18/1.] PROF. FLOWER ON PHOCA HISFIDA. 507 



should be described in sufficient detail to leave no doubt as to the 

 correctness of the specific determination. 



Zoologists are now generally agreed that four well-defined species 

 of Seal of the restricted genus Phoca * (an extremely natural group, 

 characterized by having i. f, c. \, p. ±, m. \, total 34, all the teeth 

 of the premolar and molar series, except the most anterior, with two 

 roots) inhabit the shores north of the Atlantic. These are P. bar- 

 bata, P. groenlandica, P. vitulina, and a fourth, about the specific 

 name of which there is unfortunately no general agreement. To 

 account for and to endeavour to clear up the difficulty of the syno- 

 nymy of this species (to which the skull in the Norwich Museum 

 belongs) it will be necessary to refer to the principal facts concerning 

 the literary history of the genus. 



The natives of Greenland appear to have long ago distinguished 

 these four species, and to have bestowed distinctive vernacular names 

 upon them, which are given in Crantz's well-known history of that 

 country, published in 1 765, though the descriptions which accompany 

 them have, as might be expected, no scientific accuracy. 



In the 12th edit, of the 'Systema Naturae' (1767) all the true 

 Seals (as above restricted) are confounded under the name of Phoca 

 vitulina ; but in Gmelin's edition (1788) P. vitulina, P. groenlandica, 

 P. barbata, and P. hispida are distinguished, besides others which 

 are now considered to belong to different genera, and therefore do 

 not concern us in the present inquiry. 



Between these dates O. F. Midler's ' Prodromus Zoologise Danicae' 

 (Copenhagen, 1776) had been published, and contained in the intro- 

 duction (p. viii) a list of Greenland animals communicated to the 

 author by O. Fabricius, after the rest of the work had been printed. 

 In this list P. barbata, P. groenlandica, and P.fcetida are named, 

 in addition to P. vitulina, the only true Phoca mentioned in the 

 body of the work, and which was evidently, as in the ' Systema 

 Naturae,' a compound of several species, as shown by the various 

 vernacular names assigned as synonyms. No description is given of 

 these new species ; but the Greenland names are added, P.fcetida 

 being the Neitsek and Neitsilek. 



In 1 780 Fabricius published his ' Fauna Groenlandica,' containing 

 tolerably full accounts of all the above-mentioned four species of 

 Greenland Seals ; and, although descriptions of the external pecu- 

 liarities of such very variable animals as Seals, unless extremely 

 detailed and accompanied by osteological characters, are very dif- 

 ficult to recognize, there can be little doubt that the four species 

 now known to exist are intended, and that Fabricius's P.fcetida is 

 the animal now under consideration. The statement " est hcec minima 

 omnium " is alone almost sufficient to establish this point. Neitsek, 

 Crautz, is given among the synonyms of the species. 



In the mean time, however, the third part of Schreber's ' Siiuge- 

 thiere' had appeared (1778 is the date on the titlepage of the 

 volume ; but the part must have been published previously, as it is 



* Nileson, Skand. Fauna, 1S20; equivalent to F. Cuvier'g Caltocepha/us, M£m. 

 flu Mus. xi. 1824. 



