TRUE SEALS 405 



seas between Iceland and Greenland, where large 

 numbers are killed by Norwegian sealers. It is fairly 

 plentiful in the Spitzbergen region, but becomes scarce 

 on the northern coasts of Europe and Asia. 



In the Mediterranean one seal only occurs, the 

 Monk Seal (Monachus albiventer), and this is therefore 

 the seal referred to by ancient authors, from Homer 

 downwards. It occurs also in Madeira and the Canary 

 Islands. Very little seems to be known of the habits 

 of this animal, and of its breeding-places, and any 

 traveller who may have an opportunity of studying 

 it for instance, in the Archipelago or the Levant 

 would do well to take careful notes, and, if possible, 

 photographs. A very similar and closely allied species, 

 M. tropicalis, is found in the West Indies, where it 

 haunts the " Kays " or reefs of rocks round many of the 

 islands. This seal was first mentioned by Dampier, 

 who made a sealing voyage to the Alacrana reefs, off 

 Yucatan, in 1675. In his time the seals were very 

 abundant, and much hunted, but they are now so 

 scarce all through the West Indian region as to seem 

 on the verge of extinction. 



The true seals of the North Pacific are, as has been 

 said, more or less closely allied to, if not identical with, 

 those of the North Atlantic. One characteristic 

 species, which does not occur in the Atlantic, is the 

 Ribbon Seal (Histriophoca fasciata). This seal in- 

 habits the Kuriles, the Sea of Ochotsk, and Behring 

 Sea, but is everywhere scarce. It is a very beautiful 

 seal, the male being of a dark brown with a tinge of 

 olive green, with a broad yellow band running across 

 the neck and sides, and forming a " saddle " similar 

 to that of the Harp Seal. This seal is much prized by 

 the Alieuts and Esquimaux for ornamental purposes. 

 Little or nothing is known of its habits, and it has very 



