41 
in the case of the salt-water ringed seals. During June and early July, 
a number of seals swam in a stretch of open water at the mouth of Takuir- 
bing river, or sunned themselves upon the ice. On July 10 a small seal 
was shot. This specimen, No. 6025 cf 1 , was 4 feet 1 inch long and had a 
girth back of the fore flippers of 2 feet 9 inches. The stomach contained 
a char, Salvelinus alpinus, 10 inches long. On July 27, two seals were 
shot in the mouth of Takuirbing river. Specimen No. 6026 9 was 4 feet 
long and had a girth back of the fore flippers of 3 feet 2 inches; specimen 
No. 6027 & was 3 feet 9 inches long and had a girth of 3 feet. The stomachs 
contained only a few small char. During August only two or three seals 
were seen. On August 27, a small seal was killed at the mouth of Takuir- 
bing river. After August 27, only one seal was seen on the lake during 
the trip to the outlet and return. This seal was seen 4 miles southwest of 
Takuirbing river. The observations made, indicate that the ringed seal 
remains in the lake throughout the year. 
Comparison of skulls of Nettilling Lake seals with the skulls of salt- 
water seals from Pangnirtung fiord and Amadjuak bay clearly indicated 
that no material differences existed. The upper part of the cranium of 
juvenile, salt-water ringed seals is markedly variable in shape, but this 
feature is almost negligible in adults. Of the series of twenty-one skulls 
available for study, twelve are obviously skulls of young; three of the five 
skulls from Nettilling lake are greatly damaged. All the Nettilling Lake 
skulls are decidedly large, possibly because little shooting is done on 
Nettilling lake and the animals, therefore, have a chance to mature, 
whereas on Cumberland sound very large numbers are killed every year. 
The differences that exist between the skins of the freshwater and salt- 
water seals is slight. Kumlien (1879, p. 55) writes: “I have seen skins 
from lake Kennedy (Nettilling lake) that I could not distinguish from 
those found in Cumberland sound.” The Eskimo consider the Nettilling 
Lake animals as being the same as those in Cumberland sound, although 
they say the freshwater seals have larger eyeballs. Hantzsch (1913, p. 
160), referring to the Nettilling Lake seals, writes: “Eyes also larger on 
inside than in Phoca hispida The same author states also that the 
outer opening of the eye in the Nettilling Lake seals is smaller than in 
Phoca hispida. These differences in the case of the eyes, if it exists, is 
so slight that it escaped notice by the present writer. 
