64 R. BROAVN ON THE SEALS OF GREENLAND. 



complete the list of the principal writers regarding its hunting and 

 commercial importance generally. 



(7.) Cystophora cristata (Erxleb.), Nilss. 



Phoca cristata, Erxleb. Phoca isidoreA, Less. 



Phoca leonina,0. Fab. (non Mirounga cristata, Gray. 



Linn.). Cystophora cristata, Nilss. 



Phoca mitrata, Milbert Cystophora borealis, Nilss. 



(Cuv.). Stemmatoptcs ciistatus, F. 

 Phoca leiicopla, Thienem. Cuv. 



Phoca cucuUata, Bodd. Stemtnatopus mitratus, 



Phoca dimidiata, Cretzsch. Gray. 



{Jide Rlipp.). 



Popular names. — ^^ Bladdernose " or, shortly, " Bladder " (of 

 northern sealers, Spitzbergen sea) ; Klappmysta (Swedish) ; Klak- 

 kekal, Kahhntshohhe (Northern Norse) ; Kihnebb (Finnish) ; Avjor, 

 Fatte-Nuorjo, and Oaado (Lapp) ; Klapmyds (Danish; hence 

 Egede, Greenl., p. 46: the word Klapmyssen, used ])y him on page 

 62 of the same work, Engl, trans., and supposed by some commen- 

 tators to be another name, means only the Klapmyds, according to 

 the Danish orthography) : Klapmiifze (German ; hence Cranz, 

 Greenl., i., p. 125 : I have also occasionally heard the English 

 sealers call it by this 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 appen- 

 dage of this species a 7nutz 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-Shdl (Bladder- Seal) by Nilsson (Skand. Faun., i.,p. 312), 

 Hooded Seal by Pennant (Synopsis, p. 342), Seal with a caul by 

 Ellis (Hudson Bay, p. 134), in the French vernacular Phoque a 

 capuchon, and in the sealers' name of Bladdernose, ^ Ncitersoak, 

 ^ Nesaursalik (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 per- 

 fectly 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 chestnut or black, with a greater or less number of round 

 or oval markings of a still deeper hue. The hair is Ions: 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 chestnut-colour. The pectoral and ventral 



* 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. 



