PHOCA HISPIDA, 155 



rocks *, dives by suddenly dropping himself 

 under water, his nose being the last part of 

 him which disappears, instead of his tail, as 

 with his great congeners Flioca harhata and 

 the walrus. 



The small seal has a very fine spotted skin, 

 and is about sixty or seventy pounds in weight ; 

 he is much fatter, in proportion to his size, 

 than I^lioca harhata, and his carcase, in con- 

 sequence, having less specific gravity in pro- 

 portion to its bulk, he floats much longer after 

 he is killed in the water, so that they are sel- 

 dom lost after being shot. I have frequently 

 shot these small seals from the deck of the 

 vessel while under easy sail, and have had 

 time to lower a boat from the davits, row back 

 to the seal, and lift him up by the flipper. 



There is also a third variety of seal found 

 in the Spitzbergen seas {JPlioca Mspida ?), the 

 springer or Jan Mayen seal, as he is called by 

 the hunters. This is the seal which we read of 

 being killed in the spring months in such pro- 

 digious numbers by the whalers amongst the 

 vast ice-fields around Jan Mayen' s Island, far 

 to the west of Spitzbergen. 



* The great Spitzbergen seal is never known to lie on 

 the rocks or land. 



