RINGED SEAL. 



251 



the back, and marked on the sides with numerous irregu- 

 larly oval whitish rings ; the belly is whitish, with a few 

 dark spots, and the region round the eye is uniform in 

 colour. The whiskers are thin and brown, the hair fine, 

 sub-erect, and rather soft. The young, after losing their 

 first woolly coat, are paler than the adults, and their mark- 

 ings are obscure. 



Fabricius gives the length of the adult animal as four 

 feet, seldom four and a half ; Nilsson says three, while 

 Malmgren states that they sometimes attain a still greater 

 size, and that he has seen one five and a half Swedish 

 feet in length. 



