45 2 SEALS IN THE CASPIAN chap. 



Fam. 3. Phocidae. — The true Seals have no external ears, 

 and the nostrils are quite dorsal in position as in other aquatic 

 animals, such as the Crocodile. There is obviously an approach 

 to the conditions characteristic of the Whales. The hind-limbs 

 are useless for locomotion on land. They are bound up with the 

 tail, and form functionally merely a part of the tail. In this 

 family there are, at any rate, eight genera. 



Phoca and Halichoerus are not very wide apart from each 

 other. In both there are five well-developed claws on feet and 

 hands. They are British, and generally Arctic and temperate 

 in range. For some reason or other the late Dr. Gray placed 

 Halichoerus in the same sub-family with the Walrus ! Phoca is 



Fig. 230. — Common Seal. PJujca vUiUiita. x^. (From Parker and Haswell's Zoology.) 



not only marine, but is found in the Caspian and in Lake 

 Baikal. Their existence in those inland seas is believed to be a 

 vestige of a former connexion with the sea. Halichoerus grypus 

 is a large seal 8 feet in length when full grown. Its colour is 

 yellowish grey, with darker grey spots and blotches. It is not 

 uncommon on the shores of our islands, particularly of the Hebrides 

 and Argyllshire. The commonest Seal is Phoca vitulina, not more 

 than 4 to 5 feet long, and of the same spotted coloration as the 

 last. This Seal has, however, a much wider distribution, being 

 Arctic as well as British, American, and North Pacific. A curious 

 fact about this Seal is that it is not impatient of fresh water ; 

 not only will it ascend rivers, but it will live in inland lakes. It 

 is said to be especially sensitive to musical sounds. P. hispida 

 is British, but a rare visitor to our islands. It is essentially an 

 Arctic species. The Harp Seal, P. groenlandica, is so called on 

 account of a harp-shaped black bar in the males, which starts at 



