462 Bulletin American Museum of Natural History. [Vol. XVI, 



of Phoca, which from 1735 to the present day has been gener- 

 ally associated by the majority of writers with vitulina and its 

 nearest allies, that it seems an act of violence to transfer it 

 to what is logically its legitimate connection with leonina, 

 thereby making Macrorhinus a synonym of the restricted 

 genus Phoca. ... In view of the tradition and usage of 

 the case it seems best to waive the technicality here involved 

 and suffer Phoca to retain its time-honored associations." 



The only way, however, to retain Phoca for the Phoca vitu- 

 lina group is to invoke Canon XXIII of the American Orni- 

 thologists' Union 'Code of Nomenclature,' which provides as 

 follows: "If, however, the genus contains both exotic and 

 non-exotic species, from the standpoint of the original au- 

 thor, and the generic term is one originally applied by the 

 ancient Greeks or Romans, the process of elimination is to 

 be restricted to the non-exotic species." As the Harbor Seal 

 is, or was formerly, a common species in the Mediterranean, 

 as well as on the western shores of Europe, and was the only 

 seal really known, not only to the ancients but to the early 

 natural- history writers, as Rondelet, Olaus Magnus, Gesner, 

 and Aldrovandus, and down to about 1750, it meets the 

 requirements of Canon XXIII as against its competitor, the 

 Phoca leonina of Linnaeus, which was practically first made 

 known by Lord Anson in 1748. 



Specific Names. 



In case the Harbor Seal of eastern North America proves 

 separable from true Phoca vitulina of Europe, as seems almost 

 certain, an available name for the southern form is found in 

 Phoca concolor Dekay (1842), based on New York examples 

 of the light phase. 



The nomenclature of the North Pacific species seems at 

 first sight highly complicated, but a careful examination of 

 the early names shows that they have very little basis and 

 that most of them should be rejected as unidentifiable. The 

 names to be here especially considered are, in the order of 

 date, as follows: (i) Phoca largha Pallas, 1811; (2) Phoca 



