46 R. BROWN ON THE SEALS OF GREENLAND. 



P. dorsata, Pallas. Callocephalus lagurus, F. 



P. muelleri, Less. Cuv. 



Callocephalus grcenlandicus, Phoca albicauda^ Desm. 



F. Cuv. P. desmarestii. Less. 



Young. JPhoca lagura, Cuv. P. pilayi, Less. 



Popular names. — Saddleback (English northern sealers) ; 

 Wliitecoats and Bed Lampiers (Newfoundland sealers) (young) ; 

 Harp Seal (English authors); Svartsida (Norse); Dcelja^ Dcevoky 

 Aim (Lapp.) ; Svartsiden (Danish, hence Egede, Green., p. 62) ; 

 Blaudruselur (Icelandic) ; Karoleek and Neitke (Eskimo at 

 Pond's Bay, Davis's Strait) ; Atak (Greenlanders). The same 

 people, according to the age of the Seal, call it Atarak, Aglektoky 

 or Uklektok, and Atarsoak (hence Cranz, Greenl., i., p. 163), 

 meaning respectively the little Seal (white), the blueside, and 

 the large Seal, while Atak means merely the Seal (blackside) 

 without reference to age. A variety having the belly dark also 

 is called by the Danes in Greenland Sv art- svartsiden. The 

 Uklektok of the natives is also called by the whites Blaa-siden 

 (the blueside). I shall afterwards refer to some of its other 

 names. 



There seems little doubt that the Plwca oceanica, Lepech., 

 is identical with this species ; indeed Lepechin's description is 

 one of the best we have of the Pagophilus grcenlandicus. Lepe- 

 chin seems to have confounded with this the young of another 

 species, and to have erred by trusting wholly to the deceptive 

 characters of colouring, instead of relying for its distinctive 

 character on the more stable distinction of teeth and skull. 

 What he says about the changes of coat in P. oceanica exactly 

 agrees with what I have said regarding the present species. 



Remarks. — It seems to be almost unknown to most writers on 

 this group that the male and female of the Saddleback are of dif- 

 ferent colours ; this, however, has long been known to the Seal- 

 hunters. 3Iale. — The length of the male Saddleback rarely 

 reaches 6 feet, and the most common length is 5 feet ; while the 

 female in general rarely attains that length. The colour of the 

 male is of a tawny grey, of a lighter or darker shade in different 

 individuals, on a slightly straw-coloured or tawny-yellowish ground, 

 having sometimes a tendency to a reddish-brown tint, which 

 latter colour is often seen in both males and females, but especially 

 in the latter, in oval spots on the dorsal aspect. The pectoral 

 and abdominal regions have a dingy or tarnished silvery hue, 

 and are not white, as generally described. But the chief charac- 

 teristic, at least that which has attracted the most notice, so much 

 as to have been the reason for giving it several names, from the 

 peculiar appearance it was thought to present {e.g. " Harp Seal," 

 *' Saddleback," &c.), is the dark marking or band on its dorsal 

 and lateral aspects. This " saddle- shaped " band commences at 

 the root of the neck posteriorly, and curves downwards and back- 

 wards at each side superior to the anterior flippers,* reaches 



* I use this very convenient sealers' vernacular term to express the " paws," 

 " hands," &c., of systematic authors. 



