largest ot the noitliem Seals, and wlieii full grown will reach two 
lumdred pounds in weight. 
It may be welt here, before speaking of the great sealing grounds 
of Newfoundland and Greenland, briefly to refer to a ver}' con- 
siderable branch of this industry carried on in the fresh Avaters of 
the ( aspian Sea. Jlr. J. A. Allen (‘North American Pinnipeds’) 
says, that the annual average take of Seals in the Caspian, for the 
six years ciuling 1872, Avas one hundred and thirty thousand, and 
that the Seals are said to measure from three to six feet in lejigth, 
and to Aveigh from seventy-two to one hundred and forty-four 
pounds. Whether or not the Caspian Seal is a distinct species 
seems doubtful. It Avas described by I’allas as a variety of the 
Common Seal {Ph. vUulinn), and by Nilsson as a distinct species, 
under the name of Ph. cm pica ; notwithstanding its abundance, 
hoAvever, very little is knoAvn about it, but it is probable that thi.s, and 
a Seal found in the fresh Avaters of Lake IJaikal, are both very closely 
allied to the Seal already mentioned under the name of Ph. hisjnda.* 
APo have no very i)reciso information Avith regard to the early 
history of the Greenland Seal Fisher^', although, no doubt, from 
the time Avhen our Avhalers tirst visited the Greenland seas, it has 
more or less occupied their attention. On the Avest coast of 
Greenland the hunting is mainly carried on by the natives for their 
OAvn support, and it is only the produce not required by them that 
13 exported. Ilr. Pink estimates the annual catch by the natives 
at about 89,000 Seals, about one-half of AA’hich are required for 
their oAvn purposes: the skins of the remainder are exported. 
Until of late years the vessels from the ports of Northern Europe 
took no part in the NeAvfoundland Seal fishery, but confined 
their visits to the seas surrounding Jan Mayen, the ice-fields lying 
betAvecn the east coast of Greenland and Spitzbergen, and the 
shores of Novaya Zemlya, knoAvn as the Greenland seas. Here the 
Seals captured are mainly the Harp and Hooded species, whereas 
on the Avestern coast of Greenland, although the Harp Seal forms 
the bulk of the capture, the Hooded, Bearded, Pinged, and Common 
Seals figure largely in the returns. 
Both the Whale and Seal fisheries from tliiscountryarenowvirtually 
• F or an account of tlie method pursued by the sealers of the Caspian Sea, 
see an article in the ‘ Field ’ for April 14tli, 1SS3 (p. 474). 
