250 



According to Dr. Brown the " Floe-rat," as this species 

 is named by the Sealers, delights in the ice of the coasts, 

 seldom frequenting that of the open sea, and lives in 

 retired situations at some distance from the margins of 

 the floes. Here it keeps open its atluk or hole for fish- 

 ing, beside which it passes much of its time in sleep. 

 Fabricius considered it the most incautious of all the 

 Seal tribe. 



The pairing time is said to be in June, and a single 

 young one is born on the fixed ice late in winter or very 

 early in spring. It is at first clad in white or dirty grey 

 woolly fur, which is retained for nearly a month. Herr 

 Malmgren states that it will take to the water before it 

 loses this first covering, which is not the case with the 

 cubs of either the Greenland or the Grey Seal. The 

 mother is much attached to her offspring, and is said to 

 carry it away in her mouth in case of danger. 



This Seal received the name of Ph. fastida from 

 Fabricius in a list of Greenland animals published in 

 Muller's " Prodromus Zoologicae Danicse " in 1776, but 

 without any description. Schreber named it Ph. hispida 

 prior to 1778, and Fabricius subsequently withdrew his 

 name in favour of Schreber's, an example which Prof. 

 Flower considers should be followed. The name foetida 

 is derived from the strong smell of the old males. 

 Fabricius says " Mares veteres fcetidissimis ad nauseam 

 usque etiam Grcenlandis," but Dr. Brown regards the 

 flesh of all, but especially of the young, as being " suffi- 

 ciently palatable to an educated palate." The skin affords 

 the common material for clothing in North Greenland, 

 but is not so much valued for that purpose as that of the 

 last species. 



The general appearance is much that of the Common Seal. 

 The upper parts are dark brownish-grey, almost black on 



