202 BRITISH MAMMALS 



outline from the configuration of the head in the common seal- 

 The nasal opening is higher up and more dorsal. The brain 

 cavity is proportionately less in size, and the under jaw is 

 stronger and heavier. Apparently the young of this seal are- 

 born much earlier in the year than is the case with the common 

 seal — in the month of March. There are often two cubs at a 

 birth, and three even are reported. This creature is almost 

 extinct as a British Mammal, and therefore it would be a waste of 

 space to say much regarding its habits. It is thought to have- 

 been caught in the Severn in 1836 and the Thames in 1858, and 

 also on the coasts of Lancashire, Scotland, the Hebrides, and 

 Galway. Its present range is the circumpolar seas and the- 

 northern coasts of the Atlantic and Pacific. It is common off 

 the coasts of Newfoundland and Greenland. At one time half a 

 million of these seals were killed annually off the coast of 

 Newfoundland, and the annual yield of the Danish settlements, 

 in Greenland is something like 30,000. 



Thoca hispida. The Ringed Seal 



The Ringed Seal is perhaps the smallest member of the 

 sub-family. The adult male rarely exceeds 4^ ft. in length,, 

 and the female about 3 ft. The upper parts are brownish- 

 gray, almost black along the medium line of the back, and the 

 belly is whitish-gray. The face is uniform grey-brown, and the- 

 vibrissae are brown instead of being white. The sides are marked 

 with irregular oval rings of light gray, in the middle of which is a 

 dark spot. It is in the shape of the skull, however, that the ringed 

 seal is most readily distinguished. This resembles more nearly 

 in shape the skull of the harp seal, but at the back, over the 

 brain case, there is an enormous projecting ridge of bone. The 

 cranial capacity is proportionately much less than in the common- 

 seal. 



The ringed seal is almost extinct as a British species. A 

 specimen was caught on the Norfolk coast in 1 846, and another 

 on the coast of Lincolnshire in 1889, and it may still visit the 

 Hebrides. Elsewhere its range is circumpolar, including the- 



