240 



CARNIVORA 

 PINNIPEDIA. 



PHOCID/E. 



PSQCL&&, 



Genus PHOCA (Linnaeus, 1766). 



Generic Character. Head rounded, muzzle bald, brain-case of skull 

 large. Teeth, inc. f, can. {:}, grinders f:, tuberculated, the first with one 

 root, the rest with two. 



COMMON SEAL. 



Phoca vitulina (Linnaeus). 



Specific Character. Spotted above with grey and black, whitish below. 

 Ascending processes of intermaxillaries truncated, not reaching the nasals or 

 touching them at one point only ; bony palate acutely notched behind, 

 posterior palatine foramena opening on maxillse. Molars crowded, placed 

 obliquely. Length of adult from three to five feet. 



Phoca vitulina. LINNJSUS, Syst. Nat. I. 56 (1766). 



,, variegata. NILSSON, Skand. Fauna (1820). 



Calocephalus vitulinus. F. CUVIER, Diet. Sc. Nat. XXXIX, 544 (1826). 



Tang-fish (Shetland) ; Rawn (Hebrides) ; Sealch, Selkie (Scotland), Sea- 

 dog, Sea-calf, and Sea-cat (of Sailors). 



THE distinguishing characteristics of this, the com- 

 monest European species of Seal, are at length well 

 determined. Of these, the oblique position of the 



