 

 Ipswich within the past few years, that have weighed from seven hundred 

 to nine hundred j)ounds. It seems to be most frequent in winter, when it 

 apparently migrates from the north," Bull. Mua. 'Comp. Zobl., vol. i, No. 

 8, 1869, pp. 193, 194. This identification was made almost solely on the 

 ground of size, taken in connection with the fact that the species had been 

 taken in Long Island Sound near New York City. The question, however, 

 may fairly be raised whether the large Seals more or less frequently seen on 

 the coast of New England are not really the Gray Seal {Ralichcerus grypus). 



t Ann. New York Lyceum Nat. Sci., vol. i, 1824, p. 94. 



X New York Zool., pt. i, p. 56. 



$ New Topog. Atlas of Maryland, 1873, p. IG. 



IfProc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila., 18G5, p. ^73. 

 Misc. Pub. No. 12 47 



