5. MONACHUS. 19 



1. Monachus albiventer. Monh Seal. 



Phoque a ventre blane, Byffan, H. N. Supp. vi. t. 44; Ouv. M. A. i. 



166 ; Oss. Foss. v. 208. t. VI. f. 1 (skeleton), f. 2, 3, 4, 5 (skuU) ; Loh- 



stein, Obs. Anat. Comp. ; Ranzani, Opusc. Scient. 

 Phoca Monaclius, Herm. Bert Abh. 1779, iv. 1. 12, 13 ; Besm. Manim. 



241. 

 Phoca Hermanni, Lesson, Diet. Class. S. N. xiii. 

 Pelagios Monachus, F. Cuv. Bid. Sci. Nat. xxxix. 550; Ann. Mm. 



1813, XX. 38; Mem. Mus. xi. 193. t. 13 (skull); Blainv. OsUog. 



Phoca, t. 5, 7, 8, 9; Owen, Cat. Osteal Mm. Coll. Surg. 643. 

 Pelagius Monachus, NUsson, Skand. Fauna ; Wiegm. Arch. viii. 309 ; 



Gray, Zool. Erebus ^ Terror. " 



Monachus Mediterraneus, Nikson, Vet. Akad. HancO,. 1837, 235. 

 Phoca alMventer, Bodd. Flench. 170. 

 Phoca bicolor, Shaw, Zool. i. 254. t. 70, 71. 

 Phoca leucogaster, Peron. 

 Phoca vitulina, Wolf, Abbild. i. 18. t. 4 (good). 

 Phoque Moine, F. Cuv. Ann. Mus. xx. 38. 

 Pied Seal, Penn. Quad. ii. 173. 

 Heliophoca Atlantica, Gray, Ann. 8f Mag. N. H. 1854, xiii. 200; 



P. Z. S. 1854. 

 Phoca leporina, Verreaux, not Lepechin. 

 Mediterranean Seal, Shaw, Zool. i. 255. 



Inhab. Mediterranean, Algiers. S. Atlantic, Madeira, Mac Andrew. 

 In Cumara das Lobos,runcbal, KrdgJit. Canaries, Isle Lobos? 



a. Young animal. N. Atlantic, Deserta Grande Island. 



b. Adult animal. N. Atlantic, Deserta Grande Island. Presented 



by E. MacAndrew, Esq., E.E.S. Specimens described as Helio- 

 phoca Atlantica. 



An imperfect skuU of this Seal is described in Cat. Osteol. CoU. 

 Mus. CoU. Surg. 643. 



The Trustees of the British Museum purchased the dead body of 

 a Seal which had been exhibited in London as the " Talking Fish." 

 The proprietor, an Italian, at first said that it was from the coast of 

 South America, but afterwards admitted that it was from one of the 

 ports on the north side of the Mediterranean ; and on examination 

 it proved to be the Monk Seal {Phoca albiventer), the type of the 

 genus Monachus of Meming and Pelagios of P. Cuvier, a genus which 

 was one of the desiderata in the Museum Collection. 



The comparison of the skull of this animal with the skulls of the 

 Seal from Madeira, which I described in the ' Annals and Magazine 

 of Natural History' for March 1854, under the name of Heliophoca 

 Atlantica, has shown that the latter animal is the same as the Medi- 

 terranean Seal. 



The British Museum has since received from M. Verreaux a very 

 good skeleton of a Seal from Algiers, under the name oi Phoca lepo- 

 rina, which is evidently the same as the Phoca albiventer of Cuvier 

 (Oss. Foss. V. 1. 17). 



These facts are interesting as showing that the Seal which was 

 formerly believed to be confined to the north shore of the Medi- 



