450 EXTINCT AND VANISHING MAMMALS 



variable degree, forming a contrast with the upper parts. 

 Females and immatures are very much paler gray above, be- 

 coming soiled yellowish below. Head and body, 2,300 mm. 

 (about 7.5 feet); tail, 80; fore limb from insertion to tip, 320. 

 Skull, condylobasal length, 280 mm.; zygomatic width, 211; 

 interorbital width, 30; width of brain case, 128; upper cheek 

 teeth forming a row 86 mm. long. 



The Mediterranean monk seal is chiefly confined, as its 

 name implies, to the Mediterranean Sea, but it is found also in 

 the Black Sea and rarely on the coasts of northwestern Africa 

 to the Madeira and Canary Islands. Apparently nowhere 

 common, and very little gregarious, it frequents small coastal 

 islands in out-of-the-way places and seems to have no eco- 

 nomic value. It is occasionally killed wantonly, and most 

 recent records are of solitary individuals. It is apparently 

 losing ground slowly but still maintains a small population. 



In the eastern Mediterranean, it is said by Aharoni (1930, p. 

 337) still to occur off the coast of Palestine, well offshore, and 

 is now and then brought in for sale by the fishermen from 

 Askalon and Jaffa. No data are at hand as to its presence in 

 the Black Sea beyond the fact of its occurrence there. In the 

 Greek Archipelago small numbers haunt the outlying islands 

 and coasts. Danford and Alston (1877) mention observing a 

 seal off the island of Rhodes about 1877, and it is occasionally 

 seen in the Bay of Corinth. In the Adriatic Sea it is still to be 

 found, though rarely, on the Dalmation coasts. Prof. M. 

 Hirtz, in reply to inquiry by Dr. Harper, states that off the 

 coast of Jugoslavia it is now very rare in the upper Adriatic. 

 The last remaining animals are found on isolated cliffs in the 

 Istria, where during the past 40 years about 15 specimens have 

 been taken, mostly by local fishermen. Because of its rarity 

 off these coasts it is not included in the game regulations; 

 nevertheless it is known by the common names of "morski- 

 medo" (sea-bear) or " morski-fratar " (sea-monk). There is 

 said to be a colony on the Illyrian Islands also. It seems to 

 have been commoner in this part of the Adriatic in Hermann's 

 time at the beginning of the last century. On the immediate 

 coast of Italy it must be very rare, but recent information 

 indicates that there are small numbers on the shores of Sardinia, 

 and it is occasionally seen on the rocks and small islands of the 

 Tyrrhenian Sea. The Italian Government was lately reported 



