CHAPTER III. 

 THE BANDED SEAL. 



HisTEioPHooA EQUESTMs, Gill. (Plate sxi, fig. 1, 2.) 



Of this beautifully marked animal, which attains the length of six or eight feet, 

 there is but very little known. Its geographical distribution is said to extend east- 

 ward to Amoor land. It is found upon the coast of Alaska, bordering on Behring 

 Sea, and the natives of Ounalaska recognize it as an occasional visitor to the Aleu- 

 tian Islands. It is said to be found in greater numbers on the Asiatic coast than 

 on the American. In April, 1852, we observed a herd of seals upon the beaches 

 at Point Reyes, California ; these, without close examination, answered to the 

 description given by Gill, which is as follows: "The sj^ecies is remarkable for 

 color as well as structural peculiarities. The male is at once recognizable by the 

 color, and this may be said to be a chocolate brown, except (1) a band of whitish 

 yellow, bent forward toward the crown around the neck; (2), an oval ring of the 

 same color on each side, encircling the fore feet and passing in front just before 

 them ; and ( 3 ) another band, also bent forward above, behind the middle of the 

 trunk. There is considerable variation in extent of these bands, and sometimes the 

 puribraehial rings are more or less confluent with the posterior band. The females 

 are simply whitish yellow, or have very indistinct traces of the pastmidian band." 

 Although we are quite confident the seals we saw on Point Reyes were the same 

 as those described by Gill, still it is a remarkable fact that we have never seen 

 this species on the coast of California since. The Russian traders, who formerly 

 visited Cape Romanzoflf, from St. Michael's, Norton Sound, frequently brought back 

 the skins of the male Histriojyhoca, which were used for covering trunks and for 

 other ornamental purposes. 



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