436 MR. R. BROWN ON THE SEALS OF GREENLAND. [JunC 2.5, 



name, apparently learnt from the Dutch and German sailors). All 

 of these words mean the " Seal with a cap on," and are derived from 

 the Dutch, who style the frontal appendage of this species a mutz 

 or cap, hence the Scotch mutch. This prominent characteristic of 

 the Seal is also commemorated in various popular names certain 

 writers have applied to it, such as Blas-Skal (Bladder-Seal) by 

 Nilsson (Skand. Faun. i. p. 312), Hooded Seal by Pennant (Syn- 

 opsis, p. 342), Seal with a caul by Ellis (Hudson Bay, p. 134), 

 in the Frencla vernacular Phoque d. capuchon, and in the sealers' 

 name of Bladdernose, Neitersoak (Greenland), and Kakortak (when 

 two years old). 



Descriptive remarks. — This is one of the largest Seals in Green- 

 land, and in its adult state is at once distinguished by the curious 

 bladder-like appendage to its forehead, which is connected with the 

 nostrils and can be blown up at will*. This has been well described 

 by Dr. Dekay in the ' Annals of the Lyceum of Natural History of 

 New York,' vol. i.; and with his observations I perfectly agree. The 

 eye of this Seal is large, and of a glassy black colour with a dark- 

 brown iris. It has, like all the family, no external auricle ; and the 

 orifice of the ear is very small. The body is long and robust ; its 

 colour on the upper or dorsal aspect is dark chesuut or black, with 

 a greater or less number of round or oval markings of a still deeper 

 hue. The hair is long and somewhat erect, and the thick fur-like 

 coating next the skin is often tinged with a reddish coppery colour. 

 The head and flippers are of the same dark chesnut-colour. The 

 pectoral and ventral regions are of the same dark-grey or tarnished- 

 silvery hue which has been described in the P. grvenlandicus. 



Habits ^c. — The Bladdernose is not only one of the largest, but 

 the fiercest of the northern Seals ; and as its capture requires some 

 skill, it is only the most expert kayaker that can procure any. It 

 will chase a man and bite him, besides making a great commotion 

 in the water. Therefore the hunt is very dangerous to a man in 

 such a frail craft as the Greenland kayak. Like all Seals, during 

 the rutthig-time, there are great battles on the ice between the 

 males ; and the roaring is said to be sometimes so loud that it can be 

 heard four miles off. The skin is often full of scratches from these 

 fights ; but as long as the memory of the oldest inhabitant of 

 South Greenland extends, only one man in the district of JuUans- 

 haab (where they are chiefly captured) has been killed by the bite 

 of the Klapmyds, though not unfrequently the harpoon and line have 

 been broken. The hunting is not so dangerous, however, within late 

 years, as it has been effected by the rifle from the ice ; but when 

 the Seal has not been killed outright, the hunter goes out in his 

 kayak and despatches it with the lance. 



With regard to the favourite localities of this species of Seal, 

 Crantz and the much more accurate Fabricius disagree — the former 

 affirming that they are found mostly on great ice islands where thry 



* It is often asserted by the sealers that this " bladder " is a sexual mark, and 

 is not found on the female. I do not think there is any just ground for this 

 belief. 



