138 



SEALS AND SEA-LIONS 



HEAD OF HOODED SEAL. 



coast of Labrador and northward thereof, and the value of 

 the catch was over a quarter of a miUion dollars. 



This species passes through several strongly marked 

 changes of pelage and color. The baby is covered from nose 



to flipper-tips with a thick coat 

 of long, woolly hair of snowy 

 whiteness. This, when shed at 

 six months after birth, is re- 

 placed by a coat of bluish-gray 

 hair, with light trimmings. On 

 reaching adult age, in its fifth 

 year, this animal is very strik- 

 ingly marked by black or dark- 

 brown patches grouped together 

 on the sides and back, on a 

 white or yellowish ground-color suggestive of the shape of 

 a harp. This seal is also called the Saddle-Back and the 

 Greenland Seal. 



The Hooded Seal^ of the North Atlantic is a large 

 species, often attaining 8 feet in length. The old males are 

 distinguished by the possession of a flexible bag of skin on top 

 of the nose, which is capable of being inflated with air until 

 it forms a lofty and remarkable excrescence on the creature's 

 face. This sac is sometimes 10 inches long and 6 inches high. 

 The color of this seal is dark bluish gray, marked with irreg- 

 ular light spots. It once came as far south as New Jersey. 



The Ribbon Seal, or Harlequin Seal,^ in its color pat- 

 tern is the most remarkable of all living Pinnipeds, and there 



1 Cys-toph'o-ra cris-ta'ta. ^ His-tri-o-pho'ca fas-ci-a'ta. 



