262 



]SrATURAL HISTORY COLLECTIONS IN ALASKA. 



all of the numerous speciiiieus seen by us iu the iiack were just uorth of the Siberian coast, it 

 appears that this species is much more numerous and more widely distributed on the Asiatic shore 

 than on the adjoining American coast. 



Although we saw only males iu the pack-ice, yet the females must summer there also, since the 

 people obtain both females and young there with the males in the migration. 



Phoca FCETiDA Fabricius. Ringed Seal (Esk. lsh-6-(fil;). 



This species occurs with P. vituUna at Saint Michaels. Five skulls were obtained, one, No. 

 21473, having the crowns of the teeth entirely worn away. 



The species was obtained by Mr. Murdoch at Point Barrow, but has not apparently been 

 reported hitherto as far south as Norton Sound. 



The specimens referred to are from Unalakleet and Saint Michaels. In the smallest skull. No. 

 21471, having a basi-cranial length of 145""", the occipito-sphenoidal suture is still open. In propor- 

 tions they agree entirely with specimens from the North Atlantic, as will appear upon comparison 

 of the subjoined measurements with those given by Allen. 



A young individual, about 630"'"' from nose to tail, agrees very closely with a yearling brought 

 from Cumberland Gulf by Mr. Kumlien. The basal portion of the hairs is not so dark, the whis- 

 kers are less full, and the claws are uuworn ; otherwise the two specimens present a similar 

 appearance. 



Measurements of five sl;uUs of Phoca fcctida. 



BiografpUcal notes. — The Ringed Seal is an abundant winter resident in the northern half of 

 Bering Sea, its range reaching the mouth of the Kuskoquim River and extending thence in a 

 westerly course across the sea in a line coinciding with the southern edge of the ice-pack. When 

 the ice leaves the shore in spring, and the pack-ice is drifting along the coast iu May and the early 

 part of Juno, these seals are found iu considerable numbers among tlie ice well offshore. They 

 gather iu large buuches on large ice cakes and are hunted there by the Eskimo. The latter wear a 

 shirt made of white sheeting and paddle cautiously up to a piece of ice on which the seals are 

 gathered, and disguised in their white dress^are able to land and get among the seals before the 

 latter are alarmed. A stout club is usually employed on such occasions, and sometimes a man will 

 secure a number. This style of hunting is practiced off the Yukon mouth and thence northward, 

 at least to the northern shore of Norton Sound. 



In Norton Sound the males become very rank after the last of March, and the Eskimo say 

 that only a part of them are able to eat its flesh at this season, as it makes some of them ill. 



