PHOCIDiE 197 



feet from the water, in which they quickly take refuge on be- 

 coming alarmed. 



There are three families, two of these having species living 

 on the California coast, the third, Odobeiiidx, containing only 

 one genus with two species. Walrus, being restricted to Arctic 

 seas. Altogether there are now about eighteen genera and thirty 

 species recognized in this suborder. 



Family Phocidse. Earless Seals. 

 Hind legs not capable of being turned forward and not ser- 

 viceable for use on land ; front limbs smaller than hind limbs ; 

 neck short; no external ears; upper incisors pointed; nO' distinct 

 posterbital process ; uelage without underfur. 



Subfamily Phocinae 



Incisors 3 — 2 ; all claws well developed ; first and fifth toes 

 of hind foot not much longer than the other three; interorbital 

 region greatly constricted. 



Genus Phoca Linn. (Seal.) 

 Molariform' teeth, except the first, large, double rooted, 

 three lobed, planted more or less obliquely; head short; males 

 not much larger than the females ; size smaB for the suborder. 

 Dental formula, I, 3—2; C, i— i; P, 4—4; M, i— 1X2=34. 



Phoca richardii Gray. (For Captain Richards.) 



PACIFIC HARBOR SEAL. 



Color variable; above yellowish gray, yellowish brown or 

 blackish, blotched with black, brown or buffy ; below bufify whitish 

 or dull brown, more or tess spotted with dark brown; skull thin 

 and comparatively smooth ; premaxillaries extending to the nasals 

 and a short distance along them. The spots or blotches may be 

 very few and indistinct, or numerous and well marked, and are 



