262 



NATQEAL HISTOEY COLLECTION'S IK ALASKA. 



all of tlie numerous specimens seen by us in the pack were just north 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 in 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 pcetida Fabricius. Eiuged Seal (Esk. tsh-6-g^th). 



This species occurs with P. vltulma at Saint Michaels. Five skulls were obtained, one, !N"o. 

 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. Kumlieu. The basal portion of the hairs is not so dark, the whis- 

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

 appearance. 



Measurements of five skulls of Phoca fcefida. 



List of S2>ecimens. 



BiograxMcal notes.— The Eiuged Seal is an abundant winter resident in the northern half of 

 Bering Sea, its range reaching the mouth of the Kuskoquim Elver 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 in May and the early 

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

 gather in large bunches on large icecakes 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 Lunting is practiced off the Yukon mouth and thence northward, 

 at least to the northern shore of Norton Sound. 



In Norton Sound th. 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 111. 



