1868.] MR. R. BROWN ON THE SEALS OF GREENLAND. 411 



making the clubs fly from the hands of his assailants, with his flip- 

 pers, his head being protected as with a helmet by the air-bladder. 

 He will then in turn act on the offensive, and put his opponents to 

 flight, pursuing them with a shuflling serpent-like motion over the 

 ice, the result often proving somewhat dangerous to the panic- 

 stricken hunter if the boat has left that piece of ice, as the Seal will 

 use his tusks rather ferociously when thus enraged. However, he 

 is not inclined to give battle unless provoked, and looks a dull 

 stupid-looking sort of epicurean as he lolls on the surface of the ice 

 and gazes about with his large black eyes, having an apparently mean- 

 ingless stare. The " Ground-Seal" and " the Floe-Rat" {Payomys 

 hispidus) in the far north are quite harmless and inoffensive ; they 

 apparently delight to swim about in the calm smooth floe-waters, or 

 bask asleep in the sunshine on the surface of the ice. Their greatest 

 enemy is the Polar Bear, who is continually on the alert to take 

 them by surprise, forming, as they do, his chief prey. 



Nearly all of the Seals live on the same description of food, vary- 

 ing this at different times of the year and according to the relative 

 abundance or otherwise of that article in different portions of the 

 Arctic seas. The great staple of food, however, consists of various 

 species of Crustacea which swarm in the northern seas. During the 

 sealing-season in the Spitzbergen sea I have invariably taken out of 

 their stomachs various species of Gantmarus (G. sabini, Leach, G. lo- 

 ricatus. Sab., G. pinguis, Kr., G. dentatus, Kr., G. mutatiis, Lilljeb., 

 &c.), collectively known to the whalers under the name of " Moun- 

 tebank Shrimps," deriving the name from their peculiar agility in 

 the water. This " seals' food " is found more plentiful in some lati- 

 tudes than in others, but in all parts of the Greenland sea from Ice- 

 land to Spitzbergen ; I have seen the sea at some places literally 

 swarming with them. Again, in the summer in Davis's Strait I have 

 found in their stomach remains of whatever species of small fish 

 happened to be just then abundant on the coast, such as the Mal- 

 lotus arcticus, Salmo (various species), &c. I have even known 

 them to draw down small birds swimming on the surface ; but tlieir 

 chief food is Crustacea and fish. 



4. Notes on the Species of Pinnipedia. 



(1) Callocephalus vitulinus (Linn.), F. Cuv. 



Phoca vitulina, Linn. 



Phoea communis, Linn. (Mus. Ad. Frid. i. 5). 



Phoca canina, Pall, (ad partem). 



Phoca variegata, Nilss. 



Phoca linncei, Less. 



Phoca littorea, Thienem. 



Popular names. — Sea-dog, Sea-calf, Sea-eat (English sailors and 

 fishermen generally); Selkie, Selach, and Tangfish (north of Scot- 

 land); TZawM (western islands of Scotland) ; SprukUg Skill (^■weiWsh); 

 in other parts uf Scandinavia, and accordiufj; to age &c., it is variously 



