1 9 02.] Allen, North Pacific Phocida. 461 



apparent. It may, however, serve to direct attention to this 

 neglected group of mammals, and possibly stimulate the 

 gathering of material for the use of future investigators. 



The case is hardly better when we turn to the seals of the 

 eastern coast of North America. While the Harbor Seal of 

 sovithern Greenland appears to differ, at least sub-specifically, 

 from that of the coast of New England and New York, very 

 little material bearing on the question can be obtained. Nor 

 is there much for the comparison of the Harbor Seal of eastern 

 North America with the Harbor Seal of Europe. 



NOMENCLATURE. 

 The Generic Name Phoca. 



First, as to the generic name Phoca. As shown by me many 

 years ago (Hist. N. Am. Pinnipeds, 1880, pp. 417, 418, 558) 

 the process of elimination, strictly enforced, would necessitate 

 the restriction of the name Phoca to the Phoca leonina Linn. 

 Linnaeus in 1758 (Syst. Nat., loth ed., pp. 37, 38) included 

 four species in the genus Phoca, namely, (i) Phoca ursina, 

 (2) Phoca leonina, (3) Phoca rosmarus, (4) Phoca vitulina. 

 Phoca rosmarus was removed by Linnaeus in 1776 to Trich- 

 echus, and Otaria was established in 1816 for the Eared Seals, 

 leaving in Phoca at this date only Phoca leonina and Phoca 

 vitulina. In 1826 Phoca vitulina was made by F. Cuvier the 

 type of his genus Calocephalus, and Phoca leonina, in the 

 same memoir, was made the type of his genus Macrorhinus, 

 leaving nothing to represent the old Linnaean genus Phoca. 

 Calocephalus, however, has precedence by eighteen pages 

 over Macrorhinus. Besides this, Macrorhinus of F. Cuvier is 

 preoccupied by Macrorhinus Latreille, 1825, for a genus of 

 Coleoptera, and has had to give way to Mirounga Gray, 1827. 

 When Calocephalus was established, only Phoca leonina was 

 left to bear the restricted name Phoca. In view of all this, 

 plainly set forth in 1880, when rules of nomenclature were 

 less rigidly enforced than at present, I then pleaded for the 

 retention of Phoca as the generic name of the Harbor Seal, as 

 follows: "This, however, seems so contrary to the traditions 



