250 COMMON SEAL. 
able degree of continuance^ on dry land ; forsak- 
ing, at particular periods^ tlie water, and congre- 
gating in vast multitudes on the shores, on float- 
ing ice, or on insulated rocks ; especially during 
the season in which the young are produced. 
The most common species, or that Avhich seems 
to have been known from the times of the most 
remote antiquity, is the Phoca vitulina, or Sea- 
Calf, as it is generally termed. 
COMMON SEAL. 
Phoca Vitulina. P. capite inauriculafo et cer'vice la^'vi, corpore fusco. 
Lin. Syst. Nat. Gtnel. p. 63. 
Earless brown Seal, with smooth head and neck. 
Vitulus maris oceani. Rondel, pise. p. 458. 
Phoca seu vitulus marinus. Gesn. aquat. 702. Aldr. pise, 722. 
LePhoque. Buff. 13./. 333-/^- 45- 
Common Seal. Pennant ^adr. 2. p. 270. 
The common Seal, or Sea-Calf. 
This animal is a native of the European seas, 
and is found about all the coasts of the northern 
hemisphere, and even extends as far as the oppo- 
site one, being seen in vast quantities about the 
southern polar regions. We are informed by 
Mr. Pennant, that it also inhabits some fresh wa- 
ter lakes, as that of Baikal, Oron, &c. and that 
in these lakes it is considerably smaller, but much 
fatter than when found in the sea. The Count 
de BufFon imagines the Mediterranean Seal, a dis- 
tinct species from this, to have been the Phoca 
