162 
76. HoopeEp. 
H'O,0 DED 25a AL. 
Hift. Quad, N° 384. 
Phoca Leonina, Faun. Greenl. N° 5. 
EAL. With four cutting teeth above, four below: fore feet 
like the human; the thumb long: the membranes on the hind 
feet extend beyond the claws: on the forehead of the male is a thick 
folded fkin, ridged half the way up, which it can inflate and draw 
down like a cap, to defend its eyes againft ftorms, waves, ftones, and 
fand. The females and young have only the rudiment of this guard. 
it has two fpecies of hair; the longeft white, the fhorteft thick, black, 
and woolly, which gives it a beautiful grey color. 
It grows to the length of eight feet. ‘The Greenlanders call it 
Neitfek-foak*, or the Great Net/ek. It inhabits only the fouthern 
parts of their country, where it inhabits the high feas ; but in Apri/, 
May, and Fune, comes nearer to the land. Is polygamous; copulates 
with its body ereé&t. Brings forth in 4pril one young upon the ice. 
Keeps much on the great fragments, where it fleeps in an unguarded 
way. Bites hard: barks, and whines: grows very fierce on being 
wounded ;, but will weep on being furprized by the hunter. Fight 
among themfelves, and inflict deep wounds, Feed on all kinds of 
greater fifh. The fkins of the young form the moft elegant dreffes 
for the women. The men cover their great boats with thofe of the 
old ; they alfo cover their houfes with them, and when they grow old 
convert them into facks. ‘They ufe the teeth to head hunting-fpears.. 
Of the gullet and inteftines they make the fea-dreffes. The ftomach 
is made into a fifhing-buoy, 
It is alfo found in Newfoundland. Our Seal-hunters name it the- 
Hooded Seal, and pretend they cannot kill it till they remove that 
integument. The Germans call it Klap-Mutz, from its covering its 
face as if with a cap. 
The moft dreaded enemy which this fpecies has in Greenland, is 
the Phy/eter Microps; on the very fight of which it takes to the ice, 
* Crantz, 1. 25. 
and 
