RINGED SEAL. 



CARNIVORA. 

 PINNIPEDIA. 



247 



PHOCIDJi. 



RINGED OR MARBLED SEAL. 



Phoca his pith (Sclirebei). 



Specific Ohnractcr, — Blackish grey above, marked with oval whitish rings ; 

 whitish l)elow. Hair soft, sub-erect. Ascending processes of intennaxillaries 

 running to a point up the sides of the nasals ; bony palate acutely notched 

 behind; posterior palatine foramena opening on or behind the palato-niaxil- 

 lary suture. Grinders placed in a straight line, not oblique. Usual length 

 three to four feet. 



Phoca hi^pida, Sciireber, Siiugethicre, III. 312 {before 177^). 



,, ficticla, Fabricius, in Miillcr's Prod. Zool. Dan. p. VIII. 



(oiot described) 177'), 



,, annellata, Nilsson, Skand. Fauna (1820). 



Calocephcdus discolor, F. Cu\^ER, Diet. Sc. Nat. XXXIX. 545 (1826). 

 Pagomys fdciklus, J. E. Gray, Proc. Zool. Soc. 186-1, 31. 



Neitselc of Greenlandens, Ncrpa of Russians, Floe-rat of Scalers, Bodack 

 of Hebridians ? 



The Ringed Seal, in its external features, comes very 

 near the common species, though it may be distinguished 

 by its constantly smaller size, and usually by the distinctly 

 annulated character of its markings. Better points of 

 distinction, however, are to be found in the skull and 



