412 MR. R. BROWN ON THE SEALS OF GREENLAND. [Juiie 25, 



designated Wilkare Skill, Kuhhscdl, Fjordnacke, den spiittede Sill 

 (the Spotted Seal), Algar, Laggar, Kutar, aud Skciltokar; Kobbe, 

 Stenkobbe (Norse); Hylje (Finnish); Nuorjo (Lapp.); Seehund 

 (German); Veati marin and Phoque (French) ; Eassigiak (Green- 

 land) ; Spragled Scelhund (Danes in Greenland). 



The Eskimo in Ponds Bay, on being shown a good figure of this 

 Seal, called it Tupalo ; but whether this is their name for the animal 

 and is to be received for a proof that the C. vitulhms is found there, 

 I cannot take upon myself to decide. The Greeulanders also call it, 

 according to age, Kassigiarak and Kassiginak ; but when it attains 

 the age of three years, it is called Kassiarsoak (" the big Kassigiak "). 

 Prof. Newton (" Notes on the Zoology of Spitsbergen," Proc. Zool. 

 Soc. 1865, and Ann. Nat. Hist. vol. xvi. 3rd series, p. 423) says that 

 Pagomys fcetidiis is called Steen Kobbe (Stone-Seal) by the Spitz- 

 bergen hunters. I suspect that he has erred through his informants 

 mistaking this for Callocephnlus vitulinus. No doubt Dr. Malm- 

 greu seems to think that the latter species is not got in Spitzbergen 

 — an opi:iion I have ventured to contest in a former paper. 



It is also sometimes called " the Freshwater Seal," on account of 

 its following the Salmon high up rivers*. 



Remarks tjc. — Any laboured account of a Seal so long and so fa- 

 miliarly known would obviously be out of place in these short notes ; 

 I question, however, if all the accounts we possess regarding the Seal 

 under the designation of " Phoca vitulina " really refer to tliis spe- 

 cies, and not to Pagomys fcetidus and others f. It will, I think, be 

 found that in the western and northern islands of Scotland several 

 species, not hitherto supiiosed to be regular members of the British 

 fauna, exist, known under the popular names of Selkie, Selach, 

 Sea-cat, ^c. I do not think I can say anything in regard to its 

 habits further than what is already contained in various works on 

 Mammalia &c., viz.: — Bingley, British Quadrupeds, p. 5/; Bell, 

 History of British Quadrupeds, p. 2S2 ; Hamilton, Amphibious 

 Carnivora (Nat. Lib.), p. 127; James Wilson in Mag. Zool. and 

 Bot. vol. i. p. 239 ; Edmonston, View of Zetland, vol. ii. p. 293 ; 

 Martin, Western Islands, p. 62 ; M'Gillivray, British Quadrupeds 

 (Nat. Lib.), vol. xiii. p. 199 ; Nilsson, Skandinaviske Fauna, i. 

 p. 276 ; Fabricius, Naturhistoriske Selskabets Skrifter, 1. Band ii. 

 p. 98; (Edmann, Vet. Akad. Handl. 1784, p. 84 ; Rosted, Norske 

 Vidensk. Nye Skrivter, ii. p. 1S5 (good description); Cneiff, " Be- 

 riittelse om Si<alfanget i Q^lsterbotten," in Vet. Akad. Handl. 1759, 

 p. 179. r. 8 (on the hunt); Holmers, Anteckningar om silttet att 



* I have known a Seal (probably Halicynn richardsi. Gray) to be killed at the 

 Fulls of the Columbia River in Oregon, upwards of 200 miles from the Pacific. 

 It was doubtless in pursuit of Salmon. Dog Kiver, a tributary of the Columbia, 

 takes its name from a dog-like animal, probably a Seal, being seen in the lake 

 whence the stream rises. 



t In the Appendix to Parry's ' Voyage ' is a notice of a Seal said to be ■' Phoea 

 vitulina." It is the young (in secoid coat) of Pagophilus grijnlandicus, which 

 has often been mistaken for this Seal. It can be known by its liaving the 

 second toe of the fore fl'ppers the longest; while, independently of other cha- 

 racters, C. ciluUna has the tirst toe tlie longest. 



