45 
The variations in size, markings, and colour, due to age, have led 
in the past to the erection of several species. The Eskimo recognize the 
differences and apply different names to the animals of different ages, 
but are aware of the fact that all belong to one species. Some indication 
of the variations exhibited is afforded by the following descriptions of 
individuals killed in mid-September in Pangnirtung fiord. 
Example 1. Length, 4 feet 4 inches. Dark bluish black above with 
large, oval, yellowish rings, and vermiculations of the same colour. Sides 
and underparts, silvery white very faintly yellowish; the sides with round, 
black spots irregularly distributed. Spots absent from breast and belly. 
Example 2. Length, 4 feet. Greenish slate-colour above with small 
yellowish rings, mostly ill-defined, many overlapping and producing a 
marbled appearance; the rings vary in size from that of a small coin to 
several inches in diameter. Underparts, yellowish white with profuse, 
dark vermiculations. 
Example 3. Length, 4 feet. Greenish blue-black above with large, 
oval, yellowish rings over the dorsal region. Ventral area, yellowish silver- 
coloured with smaller rings, indistinct and more or less confluent. 
A distinguishing feature of hispida is that the first toe nail on the 
front flipper is the longest. 
10. Phoca groenlandica Erxleben. Greenland or harp seal. 
Eskimo: kiolik; kairelik, according to Hantzsch. 
The harp seal is one of the rarer species of seals inhabiting the seas 
about Baffin island. It seems to be somewhat more numerous than Phoca 
vitulina concolor , but is very much less numerous than Phoca hispida. It 
occurs along the whole length of the island, but is scarcer towards the 
north. It ranges north of Baffin island for Bay (1904) states that it is 
occasionally met with on Ellesmere island, and Sutherland (1852, p. 293) 
writes that the “ocean or Greenland seal” was common in August, 1850, 
in the southern part of Wellington channel. 
The harp seal can be distinguished at a distance from hispida by its 
habit of occasionally rearing high out of the water. Also harp seals 
usually travel in companies, whereas ringed seals, no matter how plentiful 
they may be, tend to occur scattered and singly. 
During the Canadian Arctic Expedition of 1923, the writer did not see 
a single skin in the possession of the Eskimo of Ponds inlet and Pangnir- 
tung. In 1924, the species was not seen until September 15 when a seal 
said by the natives to be a kiolik, was observed in Pangnirtung fiord. 
On September 23 a skin (No. 5689 c?) was obtained from a Pangnirtung 
Eskimo who had recently killed the animal. Two harp seals were seen 
on October 13 between Pangnirtung and Kingua. 
According to the Eskimo of Broughton island, Kevetuk, and Merchants 
bay, the kiolik occurs along the east coast only during the summer and 
then, though a few are shot, are never common. A young harp seal, 
specimen No. 6039 9 , was taken in Pangnirtung fiord, on October 2, 1925. 
Constable H. Margetts, R.C.M.P., stated that he saw the skin of a large 
harp seal killed at Kekerten islands early in October, 1925. Eskimo 
stated that in summer the harp seal was sometimes moderately common 
in the lower part of Nettilling fiord and occasionally examples were killed 
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