NOTES OF A NATURALIST ON SPITZBERGEN. 405 



up dead at Bel Sound. This specimen, which had been dead 

 some time when we found him (July 30th), was of a light slaty- 

 blue colour. 



Polar Bear (Ursus maritimus, L.). — Our acquaintance with 

 this species in Spitzbergen was limited to meeting with two cubs 

 in captivity on board a sloop off Danes' Island on July 29th, 

 and to finding some joints of Bear-meat hanging over the side of 

 a schooner in Magdalina Bay. On board were the skins and 

 skulls belonging to two Bears which the crew had killed on their 

 first arrival at Bel Sound in May. 



Ringed Seal {Phoca hispida, Schreber ; Pagomys fcetidus, 

 Gray, P. Z. S., 1864). — Was seen tolerably commonly all along 

 the coast, and up to our most northerly point (about lat. 79° 55'). 

 Norwegian names, Ringsoel, or Grundsoel. 



Great Seal {Phoca barbata, Fabr.). — Norwegian names,* 

 Stor-Kobbe, Havert, or Blaa-Kobbe. Several seen in Bel Sound 

 (both forks), and at Green Harbour, Is Fjord, on our second 

 visit. Only one was shot, and it (after the manner of its kind) 

 rolled off the piece of ice on which it had been sleeping, and 

 sank. 



Walrus (Trichechus rosmarus, L.). — A young one was seen 

 by some shipwrecked sailors whom we picked up at Is Fjord and 

 brought home to Tromso, at Green Harbour, on August 3rd, not 

 far from where we were actually at anchor at the time ; but 

 nothing was seen of this curious monster by any of the original 

 members of our " ship's company." 



Whales. — A good many Whales were seen by us between the 

 Lofotens and Bear Island, as mentioned at p. 2, and, though I am 

 not able to identify the species with any certainty, they were pro- 

 bably all " Finners," and may perhaps have been referable to four 

 different species there enumerated ; but it would only be mis- 

 leading to attempt to insist more particularly on those attempted 



* The Norwegian nanies for the other species of Northern Seals, chiefly 

 as given in the Bergen Museum, are as follows : — P. grcenlandica, Sufryg, 

 Svartside, or Jan Mayen Soel ; P. vitulina, Steen-Kobbe. Fjordscel ; Cysto- 

 phora cristata, Klapmyclse, Klakkekal ; Halichcerus grypus, Krumsnudet- 

 Scel, Graa-Scel. Most of the Swedish names, as given in the ' Voyage of 

 the Vega,' vol. i., for the different species of Seals are similar to the 

 Norwegian names, but the word " Kobbe," the ordinary word for Seal in 

 Norwegian, is not used in Swedish, 



