Northwestern University Library Evanston, Illinois 60208-2300 From the collection of the 7 n m 0 PreTinger v JUibrary p San Francisco, California - 2006 DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR U. S. GEOLOGICAL AND GEOGRAPHICAL SURVEY OF THE TERRITORIES F. V. HAYDEN, GROLOGIBT-IN-CHARGB MISCELLANEOUS PUBLICATIONS-No, 12 HISTORY OF PINNIPEDS A MONOGRAPH OF THE WALRUSES, SEA-LIONS, SEA-BEARS AND SEALS OF NORTH BY JOEL ASAPH ALLEN Assistant in the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Cambridge Special Collaborator of the Survey WASHINGTON GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICB 1880 X PREFATORY NOTE. UNITED STATES GEOLOGICAL AND GEOGRAPHICAL SURVEY OF THE TERRITORIES, Washington, D. 0., July 1, 1880. The present series of monographs of the North American Pinnipedia, by Mr. J. A. Allen, may be considered as a second installment o/ the systematic History of North American Mam- mals, of which the Fur-Bearing Animals by Dr. Elliott Coues, U. S. A., forming No. 8 of the Miscellaneous Publications of the Survey, was published as a specimen fasciculus. The first monograph of this series, treating of the Walruses, was prepared nearly three years since for publication in the Bulletin of the Survey, but before it was quite ready for the press, Dr. Coues, owing to his pressing engagements in other directions, invited Mr. Allen to extend his treatise to embrace the entire suborder of the Pinnipeds, to which he had already given special atten-. tion, with a view to its incorporation as a part of the proposed general History of North American Mammals. Since, how- ever, considerable time must elapse before the whole work can be completed, it has been thought best not to delay the publi- cation of the part already prepared relating to the Pennipeds. As nearly all of the species belonging to this group found in the northern hemisphere are members of the North American fauna, the present treatise is virtually a monograph of all the species occurring north of the equator, and includes incidentally a revision of those of other seas. The literature of the whole group is not only reviewed at length, but the economic phase of the subject is treated in detail, embracing, in fact, a general history of the Sealing industries of the world. The technical treatment of the subject is based mainly on the rich material of the National Museum, supplemented at many important points by that of the Museum of Comparative Zoology of Cam- bridge, which, through the kindness of the directors of these institutions, was generously placed at the author's disposal. That contained in the other principal museums of the country in IV PREFATORY NOTE. was also examined, so that so far as the species of the northern hemisphere is concerned the amount of material consulted doubtless far exceeds that ever before studied by any single investigator of the group. For the biographical part, to which much space has been allotted, matter has been freely gathered from all available sources. In addition to the results here first published, the work may be considered as a compendium of our present knowledge of the subject. In regard to the need i>f a work like the present, it may be stated that with the exception of Dr. Theodore Gill's important "Prodrome" of a proposed monograph of North American Pinnipeds, published in 1866, there has been no general treat- ment of the species since the excellent compilations of Drs. Harlan and Godman appeared, now more than half a century ago. Eespecting foreign works, nothing has been recently published covering the ground here taken beyond a very gen- eral synopsis of the technical phases of the subject. The best accounts of the species occurring along the shores of Europe are in other languages than English, while no general history of the economic relations of the subject exists. In relation to the important Fur Seal Fisheries of Alaska, the author has been able to present in extenso the results of Captain Charles Bryant's long experience at the Fur Seal Islands, where for nearly ten years he was the government agent in charge of the islands. Although not received until the article on this species had been transmitted to the printer, it proves to be, to only a small degree, a repetition of the account given by Mr. Elliott, also reproduced at length. The history Captain Bryant gives of the changes in the numbers and relations of the different classes of these animals at the rookeries, under the present system of management of the Fur Seal business, forms a valu- able basis for generalization in regard to the future regulation of this industry, and is also an important contribution to the life-history of the species. The cuts, some thirty in number, illustrating the cranial char- acters of the Walruses, were drawn for the present work by Mr. J. H. Blake, of Cambridge, and engraved by Messrs. Eussell and Eichardson, of Boston. The Survey is indebted to Professor Baird, Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, for a series of six- teen original figures, engraved by Mr. H. H. Nichols, of Washing- ton, from photographs on wood, illustrating the skulls of Callorhi- nus ursinus, Peale's "Halichcerusantarcticus," Cystophora cristata, PREFATORY NOTE. V and Macrorhinus angustirostris ; also to the Zoological Society of London for electros of Gray's "Halicyon richardsi," and of a series of historic figures of the walrus published in the Society's " Proceedings," by the late Dr. Gray, and to the proprietors of " Science Gossip," for electros of the full-length figures of seals. These were received through Dr. Coues, who also furnished the full-length views of Eumetopias stelleri and Callorhinus ursinus. Mr. Allen desires me to express, in this connection, acknowl- edgments of his indebtedness to Prof. Spencer F. Baird, Secre- tary of the Smithsonian Institution, and to Prof. Alexander Agassiz, Director of the Museum of Comparative Zoology, for the liberality with which they have placed at his service the rich material relating to this group of animals contained in the museums respectively under their charge ; to Prof. Henry A. Ward, of Rochester, ]ST. Y., for the use of much valuable material relating to the Walruses that he would not otherwise Jiave seen ; and to Captain Charles Bryant, late special agent of the United States Treasury Department, for his report, kindly prepared at the author's request, for the present work. Also to Dr. Elliott Coues, Secretary of the Survey, for the use of many of the cuts, for valuable suggestions during the prepa- tion and printing of the monograph, and revision of the proof- sheets. F. V. HAYDEN, United States Geologist. LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL. CAMBRIDGE, MASS., . May 25, 1880. SIR: I have the honor to transmit herewith for approval and for publication the " History of North American Pinnipeds," being a monograph of the Walruses, Sea-Lions, Sea-Bears, and Seals of North America. Very respectfully, your obedient servant, J. A. ALLEN. F. V. HAYDF,N, Washington, D. C. TABLE OF CONTENTS. Page. Title I Prefatory note HI Letter of transmittal V Table of contents VII List of illustrations XHI Characters of the PINNIPEDIA 1 Family ODOB^JNID^— Walruses * : 5-186 Synonymy 5 General observations and characters of the group 5-12 Genera 12-14 Synopsis of the genera 14 Genus ODOB^ENUS 14 Synonymy and history 14-17 Species 17-23 ODOB^NUS ROSMARUS— Atlantic Walrus 23-147 Synonymy and bibliographical references 23-26 External characters 26-38 Sexual differences 38-43 Individual variations and variations dependent upon age 43-45 Measurements of skulls 46 Dentition 47-57 Fossil remains 57-65 Geographical distribution, present and past 65-79 Coast of North America 65-71 Coast of Europe 71-79 Nomenclature 80 Etymology 80-82 Literature 82-107 General history 82-92 Figures 92-107 Habits and the chase 107-133 Products 133-134 Food 134-137 Functions of the tusks 137-138 Enemies 13§-139 Domestication 140-147 ODOB^SNUS OBESUS — Pacific Walrus 147-186 Synonymy and bibliographical references 147 External characters and skeleton 147-155 Measurements of skeleton 149-150 Measurements of skulls 155 Differential characters 156-170 Nomenclature 170-171 General history 171-172 Figures 172-174 Geographical distribution 174-178 Habits, food, commercial products, and the chase 178-186 Family OTARIID^— Eared Seals 187-411 Synonymy and characters of the group 187 Technical history 188-207 Higher groups 188-190 Genera 190-193 Species 193-207 IX X TABLE OF CONTENTS. Page. Characters of the PINNIPEDIA — Continued. Family OTABIID2E— Eared Seals. Synopsis of the genera and species 208-213 Mythical and undeterminable species 214-216 Geographical distribution 216 Fossil Otaries 217-221 Milk dentition 221-224 Irregularities of dentition 224 Position of the last upper permanent molar 225 General observations 225-227 Habits ..-.: 227 Products 228 Destruction of Fur Seals for their peltries 229-231 Genus EUMETOPIAS 231 EUMKTOPIAS STELLBRl — Steller's Sea-Lion 232-274 Synonymy and bibliographical references 232 External characters 2J32-236 External measurements 236 Skull 237-238 Measurements of skulls 238 Teeth 239 Skeleton 240-244 Measurements of skeleton 242-244 Sexual, adolescent, and individual variation 244 Geographical variation 244 Comparison with allied species 244-247 Measurements of skulls of OTABIA JUBATA 247 Geographical distribution 248 General history and nomenclature 248-254 Habits 254-274 Genus ZALOPHUS 275 ZALOPHUS CALIFORNIANUS— Californian Sea-Lion 276-312 Synonymy and bibliographical references 27C External characters 276-278 Young . 278 Pelage 278 Size 278-283 External measurements 279-280 Measurements of skeleton of female 281-283 Skull 283-285 Measurements of skulls 285 Dentition 286 Sexual differences 287 Variation with age 287-289 Comparison with allied species 289 Geographical distribution 289-291 General history and nomenclature 291-296 Habits 296-312 Genus CALLORHINUS 312-410 CALLORHUJUS URSINUS— Northern Fur Seal 313 Synonymy and bibliographical references 313-314 External characters 314 Color 314 Pelage 315 Size 316-319 External measurements . . - 319 Ears 320 Fore limbs 320 Hind limbs ... 320 TABLE OF CONTENTS. XI Page. Characters of the PINMPEDIA— Continued. Family OTARIID^— Eared Seals. Genus CALLOHHINUS. CALLOEHINUS UBSINUS— Northern Fur Seal. Skull 820-323 Measurements of skulls 323 Teeth 1 324 Skeleton 324-326 Measurements of skeleton 325 Sexual differences 325-327 Differences resulting from age 327 Individual variation 328 Comparison with allied species 329-331 Measurements of skulls of AKCTOCEPHALUS AUSTBALIS 331 Geographical distribution and migration 332-335 General history and nomenclature 335-339 Figures 339-341 Habits 341-371 The chase 371-378 Mode of capture 372-378 History and prospects of the Fur Seal business at the Prybilov Islands 378-381 Enemies of the Fur Seals 381 History of the Fur Seal Fishery at the Prybilov Islands, Alaska, from. 1869 to 1877, by CH AKLES BRYANT 382-411 Preliminary and general observations 382-388 Recent changes in the habits and relative numbers of the different classes of Seals 388-398 Cause of the changes in the habits of the Seals, &c 398-402 Albinos and sexually abnormal individuals 403 Description of the young ; variation in color with age, &c 403 Molting 404 Sexual organs, &c 405 Power of suspending respiration 406 Natural enemies 406 Effect of climatic influences 407 Number of Seals required for the subsistence of the natives. . 409 Winter resorts and habits of the Seals 410 Family PHOCID.E— Earless Seals 412-756 Characters of the group 412 Technical history 412-460 Higher groups 412-414 Genera 414-421 Species 421-160 Classification 460-467 Synopsis of sub-families and genera 461-463 Synonymatic list of the species 463-467 Geographical distribution 467-469 Fossil remains 469-481 North America 469-476 Europe • 476-481 Milk dentition 481-484 General habits and instincts 484-486 Food 486 Enemies 487 Migrations 487-491 Locomotion on land 491-496 Seal hunting 496-546 XII TABLE OF CONTENTS. Page. Characters of the PINNIPEDIA— Continued. Family PHOCID^E— Earless Seals. Sealing districts 496-522 West Greenland 497 Newfoundland 497-499 . Jan Mayen or "Greenland " Seas 499-511 Nova Zembla and Kara Sea 511 White Sea 511-513 Caspian Sea 513-517 North Pacific 517 South Pacific and Antarctic Seas 517-522 Methods of capture, &c 522 Shore hunting 522-530 Esquimaux methods 522 By means of nets 523-528 The seal-box 528 The seal-hook 529 The "Skrackta" 529 Ice hunting 530 In the Gulf of Bothnia 530-534 Off the coast of Newfoundland 634-540, In the Jan Mayen Seas 540-542 Dangers and uncertainties of ice hunting 543-545 Species hunted 545 Abundance of Seals at particular localities 546 Products : 546-549 Preparation of the products 549-551 Wasteful destruction of Seals 551-553 Decrease from injudicious hunting ". 553 Seals and Seal hunting in the olden time in the Gulf of St. Lawrence . 553-557 Sub-family PROCURE 557 Genus PHOCA 557-559 PHOCA VITULINA— Harbor Seal 559-507 Synonymy and bibliographical references 559-562 External characters 562-565 Distinctive characters 565-571 Individual and sexual variation 571-573 Measurements of the skulls 574 General history and nomenclature 575-584 Geographical distribution 584-588 Habits 588-597 PHOCA (PusA) FOETIDA— Ringed Seal 597-629 Synonymy and bibliographical references 597-600 External characters 600-603 Individual variation and variations dependent upon sex and age. 603-605 Measurements of the skull 606 Differential characters 607-614 Phoca (Pusa) caspica . 609-610 Phoca, (Pusa) sibirica 612-613 Geographical distribution 614-616 General history and nomenclature 616-619 Habits 619-629 PHOCA (PAGOPHILUS) GR(ENLANDICA— Harp Seal 630-654 Synonymy and bibliographical references 630-632 External characters 632-637 Sexual and individual variation and variations dependent upon • age 637 Measurements of the skull 638 General history and nomenclature 639 TABLE OF CONTENTS. XIII Page. Characters of the PINNIPEUIA— Continued. Family PHOCID^. Sub-family PHOCIN^E. Genus PHOCA. PHOCA (PAGOPHILUS) GRCENLANDICA— Harp Seal. Geographical distribution 640 Migrations and breeding stations 641-647 Habits 647-051 Enemies 651 Food 652 • Hunting and products 652-654 Genus ERIGNATHUS 654 ERIGNATHUS BARBATUS— Bearded Seal 655-675 Synonymy and bibliographical references 655-657 External characters 657 Skull and skeleton 658-661 Measurements of the skeleton 660 ' Measurements of the skull 661 General history and nomenclature 662-666 Geographical distribution 666-670 Habits, products, and hunting 670-675 Genus HISTRIOPHOCA 675-676 HIBTRIOPHOCA FASCIATA— Ribbon Seal 676-682 Synonymy and bibliographical references 676 External characters 676-678 Siz e 678 General history 678-681 Geographical distribution 681-682 Habits 682 Genus HALICHCERUS 682-689 General history and discussion of the "Genus PUSA" of Scopoli. . 683-689 HALICHCERUS GRYPUS— Gray Seal 689-706 Synonymy and bibliographical references 689-690 External characters 690-693 Measurements of skulls 694 Geographical distribution 695-696 General history and nomenclature 696-698 Habits 699-706 Genus MONACHUS 707-708 MONACHUS TROPICALIS— West Indian Seal 708-723 Characters 708 Dampier's account 708-710 Hill's and Gosse's accounts, 1843, 1851 710-715 Gray's accounts, 1849, 1874 175-718 Gill on the West Indian Seals, 1866 '. 718 Analysis and discussion of the foregoing 718-720 Affinities of the Jamaican or Pedro Seal 720-721 Geographical distribution 721-723 Sub-family CYSTOPHORHrtOE 723 Genus CYSTOPHOUA 723 C YSTOPHORA CRISTATA— Hooded Seal 724-742 Synonymy and bibliographical references 724-726 External characters 726-729 Skeleton and skull , 730-733 Measurements of skulls 732 Measurements of the skeleton 733 Geographical distribution and migrations • 733-737 General history and nomenclature 738-740 Habits 740-741 Hunting and products 741-742 XIV TABLE OF CONTENTS. Page. Characters of the PINNIPEDIA— Continued. Family PHOCID^J. Sub-family— CYSTOPHORHIN-E. * Genus MACRORHINUS 742 MACRORHINUS ANGUSTIROSTRIS — Californian Sea Elephant 743 Bibliographical references 743 External characters . 743-746 Skull .' 746-749 Measurements of skulls 748 Measurements of the skeleton of Macrorhinus leoninus 749 Comparison with the Southern Sea Elephant ." 749-751 Geographical distribution 751-752 General history 752-753 Habits • 753-755 Chase and products 755-756 APPENDIX. A. Material examined 757-764 Family ODOB^NHXE 757-758 Odobamus rosmarus 758 Odoba3nns obesus 758 Family OTARIID^E , 758-760 Eumetopias stelleri 758 Zalophus californianus 759 Callorhinus ursinus 760 Family PHOCID.E ... 761-764 Phoca vitulina 761 Phocafoetida 762 ' Phoca groanlandica 763 Erignathus barbatus 763 Histriophoca fasciata 763 Halichoerus grypus 764 Cystophora cristata 764 Macrorhinus angustirostris 764 B. Additions and Corrections 765-774 Family ODOB^JNID^E 765-769 Odobcenus rosmarus— Atlantic "Walrus 765-768 Additional references 765 Size and external appearance 765 Geographical distribution 766-767 NovaZembla 766 Franz- Josef Land ; 766 Abundance in Wolstenholme Sound 766 Spitzbergen, &c 766 Iceland 766 Supposed presence of "Walruses in the Antarctic Seas 766 The "Walrus a formidable antagonist 767 Curiosity and fearlessness of the Walrus 767 Locomotion ; use of the tusks in climbing 767 Figures of the Walrus 768 Odobcenus obesus— Pacific Walrus 768 Distribution 768 Family OTARUD^I 769-774 Otaries at the Galapagos Islands 769 Fossil Otaries 770 Capture of Sea Lions for menageries 770 Zalophus californianus— California Sea Lion 771 Period of gestation 771 Oattorhinus ursinus , 772 Breeding off the coast of Washington Territory 772 Family PHOCiD.as 773 Extinct species 773 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. Fig. 1, p. 41. Odobcenus rosmarus, skull of female in profile and lower jaw from above. Fig. 2, p. 42. Odobacenus rosmarus, skull of female from above. Fig. 3, p. 43. Odobcenus rosmarus, skull of female from below. Fig. 4, p. 93. Olaus Magnus's " Rosmarus seu Morsus Norvegicus." Fig. 5, p. 93. Olaus Magnus's " Porous Monstrosus Oceani Germanici." Fig. 6, p. 94. Gesner's "Rosmarus." Fig. 7, p. 94. Gesner's "Vacca marina" (Addenda to Icones Animal). Fig. 8, p. 94. Gesner's "Rosmarus" (Icones Animal., 1560). Fig. 9, p. 95. De Veer's "Sea Horse," 1609. Fig. 10, p. 96. Hessel Gerard's "Walruss," 1613. Fig. 11, p. 100. Martin's " Wall-ross, " 1765. Fig. 12, p. 101. Buffon's " Le Morse," 1765. Fig. 13, p. 153. Odobcenus obesus, three views of head. Fig. 14, p. 156. Odobacenus obesus, skull in profile. Fig. 15, p. 157. Odobcenus rosmarus, skull in profile. Fig. 1C, p. 158. Odobcenus rosmarus, skull from front. Fig. 17, p. 158. Odobcenus obesus, skull from .front. Fig. 18, p. 159. Odobcenus rosmarus, occipital view of skull. Fig. 19, p. 159. Odobcenus obesus, occipital view of skull. Fig. 20, p. 160. Odabcenus rosmarus, skull from above. Fig. 21, p. 161. Odobcenus obesus, skull from above. Fig. 22, p. 162. Odobcenus obesus, young skull from above. Fig. 23, p. 162. Odobcenus rosmarus, young skull from above. Fig. 24, p. 163. Odobcenus obesus, young skull from front. Fig. 25, p. 163. Odobcenus rosmarus, young skull from front. Fig. 26, p. 164. Odobcenus rosmarus, skull from below. Fig. 27, p. 165. Odobcenus obesus, skull from below. Fig. 28, p. 166. Odobcenus rosmarus, lower jaw from above. Fig. 29, p. 166. Odobcenus obesus, lower jaw from above. Fig. 30, p. 167. Odobcenus rosmarus, lower jaw from side. Fig. 31, p. 167. Odobcenus obesus, lower jaw from side. Fig. 32, p. 168. Odobcenus rosmarus, lower jaw of young from above. Fig. 33, p. 168. Odobcenus obesus, lower jaw of young from above. Fig. 34, p. 169. Odobcenus rosmarus^ lower jaw of young from side. Fig. 35, p. 169. Odobcenus obesus, lower jaw of young from side. Fig. 36, p. 173. Odobcenus obesus, Cook's figure of the animal. Fig. 37, p. 259. Eumetopias stelleri, figures of animal Fig. 38, p. 317. Callorhinus ursinus, figures of animal. Fig. 39, p. 321. Callorhinus ur sinus, skull of female in profile. Fig. 40, p. 321. Callorhinus ur sinus, skull of female from above. Fig. 41, p 322. Callorhinus ursinus, skull of female lower jaw. Fig. 42. p. 322. Callorhinus ursinus, skull of female from below. Fig. 43, p. 563. Phoca vitulina, animal Fig. 44, p. 580. " Halichcerus antarcticus,1' Peale, skull in profile. Fig. 45, p. 580. " Halichcerus antarcticus," Peale, skull from above. Fig. 46, p. 581. "Halichcerus antarcticus,11 Peale, skull from below. Fig. 47, p. 582. ' ' Halichcerus antarcticus," Peale, lower jaw. Fig. 48, p. 583. " Halicyon richardsi," Gray, skull in profile. Fig. 49, p. 601. Phoca fcetida, animal. XV XVI LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. Fig. 50, p. 633. Phoca groelandiea, animal. Fig. 51, p. 691. Halichcerus grypus, animal. Fig. 52, p. 727. Oystophora cristata, animal. Fig. 53, p. 728. Oystophora cristata, skull in profile. Fig. 54, p. 729. Cystophora cristata,, skull from above. Fig. 55, p. 730. Oystophora cristata, skull from below. Fig. 56, p. 731. Oystophora cristata, lower jaw. Fig. 57, p. 744. Macrorhinus angustirostris, skull in profile. Fig. 58, p. 745. Macrorhinus angustirostris, skull from above. Fig. 59, p. 746. Macrorhinus angustirostris, skull from below. Fig. 60, p. 747. Macrorhinus angustirostris, lower jaw. HISTOKY OF THE NORTH AMERICAN PINNIPEDS. The Pinnipeds, or Pinnipedia, embracing the Seals and Wal- ruses, are commonly recognized by recent systematic writers as constituting a suborder of the order Ferce, or Carnivorous Mammals. They are, in short, true Carnivora, modified for an aquatic existence, and have consequently been sometimes termed "Amphibious Carnivora." Their whole form is modified for life in the water, which element is their true home. Here they display extreme activity, but on land their movements are confined and labored. They consequently rarely leave the water, and generally only for short periods, and are never found to move voluntarily more than a few yards from the shore. Like the other marine Mammalia, the Cetacea and Sirenia (Whales, Dolphins, Porpoises, Manatees, etc.), their bodies are more or less fish-like in general form, and their limbs are transformed into swimming organs. As their name implies, they are fin- footed. Generally speaking, the body may be compared to two cones joined basally. Unlike the other marine mammals, the Pinnipeds are all well clothed with hair, while several of them have, underneath the exterior coarser hair, a thick, soft, silky under-fur. In contrasting them with the ordinary or terrestrial mammals, we note that the body is only exceptionally raised, and the limbs are confined within the common integument to beyond the knees and elbows, and are hence to only a slight degree serviceable for terrestrial locomotion. The first digit of the manus is generally lengthened and enlarged, as are both the outer digits of the pes. As compared with other Ferce, they present, in osteological characters, many obvious points of difference, especially in relation to the structure of the skull, limbs, and pelvis, and in dentition. The skull is distinctively characterized by great compression or constriction of the inter- orbital portion, the large size of the orbital fossae, in the lachry- mal bone being imperforate (without a lachrymal canal) and contained within the orbit, and in the presence (generally) of Misc. Pub. No. 12 1 l 2 CHARACTERS OF PINNIPEDIA. considerable vacuities between the palatine and frontal bones and the tympanic and exoccipital bones. The deciduous den- tition is rudimentary, never to any great extent functional, and frequently does not persist beyond the fo3tal life of the animal. In the permanent dentition, the canines are greatly developed, sometimes enormously so 5 the lower incisors are never more than four in number, and sometimes only two ; the upper incisors usually number six, but sometimes only four, or even two; the grinding teeth (premolars and molars) are generally simple in structure, and usually differ from each other merely in respect to size, or the number of roots by which they are inserted. The pelvis differs from that of the terrestrial Ferce in the shortness of the iliac portion and the eversion of its anterior border ; the ischiac bones barely meet for a short distance in the male, and are usually widely separated in the female, the pelvic arch thus remaining in the latter permanently open ventrally. The existing Pinnipeds constitute three very distinct minor groups or families, differing quite widely from each other in important characters : these are the Walruses, or Odobwmdce, the Eared Seals, or Otariidce, and the Earless Seals, or Phocidce. The first two are far more nearly allied than are either of these with the third, so that the Odobcenidce and Otariidce may be together contrasted with the Phocidce. The last named is the lowest or most generalized group, while the others appear to stand on nearly the same plane, and about equally remote from the Plw- cidce. The Walruses are really little more than thick, clumsy, obese forms of the Otarian type, with the canines enormously developed, and the whole skull correlatively modified. The limb -structure, the mode of life, and the whole economy are essentially the same in the two groups, and, aside from the cran- ial modifications presented by the Odobcenidce, which are obvi- ously related to the development of the canines as huge tusks, the Walruses are merely elephantine Otariids, the absence or presence of an external ear being in reality a feature of minor importance. The characters of the suborder and its three families may be more formally stated as follows : * *The characters here given are in part those collated by Dr. Theodore K". Gill in 1873 ("Arrangement of the Families of the Mammals." Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections, No. 230, pp. 56, 68, 69), by whom the distinctive features of these groups were first formulated. They have, however, been carefully verified and further elaborated by the present writer, while the families are here quite differently associated. CHARACTERS OF PINNIPEDIA. 6 Limbs pinniform, or modified into swimming organs, and enclosed to or beyond the elbows and knees within the common integument. Digits of the manus decreasing in length and size from the first to the fifth ; of those of the pes, the first and fifth largest and longest, the three middle ones shorter and subequal. Pelvis with the iliac portion very sljort, and the anterior border much everted; ischia barely meeting by a short symphysis (never anchylosed) and in the female usually widely separated. Skull generally greatly compressed interorbitally ; facial portion usually short and rather broad, and the brain-case abruptly ex- panded. Lachrymal bone imperf orate and joined to the maxil- lary, enclosed wholly within the orbit. Palatines usually sepa- rated by a vacuity, often of considerable size, from the froutals. Tympanic bones separated also by a vacuity from the exoccipit- als. Dentition simple, generally unspecialized, the molars all similar in structure. Deciduous dentition rudimentary, never truly functional, and generally not persistent beyond the foetal stage of the animal. Permanent incisors usually £ or f, some- times £ (CystopJiora and Macrorliinus}, or even \ (Odobcenus); canines \ ; molars* f , £ , or f PINNIPEDIA. A. Hind legs capable of being turned forward and used in terrestrial loco- motion. Neck lengthened (especially in family II). Skull with the mastoid processes large and salient (especially in the males), and with distinct alisphenoid canals. Anterior feet nearly as large as the posterior, their digits rapidly decreasing in length from the first to the fifth, without distinct claws, and with a broad cartilaginous border extending beyond the digits. Hind feet suceptible of great expansion, the three middle digits only with claws, and all the digits terminating in long, narrow, car- tilaginous flaps, united basally. Femur with the trochanter minor well developed GRESSIGRADA. I. Without external ears. Form thick and heavy. Anterior por- tion of the skull greatly swollen, giving support to the enor- mously developed canines, which form long, protruding tusks. Incisors of deciduous (foetal) dentition £ ; of permanent denti- tion §. N o postorbital processes, and the surface of the mastoid processes continuous with the auditory bullse Odobcenidce. II. With small external ears. Form slender and elongated. Ante- rior portion of the skull not unusually swollen, and the canines not highly specialized. ' Incisors of deciduous dentition £ , only the outer on either side cutting the gum ] of permanent denti- tion |, the two central pairs of the upper with a transverse groove. Postorbital processes strongly developed. Surface of the mastoid processes not continuous with the auditory bullae Otariidce. B. Hind legs not capable of being turned forward, and not serviceable for terrestrial locomotion. Neck short. Skull with the mastoid * In view of the uncertainty respecting the proper notation of the grind- ing teeth, they will in the present work be designated simply as molars, with no attempt at distinguishing "premolars" from "molars." 4 CHARACTERS OF PINNIPEDIA. processes swollen, but not salient, and without distinct alisphe- noid canals. Anterior limbs smaller than the posterior, the first digit little, if any, longer than the next succeeding ones, all armed with strong claws, which are terminal. Hind feet ca- pable of moderate expansion, short ; digits (usually) all armed with strong claws, and without terminal cartilaginous flaps. Femur with no trace of the trochanter minor.. .REPTIGRADA.* III. Without external ears. Postorbital processes wanting, or very small. Incisors variable (f , £ , or £). Deciduous dentition not persistent beyond foetal life Phocidce. The Pinnipeds present a high degree of cerebral develop- ment, and are easily domesticated under favorable conditions. They manifest strong social and parental affection, and defend their young with great persistency and courage. They are car- nivorous (almost without exception), subsisting upon fishes, mollusks, and crustaceans, of which they consume enormous quantities. The Walruses and Eared Seals are polygamous, and the males greatly exceed the females in size. The ordinary or Earless Seals are commonly supposed to be monogamous, and there is generally little difference in the size of the sexes. The Walruses and Eared Seals usually resort in large numbers to certain favorite breeding grounds, and during the season of re- production leave the water, and pass a considerable period upon land. The Earless Seals, on the other hand, with the exception of the Sea Elephants, do not so uniformly resort to particular breeding grounds on land, and leave the water only for very short intervals. They usually bring forth their young on the ice, most of the species being confined to the colder latitudes. Only one of the various species of the Pinnipedia appears to be strictly tropical, and very few of them range into tropical waters. As a group, the Pinnipeds are distinctively character- istic of the Arctic, Antarctic, and Temperate portions of the globe, several of the genera being strictly Arctic or Subarctic in their distribution. The Walruses are at present confined mainly within the Arctic Circle,, and have no representatives south of the colder portions of the Northern Hemisphere. The Otariidce and Phocidce, on the other hand, are abundantly represented on both sides of the equator, as will be noticed more in detail later. * For the suggestion of the terms Gressigrada and Eeptigrada I am indebted to my friend Dr. Elliott Coues. FAMILY ODOB^NIDJl. Walruses. " lYichecidce, GRAY, London Med. Kepos., 1821, 303" (family). Apud Gray. Trichechidce, GRAY, Ann. of Philos., 1825, 340; Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist., 3d ser., xviii, 1866, 229; ibid., 4th ser., iv, 1869, 268; Suppl. Cat. Seals and Whales, 1871, 5 (family). Trichecina, GRAY, London's Mag. Nat. Hist., i, 1837, 538; "Zool. Erebus and Terror, 3 " (subfamily). In part only, or exclusive of Halichcerus. TricJiecUna, GRAY, Cat. Mam. Brit. Mus., pt. ii, 1850, 29; Cat. Seals and Whales, 1866, 33 (subfamily). In part only = Trichedna Gray, 1837. " Trichechidce seu Campodontia, BROOKES, Cat. Anat. and Zool. Mus. 1828, 37." Trichechoidea, GIEBEL, Fauna der Vorwelt, i, 1847, 221: Saugeth., 1855, 127 (family). Trichedna, TURNER, Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., 1848, 85, 88 (subfamily). Kosmaridce, GILL, Proc. Essex Institute, Y, 1866, 7, 11 ; Families of Mam., 1872, 27, 69, 70 ( = " TrichecMdw Brookes, Gervais").— ALLEN, Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool., ii, 1870, 21. Rosniaroidea, GILL, Fam. Mam., 1872,70 ("superfamily" = Rosmaridce Gill). Broca, LATREILLE, Fam. Reg. Anim., 1825, 51 (family). Les Morses, F. CUVIER, Dents des Mam., 1825, 233 ; Diet. Sci. Nat., lix, 1829, 465 (family). GENERAL OBSERVATIONS. Among the distinctive features of the Odobcenidce are the enormous development of the upper canines, and the consequent great enlargement of the anterior portion of the skull for their reception and support, the early loss of all the incisors except the outer pair of the upper jaw, the caducous character of the posterior molars, and the molariform lower canines. The Wal- ruses share with the Eared Seals the ability to turn the hind feet forward, and consequently have considerable power of loco- motion on land. This is further aided by a greater freedom of movement of the fore feet than is possessed by the Earless Seals. The Walruses differ from the Eared Seals by their much thicker bodies, shorter necks, and longer caudal vertebra}, the dorsal and lumbar vertebrae remaining of proportionately the same length. In consequence of their obesity, the ribs and the proximal segments of the limbs are longer in the Walruses than in the Eared Seals, while the distal segments of the limbs are relatively shorter. The scapula is long and narrow, instead of short and broad, as in the Otariidce, and its crest is placed 5 b FAMILY more anteriorly. Accordingly, in respect to general form, we have slenderness of both body and limbs in the one contrasted with great thickness of body, and distally a disproportionate reduction of the extremities in the other. The most striking differences, however, exist in the cranial characters, resulting from the great development of the upper canines in the Wal- ruses, and the consequent modifications of the facial portion of the skull. In the Otariidce, the general contour of the skull is strongly Ursine ; in the Odobcenidce, it is unique, owing to its great expansion anteriorly. In respect to other cranial features, the Walruses differ from the Eared Seals in having no post-orb- ital processes, and in the mastoid processes being not separated from the auditory bulla3. The teeth are all single-rooted, and have in the permanent dentition no distinct crowns. On comparing the Odobcenidce with the Phocidce, the differ- ences in general structure are found to be far greater than ob- tain between the Walruses and Eared Seals, especially in regard to the hind extremities; these in the Phocidce being directed backward, and useless as organs of terrestrial locomotion. Hence, in so far as the Odobcenidce and Otariidce agree in Ihnb- and skull-structure, they both similarly depart from the Phocine type. As already indicated in the synopsis of the suborder Pin- ni$cdia, the Phocidce differ far more from either the Odobcenidce and OtariidcB than do these latter from each other. This differ- ence is especially emphasized in the skull ; for while the Odo- bcenidce and Otariidce agree in all important cranial characters, aside from the special features correlated with the immense enlargement of the upper canines in the former, they widely differ from the Phocidce. This is especially seen in the absence in the latter of an alisphenoid canal, in the greatly swollen audi- tory bullae, the position of the carotid foramen, and the non- salient character of the mastoid processes. The few points in which the Walruses differ in myology from other Pinnipeds, Dr. Murie states to be "the presence of a co- raco-brachialis, a flexor brevis manus, a pronator quadratus, an opponens pollicis, and a pahnaris brevis," in the possession of which it differs both from Otaria and Phoca, but that in other respects they " muscularly present general agreement." " Com- pared with the Seals \Phoca f] there are two extra peronei and a flexor brevis hallucis." " Though deficient in concha, the auri- cular muscles are remarkably large."* * Proc. Zool. Soc. Lend., 1870, p. 545. GENERAL OBSERVATIONS. 7 " Considering the very different attitudes assumed by the Tri- checliidce and Otariidce as compared with the Pliocidcef he further adds, " it is remarkable how very little deviation follows in the muscular development. The two former, as might be antici- pated, present a general agreement, especially in the mode of implantation of the muscles of the hind leg, and in this respect recede from the Seal, yet but slightly." * In respect to the position and character of the viscera, a gen- eral agreement has beeen noted with those of the other Pinni- peds, and they present nothing that calls for special notice in the present connection. As Dr. Murie has stated, there is little appreciable difference exhibited throughout the Pinnipeds in the construction of the alimentary canal. " It is simply that of a Carnivore, with, however, a moderate-sized caecum. The great glandular superficies and correlated large lymphatics point to means of speedy and frequent digestion 5 and in the Walrus these apparatus are extraordinarily developed."! In accordance with the characters already given (p. 3), if any subdivision of the Pinnipeds into groups of higher rank than families is to be made, it seems evident that the Odobcenidw and Otariidce are to be collectively contrasted with the Phocidw; in other words, that to unite the Otariidce and Photidce as a group of co-ordinate rank with the Odobcenidce is to lose sight of the wide differences that separate the two first-named fami- lies, as well as of the many important features shared in com- mon by the Odobcenidce and Otariidce, by which both are trench- antly separated from the PJiocidce. Although the Walruses are now very generally recognized as constituting a natural family of the Pinnipeds, ranking co-ordi- nately with the Eared Seals on the one hand and with the Earless Seals on the other, the affinities of few groups have been more diversely interpreted. As early as the thirteenth century, the author of the " Speculum Kegale", — one of the earliest works re- lating to natural history, in which the Walrus is mentioned, — stated distinctly that the Walrus was an animal closely related to the Seals ; and we find that nearly all natural-history writers prior to the middle of the eighteenth century who referred to the Walruses, gave them the same association. It was the technical systematists of the last half of the eighteenth century who broke up this natural juxtaposition, and variously grouped * Trans. Zool. Soc. Lond., vol. vii, 1872, p. 459. t Trans. Zool. Soc. Lond., vol. vii, 1872, p. 461. 8 FAMILY ODOB^NID^E. them with forms with which they had no relationship. In the infancy of science, nothing was perhaps more natural than that animals should be classified in accordance with their mode of life, their habitat, or their external form, and we are hence not surprised to find that Eondelet, Gesner, Aldrovandus, Jonston, and other pre-Linnsean writers, arranged the Pinnipeds, as well as the Sirenians and Cetaceans, with the fishes, or that other early writers should term all four-footed creatures "Quadru- peds," and divide them into " Land Quadrupeds" and " Quadru- peds of the Sea." While all marine animals were by some early writers classified as " fishes,"* the Pinnipeds were much sooner disassociated from the true fishes than were the Cetaceans and Sirenians, the mammalian affinities of which were not at first recognized by even the great Linne himself, who, as late as the tenth edition of his « Systema Katurae" (1758), still left them in the class " Pisces." In view of the several excellent descriptions and very credit- able figures of the Atlantic Walrus that appeared as early as the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries (a detailed account of which will be given later), it is surprising that the early sys- tematic writers should display such complete ignorance of some of the most obvious external characters of this animal, as was notably the case with Linne, Klein, Brisson, Erxleben, and Gmelin, who strangely associated the Walrus and the Manatee as members of the same genus, and grouped them with such diverse creatures as Sloths and Elephants. Linne, it is true, in the earlier editions of the " Systema Naturae," placed the Wal- rus with the Seals in the genus Phoca, in his order Ferae, — a near hit at their true affinities. Later, however, following probably Klein and Brisson, he fell into the grave error of removing them to nearly the most unnatural association possible. In this con- nection, it may prove not uninteresting to sketch, in brief out- line, the strange history of the classification of this singular group of fin-footed Carnivores. As already stated, Linne's first allocation of the group was the natural one. Brisson,t in 1756, led in the long role of error by forming his third " order " of mammals of the Elephant, the *Most modern languages still retain relics of this ancient custom, as evinced, for example, in such English words as shell-fish, cmy-fish, wliale- fishery, seal-fishery, etc., while hvalfish (Swedish), ivalvisch (Danish), wallfisch (German), etc., are common vernacular names applied to Cetaceans. tRegne Animal, 1756, p. 48. GENERAL OBSERVATIONS. 9 Walrus, and the Manatee, the two last named constituting his " genus Odobenus." This was a marked retrocession from even the system of Klein,* of a few years' earlier date, who brought • together as one family the Seals, Otters, Beaver, Walrus, and Manatee. Linne, in 17G6,t not only removed the Walrus from the genus Phoca, in which he had previously placed it, to Tri- chechus, but also transferred it from his order Ferae to Bruta, which thus contained not only the Walrus, but such a diverse assemblage as Elephants, Sloths, and Anteaters. Linne's genus Trichechus, as at this time constituted, was equivalent to Bris-* son's genus " Odobenm? Erxleben,f who recognized no higher groups than genera, placed the Walruses and Seals together im- mediately after the Carnivores. Schreber,§ at about the same date (1777), adopted a similar classification, the Walrus stand- ing next after the Elephant and preceding the Seals. Schre- ber's genus Trichechus contained also the Dugong and the Manatee. Gmelin,|| in 1788, folio wed the LinnaBan arrangement of 1766; the Walrus, as usual from the time of Brisson to Gmelin, standing next to the Elephant, and associated generic- ally with the Sirenians. Blumenbach,1] from 1788 till as late even as 1825, still arranged the Walrus and the Sirenians in the genus Triclieclius. In other respects, the Walrus appears with new associates, the genus Trichechus being united with Ornitliorliynclius to form a " family" (!) of his "order" Palmata. The order Palmata, as the name implies, was composed of the web-f opted mammals, and divided into three "families," namely, "A. Glires" (consisting of the genus Castor)-, UB. Ferce" (Phoca and jkwtra); and "C. Bruta" (Ornitliorliynclius and Trichechus). This is essentially also the arrangement proposed by Klein in 1751. The first step toward Dismembering the unnatural conglo- meration known previously under the names Trichechus and Odobenus was made by Betzius** in 1794, who divided the genus Trichechus of former authors into three genera, namely, Manatus, for the Manatee; tfydromalis, for Steller's Sea-Cow <= Bhytina Illiger, 1811); and Trichechus, the last embrac- * Quad: Disp. Brev. Hist. Nat., 1751, pp. 40, 92. t Syst. Nat., ed. 12, 1766, p. 49. JtfJyst. Reg. Anim., 1777, p. 593. $ Siitigetli., ii, [1776?], p. 260. || Syst. Nnt.,i, 59. HHaiuVb. <1. Nuturgescli., 1788, p. 142, and later editions. **Kongl. Vetensk. Acad. iiya Handling., xv, 1794, pp. 286-300. 10 FAMILY ODOB^ENID^E. ing both the Walrus and the Dugong. While this was in the main a most important and progressive innovation, Eet- zius seems to have labored, like several still earlier writers, under the impression that the Walrus, like the Dugong, had no hind feet. Ozeretskovsky,* about a year later, and probably ignorant of Eetzius's paper, also placed, as curiously happened, the Walrus and the Dugong together in the genus Trichechus, because he supposed the Dugong had hind feet, like the Walrus ! These curious antithetical mistakes indicate how little was known by systematic writers about the structure of these ani- mals as late as the close of the last century. The elder Cuvier, f in 1798, while retaining the Walrus and the Sirenians in the genus Trichechus, separated them from some of their former unnatural entanglements by again associating Tri- chechus and Phoca in his group "Mainmiferes Amphibies," which he placed between the "Solipedes" and "Maminiferes C6taces." He divided this group into "I. Les Phoques (Phoea)" and "II. Les Morses (Trichecus, L.)"; the latter including "1. Trichecus rosmarus"; "2. Trichecus dugong"', "3. Trichecus manatus." As already shown, Eetzius nearly disentangled the Walrus from the Sirenians, leaving of the latter only the Dugong in. the genus Trichechus. G. Fischer, J in 1803, completed the sep- aration by removing the Dugong and the Manatee, to which lie gave the generic names respectively of Platystomus (=Halicore, Hliger, 1811) and Oxystomus ( = Manatus, Eetzius, 1794), leaving only the Walrus in Trichechus. The genus Trichechus, however, as first instituted by Artedi (1738) and Linne (1758), as will be shown later, did not relate in any way to the Walrus, being applied exclusively to the Manatee. It was not till 1766 that the term was first made to cover both the then known Sirenians and the Walrus, although the embroilment of the two groups began with Brisson, ten years earlier. The Pinnipeds and Sirenians, collectively considered, were first separated as distinct groups by Illiger § in 1811, who raised them to the rank of orders, they forming respectively his orders Pinnipedia and NatanUa. The former consisted of two genera,. Phoca, embracing all the Seals, and Trichechus, containing only the Walruses. They were regarded as forming a single family, * Nova Act. Acad. Petrop., xiii, 1796, pp. 371-375. t Tabl. Eminent., p. 172. t Das National-Museum der Naturgeschichte, ii, 1803, pp. 344-358. § Prodromus Systematis Mammalium et Avium, 1811, pp. 138, 139 j Abliandl der Akad. Wissensch. zu Berlin, 1804-1811, (1815), pp. 39-159, passim. GENERAL OBSERVATIONS. 11 equivalent in extent with the order Pinnipedia. The propriety of the changes introduced by Uliger was not speedily recognized by contemporary writers ; Cuvier, and many subsequent syste- matists for half a century, placing the Pinnipeds among the Carnivora and the Sirenians among the Cetacea, with the rank respectively of families, the family PJwcidce embracing all the Pinnipeds. Dr. J. E. Gray, in 1821,* and again in 1825,t widely separated the Walruses from the Seals as a family, Trichechidce, which he most strangely placed (together with the Sirenians) in the order Cete. Later, however, in 1837, | he reunited the Wal- ruses and the Seals into the single family Phocidce, which he divided into five subfamilies, Trichechina being the third and central group, and embracing the genera Halichcerus and Triche- elms. This highly artificial classification he retained till 1866, when, following other systematists, he again raised the Wal- ruses to the rank of a distinct family. Latreille, § in 1825, not only treated the Pinnipeds as an order (Amphibia), but separated the Walruses from the others as a distinct family (Broca), the Seals forming his family Cyno- morplia. In 1829, P. Cuvier|| divided the Pinnipeds into the Seals proper ( " les Phoques proprement dits"), and theWalruses ("les Morses") . Brookes, fl in 1828, again recognized the Walruses as forming a family (u Trichechidce seu Campodontia") distinct from the other Pinnipeds. Wagler,** in 1830, made the Walruses merely a genus of his order Ursi. Nilsson, ft in 1837, divided the Pin- nipeds into two sections, the second of which embraced not only Triehechus, but also Halichcerus, Cystopliora, and Otaria. Tur- ner, || in 1848, from a study of the skulls, separated the Pinni- peds into three natural groups, considered by him to hold the rank of subfamilies, namely: ArctocepJialina, embracing Otaria and Arctoceplialus ; Tricliecina, consisting of the genus "Triche- cus " $ and Photina, embracing all the other Seals. Gill, §§ in 1866, * "London Med. Repos., 1821, p. 302," apud Gray. t Annals of Pnilosophy, 2d ser., vol. x, 1825, p. 340. i London's Mag. Nat. Hist., vol. i, p. 583. § Fam. Reg. Anim., p. 51. || Diet. Sci. Nat., t. lix, p. 367. 1[ " Cat. of his Anatom. and Zool. Mus., p. 36," apud auct. **Natnrl. Syst. Amph., p. 27. tt Vetensk. Akacl. Haiidl., 1837, 235; Wiegmann's Arch. f. Naturg., 1841,. p. 306(transl.). ttProc, Zool. Soc. Lond., 1848, pp. 85, 88. §$ Proc. Essex Institute, vol. v, p. 7. 12 GENERA OF THE FAMILY. was the next author who recognized the Walruses as forming a distinct family, which he termed Rosmaridcc. In this step, he was immediately followed by Gray,* and by the present writer t in 1870. Lilljeborg, J in 1874, also accorded them family rank, as has been the custom of late with various other writers. Gill, § in 1872, raised them to the rank of a " superfamily " (Rosma- roidea), treating them as a group co-ordinate in rank with his " Phocoidea," consisting of the Phocidce and Otariidce. Their final resting-place in the natural system has now prob- ably been at last reached, the majority of modern systematists agreeing in according to them the position and rank of a family of the Pinnipedia. To Illiger seems due the credit of first dis- tinctly recognizing the real affinities of both the Pinnipeds and Sirenians to other mammals, and with him originated the names by which these groups are now commonly recognized, the chief modification of Uliger's arrangement being the reduction of the Pinnipedia from a distinct order to the rank of a suborder of the Ferce. GENERA. The family Odobcenidce (Tricliechidce Gray and Brookes = maridce Gill) includes, so far as at present known, only the existing genus Odobcenm (= TrichecJms of many authors, not of Artedi nor of Linne") and the two extinct genera Tricliechodon and Alactkerium, recently described from fossil remains found in Belgium. A lacfherlum, \ \ while evidently referable to the (Mo- bcenidcej differs quite strikingly from the existing Walruses. The parts known are the left ramus of the lower jaw, the greater portion of the cranium (the facial portion and teeth only want- ing), several cervical vertebra?, a portion of the pelvis, and vari- ous bones of the extremities. The rami of the lower jaw are not anchylosed as in the Walrus, and the dentition is quite dif- ferent from that of Odobcenus, that of the lower jaw being I. 2, C. 1, M. 4. The symphysis occupies nearly half of the length of the jaw. Van Beneden describes the skull as resembling in some characters the skull of the Otaries, and in others those of the Morses. The molar teeth he says could not be easily distin- guished from those of the Morse if they were found isolated. No * Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist., 3d ser., vol. xviii, 1866, p. 229. tBull. Mus. Comp. Zool., vol. ii, p. 21. t Fauna ofer Sveriges och Norges Ryggr., p. 674. § Arrangement of Families of Mammals, 1872, p. 69. || Van Beneden, Ann. Mus. d'Hist. Nat. de Belgique, i, 1877, p. 50. GENERAL OBSERVATIONS. 13 canines were found at Anvers, but Yan Beneden is strongly of the opinion that the teeth described by Bay Lankester,* from the Eed Crag of England, in 1865, and named Trichechodon hux- leyij are those of his Alactherium cretsii. The other bones re- ferred to Alactherium bear a general resemblance to the corre- sponding bones of the existing Walrus, but indicate an 'animal of much larger size. The femur and some of the other bones bear also a resemblance to corresponding parts of the Otaries. A cast of the cerebral cavity shows that the brain was not much unlike that of the existing Walruses and Otaries, but with the cerebel- lum smaller. Alactherium thus proves to have been a Pinniped of great size, closely related in general features to the Walruses of to-day, but presenting features also characterizing the Eared Seals as well as others common to no other Pinniped. The genus Trichechodon of Yan Beneden (probably not •= Trichechodon, Lankester, 1865) is much less well known, the only portion of the skull referred to it being part of a right ramus. The other bones believed to represent it are nine vertebrae, part of a pel- vis, a humerus, a femur, several metatarsal, inetacarpal, and phalangeal bones, etc., and part of a tusk. Says Yan Beneden : " Une branche de maxillaire est tout ce que nous possedons de la tete. Les dents manquent, mais le bord est assez complet pour qu'on puisse bien juger de leurs caracteres par les alveoles. ISTous pouvons, du reste, fort bien aussi apprecier la forme de cet os, distinguer sa symphyse et sa brievete. " L'os est bris6 a son extremite anterieure, la symphyse est fort courte et Pos n'a pas plus d^paisseur sur la ligne m^diane que sur le cote. Les alveoles sont comparativement fort grandes : les trois dernieres sont a peu pre semblables, Pante'rieure est la plus petite. C'est Pinverse dans le Morse. La canine devait 6tre fort grande. II n'y a qu'une seule* alveole pour une dent inci- sive. " Le corps du maxillaire est remarquable pour sa courbure. Toutelapartie posterieure qui constitue la Iranche du maxillaire manque. On voit sur la face externe trois trous inentonniers. " En comparant ce maxillaire a celui du Morse vivant, on voit que la symphyse est toute differente, qu'il existe une grande alveole pour la dent canine' et des traces d'une petite alveole pour une incisive qui restait probablement cached sous les gen- cives. Dans le Morse vivant, il n'y a pas de place pour une canine [grande] au maxillaire inferieur." * Sec beyond, p. 62. 14 THE GENUS ODOBJENUS. The otner bones are described as more or less resembling those of the Walrus, and do not much exceed them in size. Some of them are also said to closely resemble corresponding- parts of Alactlierium. Tan Beneden's descriptions and figures of the lower jaw fragment indicate features widely different from those of the corresponding part in the Walrus, especially in the shortness of the symphysis and in the curvature of the part represented, but above all in the number, relative size, and form of the alveoli, and particularly in the large size of that of the canine, which must have been almost as highly specialized as in the Sea Lions. That the tusks referred to it by Yan Beneden (those described by Lankester especially, as well as the fragment he himself fig- ures) belong here, there seems to be at least room for reason- able doubt.* The differences presented by the jaw fragment of Trichecliodon as compared with the corresponding part of Alaciherium are even still more marked. The more obvious characters distinctive of the three genera of the OdobcenidcZ) as at present known, may be briefly indicated as follows : Synopsis of the General 1. ODOB^NUS. — Kami of lower jaw firmly anchylosed, even m early life; symphysis short. Incisors (in adult) 0; canines 1 — 1 ; molars 3 — 3, the last much smaller than the others. 2. ALACTHERIUM. — Kami of lower j aw not anchylosed ; symphysis very long. Incisors (in adult) 2 — 2; canines 1 — 1; molars 4 — 4, the last smaller than the preceding ones. 3. "TRICHECHODON" (Van Beneden). — Band of lower jaw (apparently) unanchylosed. Incisors 1 — 1?, very small; canines 1 — 1, highly spe- cialized; molars 4 — 4, the first small, the last three much larger and subequal. GENUS ODOB^STUS, lAnne. Odolenus, LINNE, Syst. Nat., i. 1735 (ed. Fe'e), 59 (applied exclusively to the "Walrus in a generic sense). — BRISSON, Regne Anim., 1756, 48 (used strictly in a generic sense, but embracing "1. La Vache marine — 0 Cat. Bones Mam. Brit. Mus., 1862, 145. — NEWTON, Proc. Zool. Soc. \ Lond., 1864, 499. — SCLATER & BARTLETT, Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., 1887, 818, 819.— VONMIDDENDORFF, Sibirische Reise, iv, 1837, 934 (in part only).— BROWN, Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., 1868, 335, 427 (habits and distribution) ; Man. Nat. Hist. Greenland, 1875, 35. — MUEIE, Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., 1868, 67 (report on cause of death of speci- men in Zool. Gard., Loud.); 1870, 581; Trans. Zool. Soc. Lond., vii, pt. vi, 1871, 411, pis. li-lv (anatomy). — GILPIN, Proc. and Trans. Nova Scotia lust. Nat. Sci., ii, pt. 3, 1870, 123 (with a plate).— REEK*, Z<:61- 26 ODOB^ENUS ROSMARUS ATLANTIC WALRUS. ogist, 1871, 2550 (St. George's Bay, Newfoundland). — HEUGLIN, Rei- sennacli demNordpolarineer, iii, 1874, 43 (habits and distribution). — DEFRANCE, Bull. Soc. G6ol., 3e s6r., ii, 1874, 164 (fossil, France).— GULLIVER, Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., 1874, 580 (size of blood-corpus- cles).— FEILDEN, Zoologist, 3d ser., i, 1877, 360 (distribution and food). — VAN BENEDEN, Ann. Mus. Roy. d'Hist. Nat. Belgique, i, 1877, 39 (distribution, general habits, and fossil remains). — RINK, Danish Greenland, its People and its Products, 1877, 126. Tricheclms longidens, FREMERY, Bijdrag tot deNatuurk. Wetensch., vi, 1831, 384. Tricheolius virginianus, DsKAY, Nat. Hist. New York, Zool., i, 1842, 56, pi. xix, figs. 1, a, 1) (fossil, Accomac Co., Va.). f Tricliechus duUus, STANJKIUS, Mutter's Arch, fiir Anat., 1842, 407 (without locality). Rosmarus arcticus, LILLJEBORG, Fauna ofvers Sveriges och Norges Ryggr., 1874, 674. Rosmarm trichechus, LAMONT, Seasons with the Sea-horses, 1861, 141, 167 (two plates). — GILL, Johnson's New Univ. Cyclop., iii, 1877, 633. Rosmarus obesus, GILL, Proc. Essex Inst., v, 1866, 13 (in part only); Interna- tional Exhib. 1876, Anim. Resources U. S., No. 2, 1876, 4 (Atlantic Walrus; no deseription) ; Johnson's New Univ. Cycl., iii, 1877, 1725.— PACKARD, Proc. Bost. Soc. Nat. Hist., x, 1866, 271; Mem. Bost. Soc. Nat. Hist., i, 1867, 246 (fossil).— LEIDY, Journ. Acacl. Nat. Sci. Phila., viii, 1877, 214, pi. xxx, fig. 6 (fossil, South Carolina). Odobenotlierium lartetianum, GRATIOLET, Bull. Soc. G6ol. de France, 2e se*r., xv, 1858, 624, pi. v (fossil, near Paris, France). Odontobcenus rosmarus, SUNDEVALL, Ofver. K. Vet. Akad. Forh., 1859,441; Zeitsch. Gesammt. Naturw. Halle, xv, 1860, 270. Odobcenus rosmarus, MALMGREN, Ofver. K. Vet. Akad. Forh. 1863, (1864), 130 (food and habits), 505, pi. vii (dentition) ; Wiegmann's Archiv f. Naturgeschichte, 1864, 67 (translated from Ofvers. K. Vet. Akad. Forh., 1863, 130 et seq.).— PETERS, Monatsb. Akad. Wiss. Berlin, 1864, 685, pi. (dentition) ; Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist., (3), xv, 1865, 355 (abstract). — RINK, Danish Greenland, 1877, 430. f Trichecodon Imxleyi, LANKESTER, Quarter. Journ. Geol. Soc. Lond., xxi, 1865, 226, pis. x, xi (fossil; Red Crag, England). f Tricheclius manatm, FABRICIUS> Fauna Grcenl., not Rliytina gigas; see BROWN, Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., 1868, 357, 358. fPliocaursina, FABRICIUS, Fauna Grcenl., not Callorhinus ursinus ; see BROWN, Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., 1868, 357, 348. Morse; Vache marine; Cheval marine ; Bete a la grande dent (French). Bos marinus, RUYSCH, 1. c. Hvalross (Swedish and Danish). Havhest; Hvalruus (Norwegian). Morsk (Lapp). Wallross; Meerpferd (German). Walrus; Sea Cow; Sea Horse (English). EXTERNAL CHARACTERS. — As regards general form, the head, in comparison with the size of the body, is rather small, squar- EXTERNAL CHARACTERS. 27 ish in outline, but much longer than broad, with the muzzle abruptly truncated and somewhat bilobed by the depression surrounding the nasal opening. The lower jaw is pointed and narrow anteriorly. The upper* lip is heavily armed with thick, strong, pellucid bristles. The nostrils are somewhat crescentic in shape, placed vertically, with the upper part more expanded than the lower, and hence bear some resemblance to two com- 1 mas placed with their convex surfaces toward each other. The eyes are situated rather high up, about midway between the muzzle and the occiput. The ear is wholly destitute of a pinna, forming merely an orifice on the side of the head in a deep fold of the skin. The most prominent facial character in the adults is, of course, the long protruding upper canines, which extend 12 to 15 or more inches beyond the rictus. The neck is short, being only about as long as the head ; it gradually thickens toward the body, into which it insensibly merges. The body is exceedingly thick and heavy, presenting everywhere a rounded outline, and attaining its greatest circumference at the shoulders, whence it gradually tapers posteriorly. The tail is scarcely, if at all, visible, being enclosed within the teguments of the body. The fore limbs are free only from the elbow ; as in the Pinnipeds generally, they are greatly expanded, flat, and somewhat fin- like, but with much more freedom of motion than is the case i» the Phocidce. They are armed with five small flat nails, placed at considerable distance from the end of the cartilaginous toe- flap. The first or inner digit is slightly the longest, the others being each successively a little shorter till the fifth, which nearly equals the first. The hind limb is enclosed within the tegu- ments of the body nearly to the heel ; the free portion whent expanded is fan-shaped, but when closed the sides are nearly parallel. The first and fifth digits are considerably longer and larger than the middle ones, the fifth being also rather larger than the first. They are all provided with small nails, placed at some distance from the end of the toe-flap. The soles of both fore and hind extremities are bare, rough, and " warty," and the dorsal surface of the digits as far as the proximal phalanges is also devoid of hair. In the young and middle-aged, the body is rather thickly covered with short hair, which, however, is thinner and shorter on the ventral surface of the neck and body and on the limbs than elsewhere. It is everywhere of a yellow- ish-brown color, except on the belly and at the base of the flip- pers, Avhere it passes into dark reddish-brown or chestnut. The 28 ODOB^ENUS ROSMARUS ATLANTIC WALRUS. bristles are pale yellow or light yellowish horn-color. In old animals, the hair becomes more scanty, and often gives place to nearly bare scarred patches, frequently of considerable area. Yery old individuals sometimes become almost naked, present- ing the same appearance that has been so often observed among very old males of the Alaskan Walrus. The skin is everywhere more or less wrinkled and thrown into folds, especially over the shoulders, where the folds are deep and heavy. The average length of four adult males examined is about 10 J feet, varying from 9J to 11 feet. Authors, however, commonly give rather larger dimensions, and a length of twelve feet is said to be not infrequently attained. The largest bristles vary in length from 2.25 to 2.75 inches. From Dr. Murie's paper on the general anatomy of a young individual I add a few further details. Dr. Murie describes the muzzle as capable of great mobility, and the niystacial bristles as curving in different directions according to the muscular tension of the parts to which they are attached. " When the nostrils are relaxed they drop forwards and the bristles inwards. At such times the nares are apart fully 1 £ inch ; but when they are con- tracted a septum 0.6 of an inch wide only divides them. Occa- sionally, when alive, I observed the animal retract its upper lip, as a dog would in snarling ; and this caused a deep furrow in the facial region. This change in the features gives quite a different expression to the physiognomy When seen in front and from above, the face has a most curious expression, recalling to mind that of the cranium of an Elephant rather than the Walrus's ally Otaria. The auricular region then acquires a prominent aspect, as do the orbits. The great breadth of the muzzle also comes out better. The face is entirely hairy to the roots of the bristles On the lower surface of the muzzle and chin, the upper lip passes one inch beyond the lower lip, and the snout, with its adpressed bristles, one or two inches beyond that. A portion of the upper rosy lip, in this view, is seen thrust upwards or puckered outside the canines. These upper canine teeth, which grow to massive tusks in the adult and aged Wal- ruses, in ours had little more than protruded beyond the mandib- ular lips. The chin and anterior portion of the throat are very hairy; this diminishes backwards ; and on the throat the almost hairless skin is thrown into longitudinal and parallel narrowish flat-topped rugae."* * Trans. Zool. Soc. Loud., 1872, vol. vii, p. 419. EXTERNAL CHARACTERS. 29 Iii respect to the mystacial bristles. Dr. Murie's figures of the head and muzzle of the young specimen described by him (drawn from photographs, some from the living animal) rep- resent them as quite long, the longest being said to be from 4 to 5 inches in length, and those of the sides of the muzzle as curv- ing inward and nearly meeting beneath the chin. Lamont also speaks of them as being in the adult 6 inches in length. Ham- ilton describes the Orkney specimen as having the largest nearly 5 inches in length, " and as thick as a Thrush's quill." Dr. Kane says : " The cheeks and lips are completely masked by the heavy quill-like bristles.'7 The authors of the history of the Swedish expedition to Spitsbergen and Bear Island in 1861 state that they are 4 inches long and nearly a line thick.* In the four or five adult male specimens I have had the opportu- nity of examining, the exserted portions of the longest bristles were less than 3 inches in length, and when extracted measured scarcely more than 4J, the shortest being mere points projecting through the skin. From Dr. Murie's figures and description of the young, and from other accounts, it would seem that the bristles become shorter in adult life, being perhaps worn off by constant friction. The bristles in the specimens I have seen bore no resemblance to the long curving bristles figured and described by Dr. Murie as existing in the young animal. They were considerably (one-third) longer, however, in the youngest of four specimens in Professor Ward's collection than in the oldest, giving support to the opinion already stated that they become shorter as the animal advances in age.t As already noted, the fore feet are formed much as in other Pinnipeds, more nearly agreeing, however, with those of the Otariidce than with those of the Phocidce, especially with respect to freedom of movement, having the power of pronation and supination to a considerable degree. " In the Walrus," says Dr. Murie, " the humerus, radius, and ulna can be so placed that they meet at an acute angle, the lower limb of which is in a great measure free. The digits, on the other hand, can together be turned backwards at a sharp angle with the radius and ulna, so that the bones of the limbs altogether form an S -shaped figure. In the^ Seal the antibrachiuin and digits bend on each * See Passarge's German translation, p. 132. tin Pallas' s figure (in Ms "Icones") of a young example of the Pacific Wal- rus, the mystacial bristles are represented as very long, as in the young of the Atlantic species. 30 ODOB^NUS KOSMARUS ATLANTIC WALRUS. other more angularly, thus < In the act of swimming the Walrus evidently can use its fore limb as far as the elbow, with a kind of rotary movement of the manus and antibrachium ; but in the Seal the rotary action takes place only at the wrist, and above that a sort of ginglyrnoid or back and forward move- ment." "The palmar surface or sole of the manus is not unlike a par- lor shovel in figure. There is a great callous, roughened and warty pad at the proximal end or ball of the hand ; and this, from discoloration incident to use, is of an intense dark brown or almost black colour. From the radial margin, where it is stoutest and roughest, it trends towards the base of the fifth digit. Circumscribed digital pads, as in Carnivora, there are none 5 but furrows and ridges traverse obliquely forwards the policial to the opposite side." This " remarkable rough and warty palmar surface," continues Dr. Murie, " affords above everything a stay and firm leverage on slippery ground ; no stocking or wisp of straw used by man to bind round the foot when on smooth ice can equal nature's provision of coarse tegu- mentary papilla." Also, "The angle at which the carpo-ineta- carpal joint is set, and the very odd manner of foot-implanta- tion on the ground, namely, semiretroverted, evidently make it an easier task to go forwards or upwards on a smooth surface than to retrograde."* The hind foot (pes) is similarly rough- ened and furrowed. The notion advanced by Sir Everard Home,t that the feet of the Walrus were provided with suc- torial power, like that of the disk of a fly's foot, by which they were enabled to maintain firm footing on smooth ice and rocks, Dr. Murie considers untenable. No one who has ever seen a Walrus walk, says Dr. Murie, could for a moment suppose that its massive weight was sustained by a pedal vacuum, as in a fly's foot. As regards the proportionate size of the limbs, the fore limbsr in an animal 8 to 10 feet long, are stated by Edwards,f to meas- ure from the " shoulder joint to the finger ends, two feet ; expan- sion, one foot 5 the hind limbs measuring twenty -two inches, and extending, when outstretched, eighteen inches beyond the body, with an expansion of two feet." Scoresby says the fore feet are "from two to two and a half feet in length, and being expansive * Trans. Zool. Soc. Lond., vol. vii, 1872, pp. 420, 421. tPhil. Trans., 1824, pp. 233-235, pi. iv. JMSS. as quoted by Richardson, Suppl. Parry's Sec. Voy., p. 340. EXTERNAL CHARACTERS. 31 may be stretched to the breadth of fifteen to eighteen inches." The hind feet, he says, have a length of " about two to two and a half feet," the breadth, when fully extended being "two and a half to three feet."* Dr. Gilpint gives about the same dimensions for a specimen 12 feet long, namely, fore-flippers, length 2 feet 5 breadth 13 inches ; hind flippers, length 22 inches, breadth (when stretched) 2 feet 6 inches. Dr. Murie gives for a specimen about 7f feet long: from shoulder-joint to extreme end of first digit, 23£ inches ; extreme length from os calcis to tip of fifth digit, 17 £ inches 5 extreme breadth, when forcibly distended, 13 inches. My own measurements, taken from three unmounted skins of adult males preserved in salt in the collection of Prof. Henry A. Ward of Eochester, are as follows : manus, from carpal joint to end of digits, 14 to 15 niches 5 transverse diameter at base, 9 J to 10 inches $ pes, from tarsal joint to end of longest digit, 15 to 18 inches ; transverse diameter at tarsus, about 7 inches. The rigidity of the feet did not permit of ready expansibn. In respect to the tail, Dr. Murie says : " Strictly speaking, the Walrus possesses no free tail, as do the Phocidce and Ota- riidce; for a broad web of skin stretches across from os calcis to os calcis, enveloping the caudal representative. This remarka- ble elastic membrano-tegumentary expansion, reminding one of the more delicate web similarly situated in Bats, has posteri- orly, when the legs are outspread, a wide semilunar border with little if any medio-caudal projection. What appears as a tail when the limbs are approximated is in reality fibroid tissue and skin 5 for the caudal vertebrae stop short about an inch from the free margin." f The number of mammae is stated by various writers to be four. According to Edwards (as quoted by Richardson §), these are placed, in the adult, 15 inches apart, in the corners of a quadrangle having the umbilicus in the centre. Owen and Murie give them as " two abdominal and two inguinal." In respect to general size, authors vary greatly in their state- ments, the length ranging for adults from about 10 to 12 and even 15 or 16 feet, while the weight given ranges from 1,500 to 5,000 pounds ! Among what may be termed recent writers, Parry * Account of Arctic Regions, vol. i, p. 503. tProc. and Trans. Nova Scotia Inst. Nat. Sci., vol. ii, pt. 3, p. 123. t Trans. Zool. Soc. Lond., vol. vii, p. 425. § Snppl. to Parry's Sec. Voyage, p. 340. 32 ODOB^ENUS ROSMARUS — ATLANTIC WALRUS. gives the weight of a " moderate-sized female," but evidently from his account quite young, as 1,550 pounds. Scoresby says : " The Walrus is found on the shores of Spitzbergen twelve to fifteen feet in length and eight to ten in circumference."* Dr. Gilpin gives the weight of a full-grown male as 2,250, while La- mont says a full-grown old male will weigh at least 3,000 pounds.t Aside from Dr. Murie's measurements of a young spe- cimen, I have met with no detailed measurements of the Atlan- tic Walrus, except those given by Dr. Gilpin,J which are as fol- lows: Ft. In. Extreme length 12 3 Length of head 1 5 Breadth of muzzle 1 0 Distance from nose to eye 0 8 Distance between eyes : 0 9£ Extension of tusk beyond the mouth 1 0 Distance of tusks apart at base 0 4 Distance of tusks apart at tips 0 11 Length of fore-flipper 2 0 Breadth of fore-flipper 1 1 Length of hind-flipper 1 10 Breadth of hind-flipper, distended 2 6 Thickness of skin 0 1 Thickness of blubber 0 li Weight said to be 22 cwt. Fleming § gives the length of the Walrus as 15 feet, with a circumference at the shoulders of 10 feet 5 and the length of the tusks as 20 inches. Hamilton || says an individual killed in Ork- ney, in 1825, which he saw, " was about ten feet in length," with the head 13J inches in length. From the size of the tusks (ex- serted 8J inches) it appears to have been far from fully grown. Daubenton gives the length of the specimen he described as 1LJ feet, with a circumference at the shoulders of 8 feet. Lamont * Account of the Arct. Reg., vol. i, p. 502. tMr. Lamont, in his " Seasons with* the Sea-horses" (p. — ), gives the weight of an old male as 3,000 pounds, but in his " Yachting in the Arctic Seas" (p. 89), he says, "A full-sized old bull Walrus must weigh at least 5,000 Ibs., and such a Walrus, if very fat, will produce 650 Ibs. of blubber, but seldom more than 500 Ibs., which is I think the average amount yielded by the most obese of our victims." He speaks, however, in another place (p. 183), of one that "yielded between 700 and 800 pounds of fat." The weight of the entire animal, as last estimated by Mr. Lamont, is prob- ably much too great. t Proc. & Trans. Nova Scotia Inst. Nat. Sci., vol. ii, pt. 3, pp. 123, 124. $ Hist. Brit. Mam., 1828, p. 18. |] British Quad., p. 223. EXTERNAL CHARACTERS. 33 speaks of having got one day "a very large and fat cow,7' the length of which he gives as 11 feet 5 inches.* My own measure- ments of three adult males from unstuffed (salted) skins are as follows : (1) length (from nose to tail), 10 feet 5 inches $ (2) 9 feet G inches ; (3) 10 feet 10 inches ; (4) 8 feet 5 inches. The first three were fully adult, while one of them, to judge from its broken, worn tusks and partly naked, scarred skin, was very old; the other was not more than two-thirds grown. These may all have been specimens of less than the average size. Adding, however, 15 to 18 inches for the length of the hind limb (not here included), would give a length of about 12 feet for the larger individuals.! Most of the old writers were content with stating it to be as large as an ox and as thick as a hogshead. The accounts of the color are also discrepant ; Fabricius's statement that the color varies with age, the young being black, then dusky, later paler, and finally in old age white, having been quoted by most sub- sequent compilers. Writers who have given the color from actual observation have never, however, confirmed Fabricius's account, they usually describing the color of the hair as " yel- lowish-brown," " yellowish-gray/7 " tawny," " very light yellow- ish-gray," etc., some of whom explicitly state that after extended observations they have never met with the changes of color with age noted by Fabricius. Thus, Mr. Eobert Brown says that although he has seen Walruses of all stages, from birth until nearly mature age, he never saw any of a black color, all being of u the ordinary brown color, though, like most animals, they get lighter as they grow old."f Scoresby says that the skin of the Walrus is covered " with a short yellowish-brown colored hair."§ Dr. Gilpin states that his Labrador specimen was thinly cov- ered with " adpressed light yellowish-green hair," about an inch in length. He adds that the surface of the whole skin was * Yachting m the Arctic Seas, p. 77. 1 1 find it to be a nearly universal custom with writers (especially with non-scientific writers), in giving the length of Pinnipeds to measure from the point of the nose to the end of the outstretched hind flippers, so that "length" must generally be understood as the total length from "point to point," and not merely that of the head and body. Taking, for example, Dr. Gilpiii's specimen, and deducting the length of the hind nipper from the "extreme length," would leave 10 feet 5 inches. t Proc. Zool. Soc. Loud., 1868, p. 428. § Account of the Arctic Regions, vol. i, p. 503. Misc. Pub. No. 12 3 34 ODOB.ENUS ROSMARUS — ATLANTIC WALRUS. covered by " scars and bald warty patches," and that the skin itself was thrown into " welts and folds " on the neck and shoul- ders. Mr. Brown further says that " the very circumstantial account of the number of mystacial bristles given in some accounts is most erroneous ; they vary in the number of rows and in the number in each row in almost every specimen. They are ele- vated on a minute tubercle, and the spaces between these bris- tles are covered with downy whitish hairs."* Many other writers also note the scars and warty patches and partial absence of hair referred to above by Dr. Gilpin. Mr. Brown, in speaking of those he met with in Davis Straits, says: " I have seen an old Walrus quite spotted with leprous-looking marks consisting of irregular tubercular-looking white carti- laginous hairless blotches ; they appeared to be the cicatrices of wounds inflicted at different times by ice, the claws of the Polar Bear, or met with in the wear and tear of the rough-and- tumble life a Sea-horse must lead in ST. lat. 74°."* Mr. Lamont further adds that in the Spitzbergen seas the "old bulls are always very light-colored, from being nearly devoid of hair; their skins are rough and rugose, like that of a Rhinoceros, and they are generally quite covered with scars and wounds, inflicted by harpoons, lances, and bullets which they have escaped from, as well as by the tusks of one another in fights among themselves."! From these reports, especially that of Mr. Brown, Dr. Miinef has inferred that the Walrus is subject to skin diseases, and that the " glandular spots " thus produced are mistaken " for healed cutaneous wounds.'' However this may be, it is pretty well established that many of these marks are really scars of wounds. Respecting other external characters, especially the tusks, and their variations with age, sex, and accidental causes, I transcribe the following from Mr. Lament's entertaining book, which will be found so freely quoted in subsequent pages: " Old bulls," he observes, " very frequently have one or both of their tusks broken, which may arise from using them to assist in clambering up the ice and rocks The calf has no tusks the first year, but the second year, when he has attained to about the size of a large Seal, he has a pair about as large as *Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., 1868, p. 428. t Seasons with the Sea-horses, p. 137. t Trans. Zool. Soc. Lond., vol. vii, 1872, p. 422. EXTERNAL CHARACTERS. 35 the canine teeth of a lion ; the third year they are about six inches long. " Tusks vary very much in size and shape according to the age and sex of the animal. A good pair of bull's tusks may be stated as twenty -four inches long,* and four pounds apiece in weight ; but we obtained several pairs above these dimensions, and in particular one pair, which measured thirty-one inches in length when taken out of the head, and weighed eight pounds each. Such a pair of tusks, however, is extremely rare, and I never, to the best of my belief, saw a pair nearly equal to them among more than one thousand Walruses, although we took the utmost pains to secure the best, and always inspected the tusks care- fully with a glass before we fired a shot or threw a harpoon. " Cows' tusks will average fiilly as long as bulls7, from being less liable to be broken, but they are seldom more than twenty inches long and three pounds each in weight. They are generally set much closer together than the bull's tusks, sometimes overlap- ping one another at the points, as in the case with the stuffed specimen at the British Museum. The tusks of old bulls, on the contrary, generally diverge from one another, being sometimes as much as fifteen inches apart at the points." t Mr. Brown observes : " The whalers declare that the female Walrus is without tusks ; I have certainly seen females without them, but, again, others with both well developed. In this re- spect it may be similar to the female Narwhal, which has occa- sionly no i horn 7 developed." J Captain Parry states that Captain Lyon obtained the head of a small Walrus, remarkable on account of its having three tusks, all very short, but two of them close together on the right side of the jaw, and placed one behind the other. § Scoresby gives the length of the tusks externally as from " ten to fifteen inches," and their full length when cut from the skull as from " fifteen to twenty, sometimes almost thirty," and their weight as from " five to ten pounds each, or upward." || The sexual differences described by Lamont were long since * This probably includes their whole length when removed from the sock- ets, of which probably not more than eighteen to twenty inches were ex- •posed in life. t Loc. cit., pp. 137-140. t Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., 1868, p. 429. $ Narrative of Parry's Second Voyage, p. 415. || Account of the Arctic Regions, vol. i, p. 502. 36 ODOB^NUS ROSMARUS ATLANTIC WALRUS. suspected by Wieginann and Stannius (see anteii, p. 19), who believed that the female had longer, slenderer, and more con- verging tusks than the male. There is also a specimen in the collection of the Museum of Comparative Zoology, Cambridge, in which the tusks are very long and slender, and converge to such a degree that their points actually overlap. In concluding this rather rambling notice of the external char- acters and aspect of the Atlantic Walrus, I append the quaint and very correct description of this animal, written by the mis- sionary Egede as early as 1740. I give it from Kriinitz's Ger- man translation from the original Danish : " Der Wallross, oder das Meerpferd, ist eine Art von Fisch, dessen Gestalt einem Seehunde gleichkommt: jedoch ist es weit grosser und starker. Seine Pfoten sind niit funf Klauen versehen, wie die Pfoten des Seehundes ; doch kiirzer von ]STa- geln ; und der Kopf is dicker, runder und starker. Die Haut dieses Thieres ist, vornehmlich am Halse, einen Daumen dick, und aller Orten faltig, und runzlig. Es hat ein dickes und braunes Haar. In dem obern Kinnbacken sitzen zwey krumme Zahne, welche aus dem Munde iiber der Unterlippe hervorragen ; und einen oder zwey Fuss lang, und bisweilen auch wohl noch langer sind. Die Wallrosszahne sind in eben solchem Werth, als die Elephantenzahne. Inwendig sind sie dicht und fest, an der Wurzel aber hohl. Sein Maul ist wie ein Ochsenmaul; unten und oben mit stachlichten Borsten, in der Dicke eines Strohhalms, besetzt, und diese dienen ihm anstatt eines Bartes. Oberhalb des Mundes sind zwey Naselocher, wie bey dem See- hunde. Seine rothe Augen sehen ganz feurig aus ; und weil sein Hals ganz ausserordentlich dick ist, kann er nicht leicht um sich herum sehen ; und dieserhalb dreht er die Augen im Kopfe herum, wann er etwas ansehen will. Er hat, gleich dem Seehunde, einen sehr kurzen Schwanz. Sein Fleisch hat eine Aehnlichkeit mit dem Schweinenfleische. Es pflegt sich dieses Thier mehrentheils auf dem Eise aufzuhalten. Indessen kann es so lange auf dem Lande bleiben, bis es der Hunger nothigt, in die See zu gehen ; indem es sich von denen Fischen und Meer- Insekten unterhalt. Wann es im Zorne ist, briillt es wie ein Ochs. Die Meerpferde sind beherzt, und stehen sich einander bis in den Tod bey. Sie leben in bestandigem Kriege mit denen Baren, denen sie mit ihren grossen und starken Zahnen genug zu schaffen machen. Oeffcers tragen sie den Sieg davon ; und EXTERNAL CHARACTERS. 37 wenigstens kampfen sie so lange, bis sie todt zur Erde nieder- fallen."* Another account of the Walrus, from its being one of the earliest extant, is also of especial interest in the present con- nection. Though repeatedly copied, in part or wholly, by the earlier authors, and also by von Baer, I think it deserving of reproduction here. It was written by Prof. A. E. Yorst, and was based on the young specimen taken to Holland in 1613. It is here copied from De Laet (Descrip. Indise Occident.), by whom it was published in 1633 : " Belluam hanc marinam vidi, magnitudine vituli, aut canis Britannici majoris, Phocse non dissimilem ; capite rotundo, ocu- lis bovillis, naribus depressis ac patulis, quos modo contrahe- bat, modo diducebat, aurium loco utrinque foramina; rictus oris rotundo nee ita vasto, superiori parte aut labro mystaca gestabat setis cartilagineis, crassis ac rigidis constantem. Infe- rior maxilla trigona erat, lingua crassa brevisque, atque os interius dentibus planis utrimque munitum, pedibus anterioribus posteri- oribusque latis, atque extrema corporis parte Phocam nostratem plane referebat. Pedes anteriores antrorsum, posteriores retror- sum spectabant cum ingrederetur. Digiti quinque membrana in- tersepiente distincti, eaque crassa, posterioribus digitis ungues impositi, non prioribus, cauda plane carebat. Postica parte repebat magis quam incedebat. Cute crassa, coreacea, pilisque brevibus ac tenuisibus obsita vestiebatur, colore cinereo. Grun- nitum apri instar edebat, seu crocitabat voce gravi et valida. Eepebat per aream extra aquam, quotidie per semihoram aut amph'us dolio aqua pleno immittebant, ut se ibi oblectaret. Ca- tulus erat, ut ferebant qiii attulerant ex nova Zembla, decem hebdomadarum, dentes seu cornua exerta, ut adultiores, non- duni habens, tu^ercula tamen in superiori labro percipieban- tur, unde brevi proditura facile apparebat. Ferum et validum animal calebat ad tactum, validique per nares spiribat. Pul- mentarium ex avena miliove comedebat lente et suctu magis, quam deglutiendo, herumque gestantem cibum ac offerentem magno nisu ac grunnitu accedebat, sequebaturque, nidore ejus allectus. Lardum ejus gustantibus haud insuave visum est. * Herrn Hans Egede, Missionars und Bischofes in Gronland, Beschreibung und Natur-Geschiclite von Gronland, ubersetzet von D. Joh. Ge. Kriinitz. Mit Kupiem. Berlin, verlegts August Mylius, 1763. pp. 106-108. — Since transcribing the above I have met with an early (1768) English translation of this work, in which an English rendering of the above description may be found at p. 125. 38 ODOB^NUS ROSMARUS ATLANTIC WALRUS. Conspiciebantur ibidem duo majoruin capita, dentibus duobus exertis Elephantorum instar, longis ac crassis et albicantibus munita, qui deorsum versus pectus spectabant. Eoruin coria COCO ant 1C pondo pendisse ferebant Angli qui attulerant. Hisce dentibus rupes ascendere seque sustinere ajebant, et pro- deunt in continentem seu terrain ut sominuin ibi capiant grega- tim. Pabulum ajebant illis esse folia oblonga ac niagna, herba3 cujusdain e fundo niaris nascentis. Nee piscibus vivere aut carni- vorum esse. Vidi ibidem penem ejusdem animalis osseuin, ro- tundum, cubitum et amplius longum, crassum, ponderosum ac solidum, in fine prope glandem longe crassiorem ac rotundiorem, Hujus pulvere ad calculum pellendum Moscovitse retuntur." * A still earlier description of the Walrus is given by Pure-bast in his account of the first voyage " into the North Seas," by William Barents, a Dutch navigator, who met with Walruses on Orange Island, in 1594, translated from the Dutch by W, Philip. The account says they "went to one of those Islands [of Orange], where they found about two hundred Walrushen,. or Sea-horses, lying upon the shore to bast themselves in the Sunne. This Sea-horse is a wonderful strong Monster of the Sea, much bigger than an Oxe, which keeps continually in the Seas, having a skin like a Sea-calfe or Seale, with very short hayre, mouthed like a Lion, and many tunes they lye upon the Ice ; they are hardly killed unlesse you strike them just upon the forehead, it hath foure Feet, but no Eares, and commonly it hath one or two young ones at a time. And when the Fisher- men chance to find them upon a flake of Ice with their young ones, shee casteth her young ones before her into the water, and then takes them in her Armes and so plungeth up and dowiie with them, and when shee will revenge her-selfe upon the Boates, or make resistance against them, then shee casts her young ones from her againe, and with all her force goeth towards the Boate thinking to overthrow it They have two teeth sticking out of their mouthes, on each side one, each being about half an Ell long, and are esteemed to bee good as any Ivory or Elephants teeth, especially in Muscouvia, Tart aria, and thereabouts where they are knowne, for they, are as white, hard, and even as Ivorie." SEXUAL DIFFERENCES. — The subject of sexual differences in the Walruses has received very little attention at the hands of * Novus Orbis seu Descriptio Inclise Occidentalis, pp. 38, 39, 1633. tHis Pilgrimes, vol. iii, p. 476. SEXUAL DIFFERENCES. 39 systematic writers, who have, indeed, no positive information to offer, and very little can be gleaned from other sources. All that I have met with, after pretty extensive research, has already been incidentally given in the foregoing account of the external char- acters. All that can be gathered is that in the female the tusks are smaller and thinner, and the general size of the animal may be inferred to be somewhat smaller than in the male. In fact, the external characters in the adult animal of the species under consideration have never as yet been given with much detail, the few naturalists who have met with it in life seeming to take it for granted that an animal so long known, and so familiar to them, must be well known, thereby rendering a careful and de- tailed description unnecessary. The very good description given by Dr. Gilpin (see anted,, pp. 31, 32, 33) of an adult is about all that I have met with in the way of detailed descriptions of the adults of either sex. The figures and descriptions given of the young, especially those recently published by Dr. J. Murie,* leave little to be desired as regards the external characters in early life. The absence of references to any strongly marked sexual differences in the adult might perhaps be taken as negative evidence that none exist $ but on the basis of analogy with the other Pinnipeds, especially with the Otariidw, we should hardly expect their absence. Even in the case of the skulls, few sexed specimens appear to have come under the observation of specialists. We here and there, however, meet with references to supposed sex- ual differences in the size and character of the tusks, and also in respect to the size of the skull and the density and weight of the bones in those of supposed females as compared with those of supposed males. Thus, Wiegmann, in 1832, in referring to the species described by Fremery, in 1831, says, in remarking upon Fremery's " Triclieclius Cookiif that he remembers having heard from a Greenland traveller that the female Walrus has longer and slenderer tusks than the male, and states, on the au- thority of Fremery, that a young specimen in the Eoyal Museum, of Holland, having long, slender tusks, was regarded by Tem- minck as a female. He also considers, on the ground of analogy, that the greater or less development of the occipital and other crests of the skull, as well as the relative weight of the bones, * " Researches upon the Anatomy of the Pinnipedia. — Part I. On the Wal- rus (Tricliechus rosmarus, Linn.)." — Trans. Zool. Soc. Loud., vol. vii, 1872, pp. 411-464, with woodcuts, and plates li-lv. 40 ODOB^NUS ROSMARUS ATLANTIC WALRUS. to be only differences of a sexual character.* Stannius,t ten yeajs later, cited the views of Temminck and Wiegmann (as above given) respecting sexual differences in Walruses, but adds nothing new to the subject. Lamont (see antea, p. 35) states that the " tusks vary very much in size and shape according to the age and sex of the animal." "Cows' tusks," he says, "will average fully as long as bulls7, from being less liable to be broken, but they are seldom more than twenty inches long and three pounds each in weight. They are generally set much closer together than the bulFs tusks, sometime overlapping at the points, as in the case with the stuffed specimen at the British Museum." He gives the length of tusks in the male as 24 inches, and the weight as 4 pounds each. A skeleton, marked as that of a female, in the Museum of Comparative Zoology, collected in the Greenland seas by Dr. Kane, has the bones very light, soft, and porous, as compared with those of male specimens. The skull (see figg. 1-3) is much smaller, with the crests and ridges very slightly developed, and the tusks long and slender, and overlapping at the points. This skull, though of a rather aged individual, is 2 to 2| inches shorter than male skulls of corresponding age, and about 2 inches narrower; but these figures scarcely express the real difference between them, owing to the very much weaker devel- opment and slighter structure of all parts of the skull, which certainly has not one-half the weight of average adult male skulls. The weaker structure is especially marked in the lower jaw. The tusks, on the other hand, are several inches longer than in any male skulls of the Atlantic species I have yet exam- ined, but they are so much weaker and slenderer that their weight is more than one-half less. The same difference of light- ness and smaller size extends throughout all the bones of the skeleton, indicating that the size of the animal in life was far less than that of ordinary males. The very great length of the * Says Wieginann : " Hr. Fremery flilirt an, dass Hr. Temminck einen (nach DeutlicTikeit der Nahte) iioch jungen Schadel des Reiclisimiseiuns niit aus- gezeiciinet laugen diinnen Stosszahnen fiir den eines Weibchens gehalten habe. Ic h erinnere mich aucli von Gronlandsfahren gehort zu haben, dass sich das Weibchen dnrck liingero, dimnere, das Miinnchen clurch kiirzere, aber viel dickere Stossziilme auszeiclme. Die geringere Entwicklimg der Hinter- hauptleiste, die geringere Sell were der Knochen, selbst das Zuriickbleiben des hintersten Backenzahnes im Oberkiefer konnte, wenn es wirklich nnr sexu- elle VerscMedenheit sein sollte, mit Aualogien belegt werden." — Arch, fur Naturgesch., 1832, pp. 128, 129. t Mailer's Arch. fiir. Anat., 1844, p. 392. SEXUAL DIFFERENCES. 41 tusks (see fig. 1) is doubtless abnormal, and is doubtless owing to their unsyinmetrical development and overlapping at the points, which must have interfered to some extent with their use, and hence have preserved them from wearing. FIG. 1. — Odobcenus rosmanis, £ . In the National Museum at Washington a,re also four skulls, which, though unmarked as to sex, are unquestionably those of 42 ODOB^NUS ROSMARUS ATLANTIC WALRUS. females.* They agree with the one already described as to small size, the absence of well-developed crests and ridges for muscular attachment, small, slender tusks, and general weak- ness of structure, as compared with male skulls of correspond- ing age.f The closed sutures show that they belonged to aged individuals, but in other respects might be presumed to be skulls of young animals, for which such skulls are doubtless usually mistaken. FiG. 2. — Odoboznm rosmarus, $ . From these data it seems fair to conclude that there are well- marked sexual differences among Walruses, manifested espe- cially in the inferiority of size of the female, in the comparatively weak development of the bones of the skull, the smaller size of the bones of the general skeleton, and in the size and form of the tusks. These differences are, in short, just such as, from analogy, one would naturally expect to exist, and confirm the * This I inferred from their small size and light structure, and was pleased to have my determination confirmed by so competent an authority as Dr. Emil Bessels, who pronounced them to be unquestionably those of females. Dr. Bessels's judgment, it is perhaps needless to say, is based on personal experience while on the Polaris Expedition, during which he secured and prepared numerous specimens of both sexes, which were lost with the ill- fated vessel. tin the National Museum there is also a female skull of the Pacific Walrus that presents corresponding differences as compared with male skulls of the same species. VARIATIONS DEPENDENT UPON AGE, ETC. 43 conjectures of Wiegmann and Temminck. What other differ- ences obtain, especially in external characters, can as yet be only conjectured. It is to be hoped, however, that we shall not have long to wait for detailed accounts of the external characters of the adults of both sexes. FIG. 3. — Odobamus rosmarus, 9 . INDIVIDUAL VARIATIONS, AND VARIATIONS DEPENDENT UPON AGHG. — That a wide range of individual variation obtains in this species is sufficiently evident from an examination of even a limited series of skulls. These differences have been noted in considerable detail by Fremery, Wiegmann, Stannius, and Jaeger, as will be presently noticed more in detail in pre- senting the general history of the species. Still greater differ- ences, of course, result from differences of age. These collect- ively, as will be noted later, have formed the basis of several nominal species. All the Pinnipeds appear to be subject to a wide range of variations of this character, and none more so than the Walruses. These affect to a considerable extent the general proportions of the skull, and especially the form and relative development of different bones. These latter differences are best seen in comparatively young skulls, since most of the sutures close at a rather early age. Among these variations are especially noteworthy those of the nasal bones, the inter- ma-xillaries, and the frontals, and to a less degree those of the base of the skull. The crests and ridges for muscular attach- 44 ODOB^ENUS ROSMARUS ATLANTIC WALRUS. ment of course greatly increase with age, and vary considerably in respect to direction, position, and relative development in different individuals. The bony crests at the junction of the interniaxillaries below the anterior nasal opening are especially variable with age, becoming gradually obliterated in adult life by the general thickening of the bones of the skull. They are certainly less prominent in old age than in youth, and the same is true of the incisive border of the intermaxillaries. The in- termaxillaries, as a rule, only meet the nasals in their upward extension, but in occasional specimens there is a narrow exten- sion of them posteriorly between the nasals and maxillaries, reaching for one-half to two-thirds the length of the nasals. This variation is seen in the skulls figured by Goethe* and by Blainville,t and has been noted in two skulls by Stannius.j: In other cases the intermaxillary rises to the surface between the nasals and maxillaries only in the form of narrow isolated areas, as is seen in a skull figured by Goethe,§ and in two skulls I have myself examined. Hence Blainville, when he says, " . . . . et le premaxillaire, epais, remonte jusque entre le nasal et le rnaxillaire, de maniere a circonscrire avec le premier Porifice nasal . . . . ,"|| describes the exceptional instead of the normal condition. The nasals vary greatly in breadth and in length in different specimens, and even in the same specimen one is sometimes much wider than the other. The concavity and width of the bony palate is also subject to much variation, in this respect hardly two specimens being found to agree. In some, the con- cavity is nearly one-fourth greater than in others. *Act. Acad. Caes. Leop. Carol., xi, pt. i, pi. iv, fig. 2. t Oste"ograpbie, Des Pboques, pi. i. JSays Stannius: "Bisweilen aber, wie bei den Kieler Scbadeln a und c, tritt nocb eine diiime Leiste dieses Fortsatzes zwischen die das Oberkiefer- bein und das Nasenbein verbindende Langsnaht und trennt eine Strecke weit diese Knochen. So siebt man es aucb auf der in dem Blainville'scben Werke befindlicben Abbildung. Indem diese Leiste an einigen Stellen starker, an .andern Stellen weniger stark oder gar nicbt nacb aussen bervortritt und zu Tage kommt, bat es bisweilen den Anscbein, als fanden sicb isolirte Knocben- stiickcben in der eben genannten Nabt. "Wirklicb erwabnt de Fremery eines zwischen Nasenbein und Oberkieferbein vorkommenden Ossiculum Wormi- anum bei seinem aus Labrador stammenden Walross-Scbiidel." — Archiv fur Anat., 1842, p. 401. §Act. Acad. Cses. Leop. Carol., Bd. xv, pt. i, 1831, pi. iv, fig. 1. || Ostdograpbie, Des Pboques, p. 20. VARIATIONS DEPENDENT UPON AGE, ETC. 45 The frontals vary greatly in form at their posterior border, especially in respect to their interparietal extension. This por- tion has sometimes a breadth equal to that of the nasal bones, and terminates quite squarely ; at other times, it has less than half this breadth, and is rapidly narrowed posteriorly. The tusks vary considerably in length, size, and form, and more especially in direction, in specimens of the same age and sex. They become much larger in old age than in middle life, but are then more or less abraded and broken at the points. The grooving on the sides varies more or less with each indi- vidual, and even in the two tusks of the same animal. The tusks generally widely diverge, but are sometimes nearly par- allel, but appear to be very rarely convergent, while in the female they are frequently more or less convergent, and some- times touch at the points, or even overlap. In regard to external characters, considerable changes result from age, especially in respect to the size and amount of abra- sion of the tusks, and through the loss of the hair incident to old age, and the shortening of the mystacial bristles. The following table of measurements (given in millimeters) shows to some extent the variations that occur in the general size and form of the skull. 46 ODOB^ENUS ROSMARUS ATLANTIC WALRUS. ^ s •Bsaooid piouozoo ye •(jjedu eotTB^erp 'eioepm jaddf^ •S9TI98 UUOJTJreiOTH J9ddtl JO m^Su^l '89UITIU3 jo •QWivd jo puo joua^sod 'eanoq IBSBJS; (89UOq IBSBJ\r •93SSOJ s a fl i B P P »J >S "§ •§-: .Q • !S. S <1 O5 S 8 S S'S5 s g 8 5 8 £r g 5; W CO CO s ® CO • CO CO •X9g O CM- CM- «o *0 O g g § S || I ? ? ? 54 J.S! «L DENTITION. 47 DENTITION. — The dentition of Walruses, for various reasons, lias been a perplexing subject, and has engaged the attention of many eminent writers. In the adult stage it presents many abnormalities, and, besides, is subject to much individual varia- tion, both in the temporary and adult series. For a long time its deviations from the normal type were not well understood, and even now leading authorities do not appear to be quite in harmony in respect to the proper notation. As previously stated, the incisors of both jaws, except the outer pair in the upper, disappear soon after birth, and before middle life is reached the last tooth of the molar series on each side in both jaws also usually disappears. A brief history of the principal investigations, and opinions held at different times respecting the dentition of the Atlantic Walrus (for the investigations respecting the dentition of this group appear to have been based almost wholly upon this species), is herewith appended as form- ing a highly interesting chapter in tjie technical history of the species. In this historical sketch will be found noted many facts relating to the general subject, given by the authors whose papers are here briefly summarized. The dentition of the Atlantic Walrus has been discussed in greater or less detail by Eapp, von Baer, Wieginann, Fremery, Stannius, Jaeger, Owen, Malmgren, Peters, and various other writers. Wiegmann, in 1838, pretty fully presented the early history of the subject, noting the almost total lack of informa- tion respecting the matter shown by Linne, who evidently paid little attention to the references to the subject made by previ- ous writers. The credit of first giving any definite statement respecting the number of the teeth and their character is due to Anderson, who, in 1734, gave the number of molars as four above and three below. Brisson, in 1756, gave the number as four both above and below; while Crantz, in 1765, again gives four above and three below, and quite fairly describes the nor- mal dentition of the adult.* In the same year, Daubenton gave also again four below on each side as well as four above. * I append in full Crantz's description : "It had no sharp incisores in its mouth, and none at all before, but only four teeth on each side ; on the right side of the nnder-jaw three pretty broad concave grinders The two long tusks or horns growing out of its face above the nose, and bending down over its mouth, so- as almost to barricade it up, seem to be more an impediment than a help to it The light tusk is about an inch longer than the left, and its Avhole length 48 ODOB^NUS ROSMARUS— ATLANTIC WALRUS. No author prior to Sclireber (1775) appears to have met with deciduous incisors, who found two such upper incisors on each side in a young skull in the Museum of Erlangen. These he correctly conjectured were temporary, disappearing at a later stage of life.* To Goethe, however, is given the credit of recognizing the true character of the first tooth of the upper molariform series. Says Camper (as quoted by Wiegmann) : "Es 1st der Hr. Gothe, sachsenweimarscher Geheimer Kath, der mir zuerst die ossa intermaxillaria des Wallrosses und der Schneidezalme desselben hat kennen lernen, indem er mir eine vortreffliche Abhandlung mit schonen Zeichnungen dieser Knochen ver- schiedener Thiere zugeschickt hatte." Camper, in criticising Linnets errors regarding the Walrus, t gives four incisors (^E|) i and four molars above and five below (fEi) (or sometimes only four below). The observations of Sehreber, Goethe, and Cam- per appear to have been generally overlooked by subsequent writers, so that it was left for G. Cuvier to discover anew the presence of deciduous incisors in the young Walrus. Between the canines he recognized two incisors similar to the molars, which he says the majority of observers had overlooked, because they are not fixed in the intermaxillary, and between these again two pointed small ones in young individuals. He gave the number of molars as four on each side, above and below, and stated that there are neither incisors nor canines in the is 27 inches, 7 of which, are grafted into the scull ; its circumference is 8 inches. They stand about three inches asunder in the head, and at their extremities 9 inches apart, bent a little downwards." — History of Greenland, etc., English translation, London, 1767, p. 126. * Schreber's account is as follows: " . . . . Die ERSTE Gattung, das in- sonderheit sogennante WAIXROSS, hat zwar, ob gleich kem Schrifsteller etwas davon sagt, zwee.n Vordersiihne in der obern Kinrilade; sie sind aber sehr klein, ragen wenig aus ihren Holen hervor, und werden allem Ansehen nach auserhalb dem Zahnfleische nicht zu bemerken seyn, zuinal da sie nicht am Rande der obern Kinnlade, sondern mehr hineinwiirts stehen. Ich finde sie an einem zur Naturaliensammlung hiesiger Universitiit gehorigen Wall- rossschadel; und da derselbe, besage seiner Grosse, von einem juugen Thiere ist ; so glaube ich beynahe gar, dass sie bey zunehmendem Alter des Thieres ausfallen und nicht wieder wachsen. Sie koimnen also hier in keine weitere Betrachtung, als dass sie dem Systematiker eineu Wink geben, dis Thier nicht zu weit von dem Robbengeschlechte zu entfernen." — SaugetMere, Th. ii, p. 260. tl quote the French edition of Camper's works (CEuvres, torn, ii, p. 480, Paris, 1803), the only one accessible to me. DENTITION. 49 lower jaw.* F. Cu\rier gave later also the same dental formula. He deemed that the peculiar or anomalous dentition of the Wal- ruses indicated that they were an isolated group, having affini- ties, on the one hand, with the Carnivora, and, on the other, with the Ruminants ! t • According to Wiegmann, Eudolphi| (in 1802) recognized the first of the series of lower grinding teeth as a canine. § Thus, as Wiegmann long since observed, the subject remained till Eapp was so fortunate, in 1828, as to have opportunity to examine a foetal specimen. In this example, he found six inci- sors in the upper jaw and five in the lower (|^|). He also expressed it as his belief that the first lower molar should be regarded as a canine, because (1) it was somewhat further removed from the rest than the others were from each other ; because (2) of its greater length and thickness in the adult ani- mal ; because (3) it stands close to the temporary or milk inci- sors, and shuts against the outermost of the upper incisors j and because (4) it lacks the transverse depression seen on the inner side of the crown of the back-teeth. The dental formula recognized by him for the Walrus may be considered as T 3-3- n J-1. M 4-^ *• 3 — 3? V' 1 — 1? IU* 3 — 3' Fremery, in 1831, also made reference to the dentition of the Walruses ; but his paper bears mainly upon the question of whether there are one or more species of these animals, and will be further noticed in another connection. He notes partic- ularly, the presence, in some of his skulls, of two small molars above, behind the large ones. Wiegmann, 1 1 in 1838, contributed facts additional to those already recorded, but his memoir is largely devoted to a discus- sion of the observations of preceding writers. He assents to Eudolphi's and Eapp's interpretation of the homological rela- tion of the first large tooth of the lower jaw; refers to finding * Regne Animal, torn, i, 1817, p. 168. t Dents des Mam., p. 234. t Aiiatomisch-physiologische Abhandlungen, p. 145.. § Wiegmann says :".... Ueberdies ist Rudolph! der erste, der die unteren Eckzaline erkennt. Er bemerkt namlicli, dass der erste Backenzahn des Unterkiefers sich von den iibrigen durch seine Grosse auszeichne, und wenn auch der Form uach eiuem Backeuzahne ahnlich, docli seiner Grosse nach, beinahe fur einen Eckzalm zu lialten ware, was spater dureh Rapp, dem indessen diese Notiz imbekannt blieb, ausser Zweifel gesetzt ist." — Arch, fur Naturg., 1838, pp. 119, 120. II Archiv fiir Naturgesch., 1838, pp. 113-130. Misc. Pub. No. 12 4 50 ODOB^ENUS ROSMARUS ATLANTIC WALRUS. traces of alveoli of six incisors both above and below, and to the early deciduous character of the last (fifth) upper molar, and the frequent disappearance of the fourth. He concludes that the normal number of the back-teeth is |^|, and that in early life the dentition of the Walrus is not widely different from that of other Pinnipeds. The same year (1838), Macgillivray* considered the normal dentition of the Walrus to be I. §5|; 0. ^5 Pm. + M.^ =^| = 32. His conclusion was based on the examination of a quite young specimen, of which he speaks as follows: "The normal dentition of the Walrus is shown by the skull of a young individual in the Museum of the Edinburgh College of Surgeons. In the upper jaw there are on each side three incisors, the first or inner extremely small, the second a li ttle larger, the third or outer disproportionately large, being equal to the larger grind- ers. The socket of this tooth is placed in the intermaxillary bone, but towards its mouth it is partly formed by the maxillary. The small incisors have deep conical sockets. The canine tooth is displaced, being thrust outwards beyond the line of the other teeth, and causing the peculiar bulging of the head. The lateral incisor is on the level of its anterior margin, and the first grinder is opposite to its middle. There are five grinders, having conical obtuse sockets, and consequently single roots ; the first smaller than the last incisor, the second and third largest, the fourth much smaller, the fifth very small, all shortly conical, and blunt, with enamel on the tip only. The canine tooth is also at first enamelled at its extremity. In the lower jaw there are two very small conical incisors on each side 5 the canine tooth is wanting $ five grinders, with single con- ical compressed roots, and short compressed conical crowns, enamelled at the point; the first, second, and third nearly equal, the latter being a little larger, the fourth much smaller, and the fifth very small. The tusks, or enormously developed canine teeth of the upper jaw, are compressed, conical, a little curved backward, directed downwards and a little forwards, and somewhat diverging, but in some individuals, w^hen very long, they again converge towards the points. In adults, the incisors are obliterated, excepting the lateral pair of the upper jaw; the fifth grinder in both jaws has also disappeared, and sometimes the fourth in one or both jaws." * British Quadrupeds, 1838, pp. 220, 221. DENTITION. 51 Stannius. in 1842, further contributed to the subject by adding observations respecting variation in the number of the teeth resulting from age, describing in detail the incisive dentition of a series of four skulls of different ages. In two young skulls, the outer temporary incisor of the upper jaw on either side remained ; the alveoli of the second pair were still distinct, while the alveoli of the middle pair were nearly oblit- erated. In another, the alveoli of the inner pair of incisors were wholly obliterated 5 those of the second pair were barely recog- nizable, while those of the outer pair were distinct, the teeth having fallen later. He was also able to recognize the alveoli of six incisors in the lower jaws of the skulls just mentioned, and states that he thought Bapp's view of the homology of the first lower back-tooth (considered as a canine) was probably correct. He further takes exceptions to the value of the char- acters assumed by Fremery as the basis of several species of Walruses.* He adds, in respect to the tusks, that in old age they become wholly solid to the base. In regard to the upper molars, he notes the presence of five in several instances, and finds that, as a rule, the fourth disappears before the fifth, or, at least, that its alveolus becomes sooner obliterated. He also confirms the statement previously made by Wiegmann, that the alveoli become filled by depositions of bony matter in concentric layers at the bottom and on the sides. *These alleged specific characters lie notices in detail, and considers them as dependent upon age. He says : "Das Missliche dieser Charaktere erhellt schon aus deni Uinstande, dass dieselben nur fur vollig ausgewachsene Thiere, nicht aber fur junge anwendbar sind, denn das starkste "Vyachsthum der Eckzahne fallt erst offenbar in eine spatere Lebensperiode in welcher namentlich die beiden innersten Schneidezahne und die beiden letzten Back- ziihne jeder Seite der oberen Kinnlade schon geschwunden sind. Hierzu kommt noch der Umstand, dass auch die Eckzahne bei sehr alten Thieren an der Spitze bedeutend abgenutzt sind, demnach in spateren Lebenssta- dien an Lange wahrscheinlich wieder abnehmen. Endlich scheint es ja selbst, als ob die Lange dieser Ziihne je nach den Geschlechtern verschieden ware. "Eben so wenig Gewicht rnb'chte ich auf die Furchungen dieser Zahne legen. Ihrer Zahl, wie ihrer Stiirke nach sind sie bei verschiedenen iibri- gens nicht von eiuander abweichenden Individuen verschieden, wie ich mich durch Vergleichung einer grossen Anzahl von Walrosszahuen iiber- zengt habe ; ja diese Furchen sind bisweilen an beiden, bisweilen nur an Einem dieser Zahne spurlos verschwunden." Respecting TricJiechus cooki, he adds: "Auch an einem Schiidelfragmente des Kieler Museums findo ich etwas convergirende Eckzahne, mochte aber zweifcln, ob dieser Umstaudeine Artunterscheidung rechtfertigt." — ArcJiiv fur Anatomie, etc., 1842, pp. 398, 399. 52 ODOB^ENUS ROSMARUS ATLANTIC WALRUS. Jaeger,* in 1844, described the dentition of three rather young Walrus skulls from Labrador. In the youngest skull (8£ inches long, 6£ inches broad, Paris measure), which had the Canines about two inches long, he notes that the last upper molar had already fallen from the right side, but still remained on the left, behind which, as well as behind the alveolus of the fourth molar on the right side, was a little shallow pit, in which, dur- ing fretal life, a tooth had perhaps stood. In front of these beforementioned teeth were three molars on each side, and in front of these a conical incisor, and the alveoli of the others were traceable, although already filled with a spongy substance. In the lower jaw, there were five teeth on each side, with traces of three already fallen foetal incisors on one side and of two on the other. The second skull (9 j inches by 7§) was somewhat older, the canines being about five inches long. There were present in this skull three upper molars on each side, and a filled-up alveolus behind them. Of these teeth (as also in the other skull), the middle one was the largest and most worn.t In front of these, and somewhat distant from them (5'"), was an incisor on each side, and in addition to these another pair of small conical incisors. In the lower jaw of this skull were, on each side, four teeth homologized as C. 1 — 1, M. 3 — 3; Jaeger thus recognizing, as had Kudolphi, Eapp, Wiegmann, Fremery, and Stannius, the first of the lower-jaw series as a canine. Behind these were traces of the alveoli of the fourth pair of molars. In the third skull (length 12 J inches, breadth 10 J), still older, with tusks a foot long, were three upper " back-teeth " on each side, close together, the middle one being the largest, and in front of these a cutting- tooth. The lower jaw had also four teeth on each side, homologized as before. In this skull, there remained no trace of the middle incisors. Another still older skull had the same dental formula as the last. Owen,f in 1853, gave the following formula for the deciduous dentition of the Walrus: I. |5|;C.i5-J; M. §5-2=18. Thiswas based on the examination of a young animal, which had died in the Zoological Gardens of London. He, at the same time, proposed the following as the formula of the normal or func- tional dentition of the Walrus: I. i=-J; O.—J; Pm. §5-3=18. * Miiller's Arch., 1844, pp. 70-75. t In the young skulls described by Stannius, the middle molar is mentioned as being uniformly the largest and most worn. t Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., 1853, pp. 105, 106. DENTITION. 53 Professor Owen, in referring to instances of deviation from this formula, dependent on differences of age and sex, stated "that occasionally a small tooth was found anterior to the normal series of four, and more commonly in the upper than the lower jaw ; and that, more rarely, a small tooth was superadded behind the nor- mal four, in the upper jaw, and still more rarely in the lower jaw $ the formula of the dentition of such varieties, in excess, being,— 1. 1=|, C.J-5-J, Pm.|=|, M. j^=26.» Owen here makes no reference to the literature of the subject, and evidently gave a very erroneous interpretation of the dental formula. In his later references to the subject he gives an entirely different in- terpretation, and one more nearly agreeing with that now com- monly accepted. In his latest reference to the subject,* he writes : " In the Walrus ( TrichecJms rosmarus) the normal incisive formula is transitorily represented in the very young animal, which has three teeth in each prernaxillary and two on each side of the fore part of the lower jaw; they soon disappear except the outer pair above, which remain close to the maxil- lary suture, on the inner side of the sockets of the enormous canines, and commence the series of small and simple molars which they resemble in size and form. In the adult there are usually three such molars on each side, behind the permanent incisor, and four similar teeth on each side of the lower jaw ; the anterior one passing into the interspace between the upper incisor and the first molar The canines are of enormous size Their homotype below retains the size and shape of the succeeding molars." The formula of the normal dentition apparently here recognized is : I. |=J; C. ~(-j M. §E|=^=26. Giebel,t in 1855, gave six incisors both above and below as the number existing in the young before and for a short tune after birth. Of these, the lower are said to soon fall out, their alveoli then becoming filled with a bony deposit. Of the upper inci- sors, the inner pair first disappear, and soon after them also the middle pair, leaving only the outer pair, which begin the mola- riforin series, and to which they are often referred, this outer pair persisting till late in life. The upper canines, he says, are never cast. J In the lower jaw, the first permanent tooth is regarded as a canine, because it is thicker and rounder than the posterior teeth, and lacks the cross-furrow that marks the oth- * Anatomy of Vertebrates, vol. iii, p. 338. tOdontog., p. 82, pi. 36, fig. 7; Saugeth., p. 129. t They are, however, as shown by Malmgren (see beyond), preceded in the embryo by temporary teeth. 54 ODOB^NUS ROSMARUS - ATLANTIC WALRUS. ers. The young animal has five upper molariform teeth (" Baek- zahne"), the last two of which are smallest and early disappear, and also later the third, leaving only two behind the canine, and an anterior molariform incisor. In the lower jaw there are only four "Backzahne" on each side, of which the last and smallest very soon falls away. The dental formula given is as follows: «(|j=£) + J + (£=|)» = temporary dentition: 1. 1=|, 0. fEi> M- §Ei5 adult dentition: I. i=£, C. i=-J, M. §5|. While Giebel accepts the first permanent tooth of the molariform series of the upper jaw as an incisor, and the first, in the lower jaw as a canine, he recognizes only two persistent molars on each side, above and below. Malmgren,* in 1864, figured the dentition from a foetal speci- men, and published an elaborate paper on the dentition of the Walrus, in which he reviewed at some length the history of the subject, noticing quite fully the writings of the early authors, from Crantz to the Cuviers, and the papers of Bapp, Owen, Wiegmann, Mlsson, and other later writers. The formula he presents as that of the permanent dentition is : I. J-^J, C. ~^7 M. jJ5f=^=18; and for the deciduous dentition: I. |=|, C. J-=£, The specimen figured shows both the permanent and decidu- ous dentition. The deciduous teeth are most of them separately figured, of natural size, as minute, slender, spindle-rooted teeth, with short, thickened crowns. The permanent teeth are already in place, although even the upper canines had probably not pierced the gum. The middle pair of incisors of both jaws had already disappeared, leaving only their distinctly recognizable alveoli. His specimen appears to have had but a single cadu- cous molar behind the permanent series, from which he assumes the number of upper molars to be 4 — 4 instead of 5 — 5. The following year, Peters J referred to Malmgren's paper, publishing a plate illustrating the dentition as existing in a some- what older skull (received from Labrador) than that figured by Malmgren. Peters here takes exception to Mahngren's assumed number of back-teeth, which, in accordance with the views of Eapp and Wiegmann, Peters believed should be |^|, instead of ^~. * Ofversigt af Kongl. Vet.-Akad. FSrhaiull., 1863, pp. 505-522, pi. vii. t The paper being published in Swedish, I am unable to follow him in his discussion of the subject. t Monatsb. K. P. Akad., 1865, pp. 685-687, pi. facing p. 685. DENTITION. 55 According to Peters, Malmgren, from not finding more than four upper back-teeth in any of the many skulls of various ages he had examined, concluded that when a fifth is present it is abnormal. The young skull figured and described by Peters, however, has in the upper jaw the fourth and fifth back-teeth still in place on the right side, and the fourth on the left side, with an alveolus of a fifth. This Peters considered as affording new proof of the correctness of Wiegmann's formula. As already noticed, five molars have been recognized by Fremery, Eapp, Giebel, and Owen, and, though perhaps not always pres- ent, are frequently to be met with. The dental formula of the Walrus, as determined by Kapp and Wiegmann, has been adopted by Yan der Hoeven * and Blasius, t as well as by Peters, and essentially by Giebel. Gie- bel, however, gives only four deciduous lower incisors, instead of six. Owen, in his later works, agrees in this point with Gie- bel, but takes apparently no cognizance of the deciduous fourth and fifth molars, to which he refers, however, in his earlier papers. Gray, £ in 1866, although quoting the formula given by Eapp, adopts the following : " Cutting teeth | in young, § in adult ; grinders |=| in adult, truncated, all single-rooted ; ca- nines, upper very large, exserted." He, however, quotes Eapp's formula, and also that given by Owen in his " Catalogue of the Osteological Series of the Museum of the Eoyal College of Sur- geons" (1853, p. 630). Professor Flower, § in 1869, gave a diagram of the dentition of the Walrus based on many observations made by himself and on " those of others, especially Professor Malmgren," in which both the temporary and permanent denljtion is indicated as fol- lows : Milk dentition : 1. |^|, C. ^~, M. ~ ^ 5 permanent denti- tion: I. J=i, C. ±=±, M. |=|. He adds that " it is probable that an anterior rudimentary incisor is developed in the upper if not in the lower jaw," making the temporary incisors hypothetically ~|. " I believe," he says, " that the rudimentary milk teeth never cut the gum, and are absorbed rather than shed. This process commences before birth, The rudimentary teeth, however, in front of and behind the large teeth are not * Lolirbuch der Zoologie, 1856, p. 738, English ed. t Siiugetliiere Deutschlands, 1857, pp. 261, 262» t Cat. Seals arid Wliales, p. 35. $ Jourii. Anat. and Phys., iii, p. 272. 56 ODOB^NUS ROSMARUS ATLANTIC WALRUS. unfrequently persistent to extreme old age, although commonly lost in macerated skulls. These rudimentary teeth are usually described as < milk-teeth ' j even the posterior ones are some- times so called, but it appears to me an open question whether they do not rather represent permanent teeth in a rudimentary or aborted condition." Huxley, in his "Anatomy of Vertebrated Animals" (pp. 360, 361), published in 1872, adopts the following as the dental for- mula of the Walruses : " I. i=J, C. ^, p. m. m. |=| + ^.» He says : " The dentition of the Walrus is extremely peculiar. In the adult, there is one simple conical tooth in the outer part of the premaxilla, followed by a huge tusk-like canine, and three, short, sirnple-fanged teeth. Sometimes, two other teeth, which soon fall out, lie behind these, on each side of the upper jaw. In the mandible there are no incisors, but a single short canine is followed by three similar, simple teeth, and by one other, which is caducous." * Both here and in the formula no reference is made to the deciduous incisors, although the caducous molars are recognized. In the foregoing resume, we have seen how vague was the information bearing on this subject possessed by all writers prior to about the beginning of the present century ; how the earlier notices of the existence of incisors in the young were overlooked and rediscovered by later writers, as well as how slowly the first permanent tooth of the molariform series of the upper jaw came to be generally recognized as a true incisor and not a molar ; how, later, the number of incisors in the young was found to be six in the upper jaw and six in the lower jaw, with, as a rule, two small caducous "molars on each side in the upper jaw, and one on each side in the lower behind the permanent grinding teeth; that the first permanent molariform tooth of the lower jaw was a canine and not a molar; and that by dif- ferent writers the number of incisors recognized in the lower jaw has been sometimes four and sometimes six, and the cadu- cous upper molars regarded sometimes as one and sometimes as two. Finally, that the true formula of the full dentition of the Walrus is I. |=|; 0. }=-[; Pm. M. fE|=|=34. It hence appears that the dentition of the Walruses is1 peculiar and some- what abnormal in four features, namely, (1) the early disap- pearance of all the incisors except the outer pair of the upper * Anat. Vertebr. Aiiim., pp. 360, 361. FOSSIL EEMAINS. 57 jaw, (2) the enormous development of the upper canines, (3) the slight specialization of the lower canines, and (4) the caducous character of the two posterior pairs of molars of the upper jaw and the posterior pair in the lower jaw. The early dentition of the Walrus differs mainly from that of most other Pinnipeds in having six lower incisors instead of four, the incisive formula of other Pinnipeds, as generally recognized, being usually |^|, fre- quently |^|, and sometimes (as in MacrorMnus and Cystophora) |f5f> — never, at least in the permanent dentition, j^=|, but I am far from sure this number may not sometimes appear in the deciduous dentition. In the Sea Otter (Enhydris), there are said to be six lower incisors in the young, while only four are present in adult life. The middle pair of lower incisors so early disappear that even in very young specimens they are some- times wanting. Eapp found in a foetal specimen three on one side and only two on the other, knd quite a number of promi- nent writers on the subject have recognized two pairs of lower incisors as the normal number. In many specimens, the alveoli of three pairs have been found, and, in addition to the instances already given, I may add that there is a young skull in the Museum of Comparative Zoology that shows decided traces of three pairs, the outer incisor on one side being still in place. In view of all that is at present known respecting the sub- ject, I adopt the following formula3 as being well-established, — * premising, however, that they are substantially in accord with the view of the case presented by Professor Flower in 1869 : — Temporary dentition: I. |=|; C.£=£; M. ^ = ^ = 32. Permanent dentition: I. ^; ^-lEl? M- §E| = ^ = 265 the last two upper molars and the last lower one on each side being rudimentary and often absent. FOSSIL KEMAINS.— Kemains of the Atlantic Walrus, in a fossil state, have been found at various points along the Atlantic coast from Maine to South Carolina, and in Europe as far south as England and France. The first noticed from American locali- ties was thus mentioned by Barton in 1805, but the locality is not given. He says: "The bones of one of these large animals have been found. These appear to have belonged to a species of trichechus; perhaps to the triclicclius rosmarus or morse."* Messrs. Mitchill, Smith, and Cooper described, in * London Phil. Mag., vol. xxxii, 1805, p. 98. 58 ODOB^ENUS ROSMARUS ATLANTIC WALRUS. 1828,* a specimen consisting of the anterior portion of a skull, found on the sea-beach in Accomac County, Virginia. The same specimen was also described later by Harlan.t These writers all considered it as bearing the closest resemblance to the corre- sponding portion of the skull of the existing Walrus, to which they doubtfully referred it ; but later it was regarded by DcKay as representing a distinct species, to which he gave the name Trichechus mrginlanus.$ In 1844, Lyell described a tusk ob- tained from the Tertiary Clays of Gardiner, Maine, which Owen regarded as probably belonging to an extinct species.§ Lyell 1 1 also refers to a skull he obtained at Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts. He describes this skull as i ' differing from skulls of the existing species (Trichechus rosmarm, Linn.), with which it was compared by Professor Owen, in having only six molars and two tusks, whereas those of the recent have four molars on each side, besides occasionally a rudimentary one. The front tusk is rounder than that of the recent walrus." fl In 1857, Dr. Leidy** described and figured a skull found on the sea-beach at Long Branch, Monmouth County, New Jersey, where it was obtained by Prof. J. F. Frazer in 1853, and refers to another specimen (consisting of the facial portion of a skull) discovered at the same locality by Prof. Geo. H. Cook. The first-named specimen, says Dr. Leidy, " has lost a portion of the cranium proper, and the exserted portion of one tusk, but other- wise, except being a little water- worn, is in a good state of preservation. It is unchanged in texture, and nearly so in colour 5 and it belonged to an old individual, as all the sutures are completely obliterated. The form of the facial portion of this specimen corresponds with that of the specimen from Vir- ginia, [described by DeKay and preceding writers,] above men- tioned ; and the entire skull closely resembles that of the recent Walrus, Trichechus rosmarus, as represented in the figures of Daubenton, Cuvier, and De Blainville ; and its measurements are also sufficiently near those given by the first-named author to recognize it as the same species. * Ann. Lye. Nat. Hist. New York, vol. ii, 1828, p. 271. tEdiub. New Phil. Journ., vol. xvii, 1834, p. 3CO. tNat. Hist. New York, Zoology, pt. i, 1842, p. 56, pi. xix, figs. 1, a, b. § See Packard, Mem. Bost. Soc. Nat. Hist., vol. i, 18C7, p. 24G. || Amer. Journ. Sci. and Arts, vol. xlvi, 1844, p. 319. IT As is Avell known, the existing Walrus has occasionally only the nmnl»er of teeth found in the Martha's Vineyard specimen. ** Trans. Am. Phil. Soc., vol. xi, 1857, p. 83, pis. iv, v, fig. 1. FOSSIL REMAINS. 59 " The tusks in the fossil curved downwardly in a diverging manner, and were about four inches distant from each other at their emergence from the alveoli, and ten inches at their tips. The remaining tusk in the specimen is thirteen inches long from its alveolar border, and in this latter position it is three inches in diameter antero-posteriorly and one and three quar- ters inches transversely . . . ." The other specimen, from. New Jersey, mentioned above, he says is also "unchanged from its original texture, but is brown from the infiltration of oxide of iron. It also belonged to an old individual, as all the sutures are obliterated, and the third molars together with the greater part of their alveoli are gone. In its anatomical de- tails the specimen agrees with the corresponding portion of Professor Frazer's specimen, except it is an inch and a half broader in the position of the canine alveoli, and the antero- posterior diameter of the tusk is rather less."* Of both these specimens, Dr. Leidy gives figures, and they agree entirely with corresponding parts of the existing North Atlantic species. Dr. Leidy, however, notes differences between these specimens and those of the Walrus of the North Pacific. Dr. Leidy adds : " An important question now arises in rela- tion to the age or geological period to which the three Walrus skulls, thus discovered on the coast of New Jersey and Virginia, belong. As they appear to be of the same species as the recent Trichechus rosmarus, wrhich once lived in great numbers in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, they are most probably the remains of individuals that were once floated upon fields of ice southerly, and left on the present United States coast. Or, perhaps they may be the remains of the same species which probably during the glacial period extended its habitation very far south of the latitude in which it has been found in the historic period."! In view of the now well-known former extension of the habitat of the Moose, Caribou, Eeindeer, Musk Ox, and other northern mammals, southward to Kentucky, the latter hypothesis seems the more probable one, and that the species in glacial times inhabited the eastern coast of the United States southward to Virginia, if not even beyond this point. More recently, Dr. Leidy has announced the occurrence of Walrus remains in the phosphate beds of Ashley Eiver, South Carolina, and has described and figured a tusk from that locality. * Trans Amer. Phil. Soc., vol. xi, pp. 83, 84. t Ibid., p. 84. 60 ODOB^ENUS ROSMARUS ATLANTIC WALRUS. "This specimen," lie says, "is as black as ebony, dense, heavy, and brittle, and is nearly complete, except at the thin border of the pulp cavity. The curvature is slight, and it indicates the tooth to be of the left side." He gives its dimensions or length externally, following the curvature, thirteen inches ; near the root it has an antero-posterior diameter of three and five-eighths inches, and a transverse diameter of one and three-fourths inches, and at the middle the transverse diameter is two and one-eighth inches, while the antero-posterior diameter is about the same as at the base. " In robust character," he adds, " the tusk quite equals those of the largest mature recent skulls which have come under my observation, but is much shorter and more ab- ruptly tapering. The specimen looks like what we might sup- pose the tusks of the living animal would be were they broken off near the middle and then worn away little more than one- fourth the length in a curved line deflected from the course of the anterior longitudinal convexity to the tip. The comparative brevity of the tusk and its worn condition at the end may per- haps have depended upon just such an accident and subsequent wear. In a mature skull from the shore of Sable Island, and preserved in the Museum of the Academy, the tusks, which are of the usual size, are worn in the same manner as the Ashley specimen for more than half their length." After describing in detail the fluting of the tusks, and the variation noticeable in this respect in different skull s of the liv- ing Walrus, he concludes that, while the fluting differs some- what in the fossil tusks from that usually seen in the tusks of the existing animal, these differences cannot be considered as having specific value. In referring to DeKay's " Triclieclim vir- ginianus? he says: "No remains of an undoubtedly extinct species known to me have been discovered anywhere." He finally adds, respecting the Ashley fossil, that " it is an inter- esting fact to have learned that this [the living] or a closely re- lated species formerly existed so far south as the Ashley Eiver, South Carolina."* The discovery of the greater part of the skeleton of a Walrus, including the skull, with the tusks over five inches long, and all the teeth except two, in the Quaternary Clays at Portland, Me., was made during July of the present year (1878). It was found in excavating for the foundation of the new "Boston & Maine" transfer station, at about seven feet from the surface. * Journ. Acacl. Nat, Sci. Pliila., 2d ser., vol. viii, 1877, pp. 214-216, pi. xxx, fig. 6. FOSSIL REMAINS. 61 " It was partially imbedded in a layer of blue clay a foot iii thick- ness, overlaid by a layer of lighter clay two feet two inches thick, containing casts and shells of Mya arenaria, Macoma subulosa, Mytylus edulis, Cardium (Serripes) grcenlandicum, Astarte trun- cata7 Saxicava distorta. Nucula antiqua, Leda tenuisulcata, L. truncate^ Natica clausa and pusilla, and Balanus. The skeleton is in the Museum of the Portland Society of Natural History."* In Europe, Walrus remains were reported by Cuvier t as found at Angers, France, but Gervais| found later that the only por- tion of those remains accessible to him belonged not to the Walrus, but to the Halitlierium. In 1858, however, a part of a cranium was described by Gra- tiolet, from the diluvial deposits of Montrouge, near Paris. He, however, considered it as distinct from the existing species, even generically, and gave it the name Odobenotlierium lartetianum.§ In 1874, a nearly entire skull was described by Defrance, from similar deposits near the village of Sainte-Menehould, Marne, which he not only considered as identical with the li ving species, but also referred the fragment previously described by Gratiolet to the same species. Eespecting these specimens he says : "En comparant entre elles les tetes du Tricliechus rosmarus de nos iners, de V Odobenotlierium Lartetianum et du Triclieclms de Sainte-Menehould, on leur trouve une ressemblance aussi com- plete que possible, sauf en ce qui concerne la forme et le vo- lume de 1'apophyse rnastoide, point qui presente des differences assez sensible. On sait que dans le T. rosmarus cette apophyse est tres-grande, presque verticale, et saillante la partie infe'- rieure du crane 5 celle de V Odobenotherium, egalement tres- volumineuse, se prolonge presque horizontalernent en arriere, sans d^passer le crane infexieurement ; celle du TricJiecJms de Sainte-Menehould presente un volume plus considerable encore que dans les deux autres, sans se prolonger en arriere comme dans V Odobenotlierium^ inais inferieurement comme dans le Triclieclms actuel. Ces nuances l^geres indiquent ^videmment une <5troite parent^ entre ces trois individus ; aussi est-il diffi- cile de comprendre que Gratiolet ait voulu e'tablir un nouveau genre sur des particularit^s pen accentu^e que celles que lui presentait la portion de crane dont il etait possesseur, et qui ne * American Naturalist, vol. xii, p. 633, Sept., 1878; see also Portfajid (Maine) Argus, of July — , 1878. tOssem. Foss. JZool. et Pale'ont. Francaises, 1859, p. 88. §Bull. Soc. G6ol. de France, 2e s6r., xv,f1858, p. 624. 62 ODOB^ENUS ROSMARUS — ATLANTIC WALRUS. sont d'ailleurs que des particularity relatives pour la plupart a Page et an sexe, ainsi que Fa etabli M. Gervais." * Van Benedent refers to Gratiolet's specimen at some length, giving its full history and exposing its true character. H e says : " On a trouv£ a Montrouge, pres de Paris, il y a quelques an- n£es, un crane dont on s'est beaucoup occupe et que Gratiolet a de"crit sous le nom d; ' Odobenothdre. Lartet Favait remis a Gratio- let. Nous avons examine cette tete avec tout le soin ne"cessaire et nous partageons completement Favis que M. Paul Gervais a exprime" a son sujet dans la Zoologie et la Paleontologie fran$aises (p. 88), c7est-a-dire, que ce crane fracture* et qui a subi 1'action du feu, n'est autre chose qu'un crane de Morse vivant qui e"t6 rapporte" du Nord. " Nous avons e"tudie cette piece avec M. Paul Gervais, ayant devant nous tons les elements de comparaison que possede le Museum et c'est apres avoir serieusernent he"site si FOdobe"- nothere est un Morse ou non, que nous nous somme range de Pavis de notre savant confrere. " Get Odobenothere repose sur un fragment de crane dont la cavite" c6rebrale a ete utilis^e pour un usage quelconque et qui aura ete apporte dans cet etat par quelque pecheur du Nord. C'est le cot6 droit et non le cdt6 gauche qui est conserve. " Celui qui se trouve devant ce fragment de crane et qui a devant lui un choix de sections des diverges regions de la tete, comprend aisement comment a pu se trornper. " I/importance que Le Hon a attached a la presence de cette tete dans le Diluvium rouge, tombe ainsi completement -7 a propos de la periode glaciaire, Le Hon avait accorde une grande valeur a cette pr^tendue decouverte de gratiolet." J Lankester, in 1865, described fossil tusks, from the Eed Crag of England, of an animal evidently closely allied to the Walrus. He enumerates no less than twelve or fifteen specimens of these remains, mostly fragments, collected from various localities, all from the so-called " Eed Crag w formation of England, or its equivalent. The principal localities are Button, Felixstow, and Bawdsey, in England, but he refers also to their occurrence at different points in Belgium. The majority of the specimens of the tusk obtained, writes Mr. Lankester, "are its pointed "Bull. Soc. G6ol. de France, 3e ser., ii, 1874, pp. 169, 170. t Descrip. des Ossements Fossiles des Environs d'Anvers, Ann. 'Mus. d'Hist. Nat. de Belgigue, i, 1877, pp. 40, 41. {"LE HON, Uliomme fosstte, 1867, p. 304. — ID., Mouvement des mcrs . . . . , p. 48, 1870." FOSSIL REMAINS. 63 terminations ; but other specimens, of the base and intermedi- ate portions, have come to light. Throughout its length," Mr. Lankester continues, " which in some examples must have been fully three feet, the tusk is slightly curved ; but in those which appear to be fully grown the curve is considerably greater towards the terminal point, the direction of the curve probably giving the tusk, if its Pinnigrade affinities be established, a retro-fleeted position, as in the Dinotherium. The Crag tusk is very much compressed laterally, so that its transverse sec- tion has an elliptical outline, whilst that of the Dlnotlierium- tusk is nearly circular. The amount of lateral compression is, however, extremely variable, as it is also in the living Wal- ruses; the amount also of the lateral as well as the antero- posterior flection of the tusk appears to vary, as in the recent TricheeuSj the variability of which in the size and form of its tusks is well known. A single large furrow on the outer sur- face, two on the inner, and one on the inner curved margin, ex- tend along the whole length of the tusk in many specimens, exactly similar to those on some tusks of Walrus ; but in both the recent and fossil specimens they are subject to much varia- tion, in their major or minor development. No appearance of any wearing of the point of the tusks by use during life is observa- ble 5 and indeed the greater backward curvature of that part seems to result from its freedom from usage, since in the Walrus the point of the tusk is rapidly worn away, which of course checks any tendency to curvature which might become appar- ent if the tusk were not used against such hard substances as rocks and blocks of ice. " From an examination of the general contour and form, of the tusks, without regard to their substance or structure, one would unquestionably be led to regard them as belonging to an animal similar to the existing Walrus, inasmuch as it is in this animal alone that this form of tusk, with its longitudinal furrows, great length, and gentle curvature, is found.'7 After describing in detail the structure of these fossil tusks, as shown in sections and as revealed by the microscope, Mr. Lankester further observes : " In its microscopical structure, the dentine of the fossil tusks presents a complete resemblance to that of the Walrus.* .... The dentinal tubes are very * Their microscopical structure, as well as external form, are illustrated by numerous figures, forming plates x and xi, accompanying Mr. Laiikes- ter's paper. 64 ODOB^ENUS EOSMARUS — -ATLANTIC WALRUS. nearly of the same size, and equally closely packed, and are connected with stellate lacunae in some numbers near the peri- phery of the tooth. This structure, which is not peculiar to the Walrus, is, nevertheless, a test of affinity, inasmuch as the form of the lacunae varies in different animals. They are not met with in the tusks of the Proboscidea or the Hippopotamus, but occur in the curious incisors of the Dugong. The i deiitinal cells 7 of the Crag tusks also resemble those of the Walrus In structure the cement exactly resembles that of the Walrusr displaying vascular canals, bone-lacunae, and canaliculi, of the same form and disposition • but the proportion which it bears to the thickness of the other tooth-tissues appears to be larger in the Walrus than in the fossil. " From the foregoing remarks it will be apparent that we have in these fossil tusks characters which ally them most closely to the large canines of the genus Trichecus." After enumerating the points of form and structure which distinguish these tusks from those of other animals, and those which assimilate them to those of the Walrus, he thus generalizes the results of his investiga- tions : " Lastly, they resemble the large canine tusks of the living Trichecus in their curvature, varying lateral compression, large surface-furrows, short and wide pulp-cavity, globular 4 osseo-dentine7, and every detail of minute structure. They differ from them in their greater curvature at the point of the tusk, their greater lateral compression, and minor development of cement. " I accordingly propose to establish the genus Trichecodon to receive the animal thus indicated. The justification of a gen- eric separation must be sought in the fact of the great antiquity of the Bed Crag, and the consequent probability of the associ- ation of other and more distinctive attributes with those of the tusks." As regards its geological position and associations, Mr. Lan • kester adds: " It appears that the Trichecodon Huxley i, like the Cetacean remains of the Crag and large Sharks' teeth, is a derived fossil in the Eed Crag, belonging properly to the Middle Crag, which is riot now observable in this country [Eng- land], but is well developed at and near Antwerp."* It thus appears that Mr. Larikester was as much, or more, in- fluenced in his generic differentiation of these fossils from their * Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society of London, xxi, 18C5, pp 226-231. GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION. 65 nearest living allies, by the geological evidence of their antiq- uity as by the actually observed and admittedly slight differ- ences of form and structure. Mr. Lankester does not inform us respecting the locality whence came his specimens of the tusks of the living Walrus with which he compared the fossil tusks. In this connection it may be added (see further on this point the account of Odobcenus obesus given beyond) that the tusks of the Pa- cific species ( Odobcenus obesus) are not only longer and slenderer than those of the Atlantic species (0. rosmarus), but are sharper- pointed and more incurved, and do not present the worn and broken appearance so often (indeed, usually) seen in the tusks of old individuals of the latter. Whether or not they present differences of structure has not, so far as known to me, been microscopically determined. The tusks of the Pacific species, furthermore, sometimes attain the size indicated for the tusks of " Trichecodon Uuxleyi." For the present I must consider Lan- kester's Tricliecodon huxleyi as certainly not generically separ- able from the existing Walruses, although it may have differed from the existing Atlantic species in larger size and possibly in other characters, as so often happens among the immediate pro- genitors of existing species in other groups of mammals. Van Beneden has recently reviewed at considerable length the history of the supposed and actual fossil remains of the Walrus,* showing that most of those reported as found in differ- ent parts of France and Germany were really those of different species of extinct Sirenians or other animals than the Walrus. Van Beneden, however, describes and figures a dorsal vertebra he considers as that of the Walrus, found near Deurne, and a sca- phoid bone from Anvers. GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION, PRESENT AND PAST. — 1. Coast of North America. — As already shown (antea, pp. 57-61), the Walrus, like the Musk Ox, the Caribou, and the Moose, ranged during the great Ice Period much beyond the southern limit of its boundary at the time the eastern coast of North America was first visited by Europeans. While its remains have been found as far south as New Jersey, Virginia, and even South Carolina, there is no evidence of its existence on the New Eng- land coast within historic time, or during the last three hun- dred and fifty years. During the last half of the sixteenth cen- tury they are known to have frequented the southern coast of * Ann. Mus. d'Hist. Nat. de Belgique, i, 1877, pp. 3^-42. Misc. Pub. No. 12 5 66 ODOB^NUS ROSMARUS — ATLANTIC WALRUS. Nova Scotia, as well as the shores and islands to the northward 5 but this appears to have been at that time their southern limit of distribution. In May, 1534, they were met with by James Cartier, about the island of "Eamea" (probably Sable Island), who thus refers to them: "About the said Island [Eainea] are very greate beastes as great as oxen, which have two great teeth in their mouths like unto Elephants teeth, & live also in the Sea. We saw them sleeping upon the banke of the water: wee think- ing to take it, went with our boates, but so soone as he heard us, he cast himselfe into the sea." * They were afterward hunted here for their tusks and oil. Thus Eichard Fischer, in speaking of the same island, says : " On which Isle [of Eamea] are so great abundance of the huge and mightie Sea Oxen with great teeth in moneths of April, May and June, that there have bene fifteene hundreth killed there by one small barke, in the year 1591." t The same writer tells us that George Drake, two years later, "found a shippe of Saint Malo three parts freighted with these fishes." Another writer says that he had seen a "dry flat full at once" of their teeth, "which are a foote and sometimes more in length." They also, at about the same time, frequented the so-called " Bird Islands " off Cape Breton. Says Charles Leigh : " Upon the lesse of these Islands of Birds we saw greate store of Morsses or Sea Oxen, which were a sleepe upon the rockes: but when we approached nere unto them with our boate they cast themselves into the sea and pursued us with such furie as that we were glad to flee from them." It is later said that the number of these " Sea Oxen " was "about thirty or forty. "J From the accounts of other writers we learn that these "Sea Oxen" were accustomed to resort to these various islands during April, May, and June, for the purpose of bringing forth their young. Thus, " Thomas James of Bristoll," in speaking of the ^ Isle of Eamea," says it was situated "in 47 degrees, some fiftie leagues from the Grand Bay, neere Newfoundland : and is about twentie leagues about, and some part of the Island is flat Sands and shoulds : and the fish commeth on banke (to do their kinde) in April, May & June, by numbers of thousands, which fish is very big : and hath two great teeth: and the skinne of them is like Buffes leather: and they will not away from their yong ones. The yong ones are * Hakluyt, Voyages, vol. iii, p. 254. tlbid., p. 238. t Ibid., pp. 242, 249. GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION. 67 as good meat as Veale. And with the bellies of five of the saide fishes they make a hogshead of Traine, which Traine is very sweet, which if it will make sope, the king of Spaine may burne some of his Olive trees." * Charlevoix also alludes to the Walrus fishery at Sable Island, which the English at one time established there, but says it was soon abandoned, being found unprofitable.! Molineux Shuldham has left us quite a full account (and one that has been often quoted) of the habits of these animals, and of the wholesale destruction by which they were speedily extirpated from the Atlantic coast south of Labrador. This account, writ- ten in 1775, says: "The sea-cow is a native of the Magdalen Islands, St. John's, and Anticosti in the Gulph of St. Lawrence. They resort very early in the spring to the former of these places, which seems to be by nature particularly adapted to the wants of these animals, abounding with clams of a very large size, and the most convenient landing-places, called Echouries. Here they crawl up in great numbers, and sometimes remain for fourteen days together without food, when the weather is fair; but on the first appearance of rain, they immediately retreat to the water with great precipitation. They are, when out of the water, very unwieldy, and move with great difficulty. They weigh from 1500 to 2000 pounds, producing, according to their size, from one to two barrels of oil, which is boiled out of a fat substance that lies between the skin and the flesh. Im- mediately on their arrival they calf, and engender again about two months after ; so that they carry their young about nine months. They never have more than two at a time, and seldom more than one. " The echouries are formed principally by nature, being a grad- ual slope of soft rock, with which the Magdalen Islands abound; about 80 to 100 yards wide at the water side, and spreading so as to contain, near the summit, a very considerable number. Here they are suffered to come and amuse themselves for a con- siderable time, till they acquire a boldness, being at their first landing so exceedingly timid as to make it impossible for any person to approach them. In a few weeks they assemble in great numbers ; formerly, when undisturbed by the Americans, to the amount of seven or eight thousand ; and the form of the echourie not allowing them to remain contiguous to the water, the foremost ones are insensibly pushed above the slope. When * Hakluyt, Voyages, vol. iii, p. 237. t Charlevoix, vol. v, p. 216. 68 ODOB^ENUS ROSMARUS — ATLANTIC WALRUS. they are arrived to a convenient distance the fishermen, having provided the necessary apparatus, take the advantage of a sea wind, or a breeze blowing rather obliquely on the shore, to prevent the smelling of these animals (who have that sense in great perfection, contributing to their safety), and with the as- sistance of very good dogs, endeavour in the night time to sepa- rate those that are the farthest advanced from those next the water, driving them different ways. This they call making a cut, and is generally looked upon to be a most dangerous process, it being impossible to drive them in any particular direction, and difficult to avoid them ; but as they are advanced above the slope of the echourie, the darkness of the night de- prives them of every direction to the water, so that they stray about and are killed at leisure, those that are nearest the shore being the first victims. In this manner there has been killed fifteen or sixteen hundred at one cut. They then skin them, and take off a coat of fat that always surrounds them, which they dissolve by heat into oil. The skin is cut into slices of two or three inches wide, and exported to America for carriage traces, and to England for glue. The teeth is an inferior sort of ivory, and is manufactured for the same purposes, but soon turns yellow."* According to Dr. A. S. Packard, jr., its bones are still found at the localities mentioned by Shuldham. "According to tra- dition," he further says, "it also inhabited some of the harbors of Cape Breton ; and I have been informed by a fisherman in Maine, whose word I do not doubt, that on an islet near Cape Sable, Nova Scotia [probably the "Isle of Bamea" of the early voyagers already quoted], its bones are found abundantly on the sandy shore, fifteen to twenty feet above the sea. In the St. Lawrence Gulf they were exterminated during the middle of the last century. The last one seen or heard of in the Gulf, so far as I can ascertain, was killed at St. August- ine, Labrador, twenty -five years since. One was seen at Square Island fifteen years since, and two shortly before that, and another was killed at the same place about eight years since. I saw the head of a young Walrus, which was found floating, dead, having been killed, apparently by a harpoon, in the drift ice north of Belle Isle."t Dr. J. Bernard Gilpin, writing a few years later (in 1869), in referring to the former occurrence of the Walrus on the shores * Phil. Trans., vol. Ixv, p. 249. t Proc. Bost. Soc. Nat. Hist., vol. x, 1866, p. 271. GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION. 69 and islands of the Gulf of St. Lawrence, says: "At Miscou, Bay Chaleur, Perley found only their bones, but in such numbers as to form artificial sea beaches. These were doubtless victims of l The Eoyal Company of Miscou', founded during the earlier part of the seventeenth century, by the King of France, and whose ephemeral city of New Eochelle, numbering at one time some thousands, has passed away leaving no sign. The mur- dered Sea-horses have left a more enduring monument than the murderers." He further adds: "Though we have no accounts later than the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries of their inhabiting Sable Island, yet it is very probable that they continued to resort there until they entirely left these latitudes. Its difficulty of access, its being uninhabited, and its sandy bars fringed with a ceaseless surf, point it out as their last hold."* Dr. Gilpin also records the capture of a Walrus in the Straits of Belle Isle, Labrador, in March, 1869, which was dragged on the ice for five miles, and then taken by ship to St. John's, Newfoundland, and thence to Halifax, Nova Scotia, where it was described and figured by Dr. Gilpin.t Mr. Eeeksf states that a "specimen was driven ashore in St. George's Bay," New- foundland, about 1868, and alludes to the frequent occurrence of their bones along the Newfoundland coast. It is still an inhabitant of the shores of Hudson's Bay, Davis Strait, and Greenland, where, however, its numbers are annu- ally decreasing. In Greenland, according to Mr. Eobert Brown (writing of its distribution in 1867), "it is found all the" year round, but not south of Eifkol, in lat. 65°. In an inlet called Irsortok it collects in considerable numbers, to the terror of the natives, who have to pass that way. ... It has been found as far north as the Eskimo live, or explorers have gone. On the western shores of Davis's Strait it is not uncommon about Pond's, Scott's, and Home Bays, and is lolled in considerable numbers by the natives. It is not now found in such numbers as it once was ; and no reasonable man who sees the slaughter to which it is subject in Spitzbergen and elsewhere can doubt that its days are numbered. It has already become extinct in several places where it was once common. Its utter extinction is a foregone conclusion."§ *Proc. and Trans. Nova Scotia Inst. Nat. Sci., vol. ii, pt. 3, pp. 126-127. tlbid., pp. 123-127, with a plate. t Zoologist, 1871, 2550. $ Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., 1868, p. 433. 70 ODOB^NUS ROSMARUS ATLANTIC WALRUS. Kane and Hayes, during the years 1853 to 1855, found the Walrus very abundant about Port Foulke, on the western coast of Greenland, in latitude 79°, but they seein to have, since that date, greatly decreased in numbers along the whole of the Greenland coast. Captain Feilden, in his paper on the "Mam- malia of North Greenland and Grinnell Land," observed in 1875 by the British Arctic Expedition, after alluding to their former abundance about Port Foulke, as observed by Kane and Hayes, says: " Curiously enough, we did not see one of these animals in the vicinity of Port Foulke nor in Smith Sound, until we reached Franklin Pierce Bay. There, in the vicinity of Nor- man Lockyer Island, we saw several Walruses, and killed two or three. . . . Near Cape Fraser I saw a single Walrus; but as far as my observation goes, it does not proceed further north than the meeting of the Baffin Bay and Polar tides near the above mentioned Cape." * Mr. Ludwig Kurnlien, naturalist of the Howgate Polar Ex- pedition of 1877, states :t "The Walrus is quite common about Cape Mercy and the southern waters of Cumberland Sound, but at the present day rarely strays up the Sound. Their re- mains, however, are by no means rare, even in the greater Kingwah, and many of the old Eskimo hut foundations contain the remains of this animal. The Eskimo say they got mad and left. Certain it is, they are found around Annanactook only as stragglers at the present day. Considerable numbers were observed on pieces of floating ice near Cape Mercy, in July. About Nugumeute they are largely hunted by the Eskimo living there." Respecting their occurrence more to the southward, on the Greenland coast, Dr. Eink states: "The Walrus is only rarely met with along the coast, with the exception of the tract between 66° and 68° N. lat., where it occurs pretty numerously at times. The daring task of entering into contest with this animal from the kayak on the open sea forms a regular sport to the natives of Kangamiut in 66° N. lat. The number yearly killed has not been separately calculated, . . . but they can hardly exceed 200." f The westernmost point at which it has been observed is said to be the western shore of Hudson's Bay. Mr. J. C. Eoss states it to be an inhabitant of the west coast of Baffin's Bay and * The Zoologist, 3d ser., vol. i, p. 360, September, 1877. t In MSS. notes lie has kindly placed at my disposal. J Danish Greenland, its People and its Products, pp. 126-127, 1877. GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION. 71 Repulse Bay, and to be occasionally met with in the northern part of Prince Begent's Inlet, but says it is unknown to the natives of Boothia.* Dr. Richardson says : " The Walruses were very numerous at Igloolik and on the other parts of the coast to the eastward of the Fury and Hecla's Strait. They are not found, however, at the mouth of the Copper Mine River, although the black whale had been sometimes drifted thither." f He also refers to its being unknown to the Eskimos of the Coppermine and Mackenzie Rivers. J ISTo species of Walrus appears to have ever been seen on the Arctic coast of America between the 97th and 158th meridians, or for a distance of about sixty degrees of longitude. 2. Coast of Europe. — On the western shores of Europe the Wal- rus has been taken at no remote date as far south as Scotland,§ and Mr. Robert Brown, in 1868, stated that he suspected it to be a "not unfrequent visitor " to the less frequented portions of the Scottish shores, he considering it probable that " not a few of the < Sea-horses 7 and < Sea-cows ? which every now and again terrify the fishermen on the shores of the wild western Scottish lochs, and get embalmed among their folk-lore, may be the Walrus." 1 1 Fleming states that one was killed in the Sound of Stockness, on the east coast of Harris, in December, 1817, fl while another, according to Macgillivray and others, was killed in Orkney in June, 1825.** Mr. R. Brown adds that one was seen in Orkney in 1857, and another in Nor' Isles about the same time, ft It appears to have never occurred in Iceland, ex- cept as a rare straggler. Many years ago they are said to have lived on the shores of Finmark, and at a much later date to have abounded on some of the islands on^this coast. Mr. Larnont says: " We learn from the voyage of Ohthere, which was per- formed about a thousand years ago, that the Walrus then abounded on the coast of Finmarken itself; they have, however, abandoned that coast for some centuries, although individual stragglers have been occasionally captured there up to within * Ross's 2d Voy., App., 1835, p. xxi. t Suppl. Parry's 2d Voy., p. 338. t Zoology of Beechey's Voyage, Mam., 1839, p. 6. $ Hector Boece's History of Scotland, as quoted by British zoologists. || Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., 1868, p. 433. II British Animals, p. 19. **Ediub. New Phil. Jonrn., vol. ii, p. 389; British Quad., Jard. Nat. Libr., Mam., vol. vii, p. 223. See also Bell, Hamilton, etc., 1. c. ttProc. Zool. Soc. Lond., 1868, p. 433. 72 ODOB^ENUS ROSMARUS — ATLANTIC WALRUS. the last thirty [now about forty-six] years. [*] After their desertion of the Finmarken coast, Bear Island [or Cherie Island, lying about two hundred and eighty miles north of the North Cape] became the principal scene of their destruction ; and next the Thousand Islands [southeast of Spitzbergen], Hope Island [a little further north, but still in the southeast corner], and Eyk Yse Island, which in their turn are now very inferior hunting-ground to the banks and skerries lying to the north of Spitzbergen. " Fortunately for the persecuted Walruses, however, these lat- ter districts are only accessible in open seasons, or perhaps once in three or four summers, so that they get a little breathing time there to breed and replenish their numbers, or undoubt- edly the next twenty or thirty years would witness the total extinction of Eosmarus trichecus on the coasts of the islands of Northern Europe. " The Walrus is also found all round the coasts of Nova Zem- bla, but not in such numbers as at Spitzbergen j and he under- goes, if possible, more persecution in those islands from some colonies of Russians or Samoiedes, who, I am told, regularly winter in Nova Zembla for the purpose of hunting and fish- ing.''! " The war of extermination," says Mr. Lainont, in his later work, " which has been carried on for many years in Spitzber- gen and Novaya Zeinlya has driven all the Arctic fauna [mam- mals] from their old haunts, and, in seeking retreats more inac- cessible to man,* it is probable that they have had in some degree to alter their habits. For example, up to about twenty years ago it was customary for all Walrus-hunters to entertain a reasonable hope that by waiting till late in the season all for- mer ill-luck might be compensated in a few fortunate hours by killing some hundreds on shore ; in fact, favorite haunts were well known to the fishers, and were visited successively before finally leaving the hunting-grounds. Now, although the Arctic seas are explored by steamers and visited annually by as bold and enterprising hunters as formerly, such a windfall as a herd of Walruses ashore is seldom heard of. " Each year better found vessels and more elaborate weapons * Mr. Lament lias since reported the capture of a large bull "in Magero Sound near the North Cape about 1868." — Yachting in the Arctic Seas, p. 58, footnote. t Seasons with the Sea-horses, pp. 167, 168. GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION. 73 are sent out to harry the Walrus ; as a consequence every sea- son there is greater difficulty in obtaining a cargo — for two rea- sons, those animals which have ventured into what was safe feed- ing-ground last year meet their enemy, and half are killed, while the other half escaping will be found next year a step farther away. This intelligent retreating of the Walrus before a supe- rior enemy will, I believe, preserve the species after its scarcity in accessible waters renders it no longer an object of sport and commerce. That the Walrus, ... is being driven from every district where the hand of man is felt, is certain."* Mr. Alfred Newton, writing in 1864, respecting their former presence on the coasts of Finmark, and their distribution at that date, observes : " I see no reason to doubt the assertion, or per- haps it would be safer to say the inference, that in former days Walruses habitually frequented the coasts of Finrnark. In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries they were certainly abund- ant about Bear Island ; they are spoken of there as i lying like hogges upon heaps,' [t] . . . ; yet for the last thirty years prob- ably not one has been seen there. Now they are hemmed in by the packed ice of the Polar Sea on the one side and their merciless enemies on the other. The result cannot admit of any doubt. .... Its numbers are apparently decreasing with woful ra- pidity. The time is certainly not very far distant when the Tricliechus rosmarus will be as extinct in the Spitzbergen seas as Ehytina yiyas is in those of Behring's Straits." J In Eichard Chancellor's account of his " disco verie of Mos- covia," in 1553-1554, we read : u To the North part of that Coun- trey are the places where they have their Furres, as Sables, Marterns, greese Bevers, Foxes white, blacke, and red, Minkes, Ermines, Minivers, and Harts. There are also a fishes teeth, which fish is called a Morsse. The takers thereof dwell in a place called Postesora, which bring them upon Harts to Lam- pas to sell, and from Lampas carrie them to a place called Col- mogro, where the high Market is holden on Saint Nicolas day."§ On Hondius's map of Eussia accompanying this account Lam- pas is placed on the White Sea, near the mouth of the Dwina Eiver. * Yachting in the Arctic Seas, 1876, pp. 59, 60. t [ " It seemed very strange to us," says Jonas Poole, in his account of his visit to Cherie Island in 1604, "to see such a multitude of monsters of the Sea, lye like hogges upon heapes." — Purchas Ms Pilgrimes, vol. iii, p. 557.] t Proc. Zool. Soc. Loud., 1864, p. 500. § Purchas his Pilgrimes, vol. iii, pp. 213, 214. 74 ODOBJENUS ROSMARUS ATLANTIC WALRUS. The Walruses appear to have been first met with on Cherie- Island in 1603, and to have become nearly exterminated there within a very few years. The history of their destruction there and at Spitsbergen during the early part of the seventeenth century is given in the following excerpts : "In the yeare 1603. Stephen Bennet was imployed by the Companie,* in a Ship called the Grace, to those parts Northwards of the Cape [" of Norway"], and was at Cherie Hand and killed some Sea-horses, and brought home Lead Oare from thence . . . " Heere it is to bee understood, that the Companie having by often resort and imployinent to those parts, observed the great number of Sea-horses at Cherie Hand, and likewise the multi- tude of Whales, that shewed themselves upon the coast of Greenland [now Spitsbergen] ; They first applyed themselves to the killing of Morces, which they continued from yeere to yeere with a Ship or two yeerely, in which Ships the Coinpanie ap- pointed Thomas Welden Commander, and in the yeere 1609. the Companie imployed one Thomas Edge their Apprentice, for their Northern Voyage, and joyned him in Commission with the fore- sayd Welden. Now the often using of Cherie Hand, did make the Sea-horse grow scarce and decay, which made the Companie looke out for further Discoveries.''! During the expedition of 1604, Jonas Poole, who has left an account of the " Divers Voyages to Cherie Hand in the yeeres 1604, 1605, 1606, 1608, 1609," says that as they approached Cherie Island, "We had not furled our Sayles, but we saw many Morses swimming by our ship, and heard withall so huge a noyse of roaring, as if there had beene an hundred Lions. Immediately wee manned our Boate. . . . wee landed, and saw abundance of Morses on thes hoare, close by the Sea-side." etc. They attacked them with muskets, " not knowing whither they could runne swiftly or seize upon us or no." Owing to in- experience, they succeeded in killing only fifteen out of " above a thousand," but secured a hogshead of teeth, which they picked up 011 the shore. Two days later they found, on another part of the island, " neere a thousand Morses," of which they killed " thirtie or thereabouts, and when wee had taken off their heads. we went aboard." The next day they went on shore again and * Incorporated some time prior to the year 1556, under the name "The Mer- chants of England/' and called also the "Muscovia Merchants " and the "Muscovia Companie." t Purchas his Pilgrimes, vol. iii, p. 464. GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION. 75 " fell a killing of the beasts. . . . We killed that day six- ty Morses, all the heads whereof were very principall." They departed soon after for England. The next year (1605) they returned to Cherie Island. On the 8th of July, says the account, " we entred into a Cove, having all our men on shoare with shot and javelins, and slue abundance of Morses. The yeere before we slue all with shot, not think- ing that a javelin could pierce their skinnes : which we found now contrarie, if they be well handled, for otherwise, a man may thrust with all his force and not enter : or if he doe enter, he shall spoyle his Lance upon their bones ; for they will strike with their fore-feet and bend a Lance round and breake it, if it bee not all the better plated. They will also strike with their Teeth at him that is next them : but because their Teeth grow downward, their strokes are of small force and danger." They took in " eleven tunnes of Oyle, and the teeth of all the beasts aforesaid." The following year (1606) they again set out for Cherie Island* arriving there July 3. They found the ice still about the island, and the Walruses not yet on shore ; " For their nature is such, that they will not come on land as long as any Ice is about the land." On the 14th they perceived on shore " of the beasts sufficient to make our voyage, wee prepared to goe killing. Master Welden and Master Bennet appointed mee to take eleven men with rnee, and to goe beyond the beasts where they lay 5 that they and wee might meet at the middest of them, and so enclose them, that none of them should get into the Sea, . . . . and before six houres were ended, we had slayne about seven or eight hundred Beasts. . . . For ten dayes space we plyed our businesse very hard, and brought it almost to an end." They took in " two and twentie tuns of the Oyle of the Morses, and three hogsheads of their Teeth." In 1608 they again reached Cherie Island toward the end of June, and onthe22d "came into a Cove where the Morses were, and slew about 900. or 1000. of them in less than seven houres: and then we plied our business untill the second of July : at what time we had taken into our ship 22. tunnes and three hogs- heads of Oyle." On their return they took with them two live young Walruses, one of which lived till they reached London.* The voyage in 1609 was less successful. They slew at one time eighty, at another one hundred and fifty, and at still an- *Purchas his Pilgrimes, vol. iii, pp. 557-560. 76 ODOB^NUS ROSMARTJS ATLANTIC WALRUS. other time forty-five j but they lost most of them in consequence of bad weather. " In the yeere 1610. the Companie set out two Ships, viz. the Lionesse for Clierie Hand, Thomas Edge Com- mander ; and the Amitie, for a Northerne Discoverie, the Mas- ter of which ship was Jonas Poole : who in the moneth of May fell with a Land, and called it Greenland, this is the Land that was discovered by Sir Hugh Willougliby long before [Spetsberg of the Hollanders], which Ship A nitie continued upon the coast of Greenland, discovering the Harbours and killing of Morces [the first killed by the English on Spitsbergen], untill the moneth of August, and so returned for England, having gotten about some twelve Tunnes of goods, and an Unicornes home. " In the yeere 1611. the Oompanie set foorth two Ships, the Marie Margaret Admirall, burthen one hundred and sixtie tunnes, Thomas Edge Commander ; and the Elizabeth, burthen sixtie tunnes, Jonas Poole Master, well manned and furnished with all necessarie Provisions, they departed from Blackwall the twentieth of Aprill, and arrived at the Foreland in Green- land in the Latitude of 79. degrees, the twentieth of May fol- lowing, the Admirall had in her six Biskayners expert men for the killing of the Whale : this was the first yeere the Compa- nie set out for the killing of Whales in Greenland, and about the twelfth of June the Biskayners killed a small Whale, which yeelded twelve Tunnes of Oyle, being the first Oyle that ever was made in Greenland. The Companies two Shalops looking about the Harbour for Whales, about the five and twentieth of June rowing into Sir Thomas Smith his Bay, on the East side of the Sound saw on the shoare great store of Sea-horses : after they had found the Morses they presently rowed unto the ship, being in crosseKoad seven leagues off, and acquainted the Cap- tayne what they had found. The Captayne understanding of it, gave order to the Master, Stephen Bennet, that he should take into his Ship fiftie tunnes of emptie Caske, and set sayle with the Ship to goe into Foule Sound. The Captayne went pres- ently away in one Shallop with sixe men unto the Seamorse, and tooke with him Lances, and comming to them they set on them and killed five hundred Morses, and kept one thousand Morses living on shoare, because it was not profitable to kill them all at one time. The next day the Ship being gone unto the place & well mored where the Morse were killed, all the men belonging to the Ship went on shoare, to worke and make Oyle of the Morses ; and when they had wrought two or three dayes, GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION. 77 it fortuned that a small quantitie of Ice come out of Foule Sound, and put the Ship from her Moring. . . . The Ship being cast away without hope of recoverie, the Commander Thomas Edge gave order, that all the Morse living on shoare shoold be let goe into the Sea, and so gave over making of Oyle. . . ." Fitting up their boats as well as they could they soon after abandoned the coast of Spitzbergen ("Green- land"), and set sail for Cherie Island, where they found the "Elizabeth" and returned to Spitzbergen "to take in such Goods as the sayd Edge had left in Foule Sound, woorth fifteene hundred pounds."* As early as the year 1611, the previous persecutions of the Walruses at Cherie Island had made them very wary. Thomas Finch, in his account of a visit to this island by William Gour- don in August of that year, says: "At our comming to the Hand, wee had three or foure dayes together very fine weather : in which time came in reasonable store of Morses, . . . yet by no meanes would they go on those beaches and places, that formerly they have been killed on. But fortie or fiftie of them together, went into little holes within the Eocke, which were so little, steepe and slipperie, that as soone as wee did approach towards them, they would tumble all into the sea. The like whereof by the Masters and William Gourdons report, was never done."t During the years 1612, 1613, 1614, and 1615, numerous vessels were sent out from England to Spitzbergen for the products of the Walruses and Whales, but generally met with indifferent success, being much troubled with Spanish, Dutch, and Dan- ish " interlopers." " In the yeere 1616, the Companie set out for Greenland eight Sayle of great ships, and two Pinnasses under the command of Thomas Edge, who following his course, arrived in. Greenland about the fourth of June, having formerly appointed all his ships for their severall Harbours, for their making of their Voy- age upon the Whale, and having in every Harbour a sufficient number of expert men, and all provisions fitting for such a Voy- age. This yeere it pleased God to blesse them by their labours, that they full laded all their ships with Oyle, and left an over- plus in the Countrey, which their ships could not take in. They imployed this yeere a small Pinnasse unto the East- ward part of Greenland, Namely, the Hand called now Edges Hand, *Purclias liis Pilgrimes, vol. iii, pp. 464, 465 tlbid., p. 536. 78 ODOB^ENUS ROSMARUS ATLANTIC WALRUS. and other Hands lying to the North-wards as farre as seventie eight degrees, this Pinnasse was some twentie tunnes, and had twelve men in her, who killed one thousand Sea-horses on Edges Hand, and brought all their Teeth home for London." In 1017, they " employed a ship of sixtie tunnes, with twenty men in her, who discovered to the Eastward of Greenland, as farre North- wards as seventy-nine degrees, and an Hand which he named Witches Hand, and divers other Hands as by the Map appeareth, and killed store of Sea-horses there . . ."* The Dutch, Danes, and Spaniards began, in 1612, also to visit Spitzbergen in pursuit of Whales and Sea-horses, but are reported by the English to have made indifferent voyages. The company soon also had rivals in the "Hull-men," who, as well as the Dutch, did them much "ill service."! About the years 1611 and 1612, the Whale-fishery was found to be more profitable than Walrus-hunting, and subsequently became the main pursuit, not only by the English, but by the Dutch and Danes. Yet the Walruses were by no means left wholly unmolested, having been constantly hunted, with more or less persistency, down to the present day, and, as already shown, were long since exterminated from Cherie Island and other smaller islands more to the northward, and greatly re- duced in numbers on the shores of Spitzbergen. Walruses have been recently reported as occurring on the outer or northwestern coast of Nova Zembla, but as not exist- ing on the inner or southeastern coast. Yon Baer, on the au- thority of S. Gr. Gmelin and others, gave the eastern limit of the distribution of the Atlantic Walruses as the mouth of the Jene- sei Eiver, though very rarely single individuals wandered as far eastward as the Piasina Eiver. He even regarded the Gulf of Obi as almost beyond their true home.J Von Middendorff, however, considers von Baer's eastern limit as incorrect, and cites old Kussian manuscript log-books ("handschriftliche Schiffsblicher") in proof of their occurrence in numbers in Au- gust, 1736, as far east as the eastern Taimyr Peninsula, and of their being met with in August, 1739, as far east as Chatanga Bay. Still further eastward, in the vicinity of the mouth of the Lena Eiver, he gives similar authority for their occurrence in August, 1735, and says that Dr. Figurin attests their presence *Purchas Ms Pilgrimes, vol. iii, p. 467. tlbid., pp. 472, 473. tM6m. de PAcad. des Sci. de St. P<5tersb., vic s6r.? Sci. math., phys. etnat., tome iv, 2dc pars, pp. 174, 184. GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION. 79 on the shores of the delta-islands of the Lena. Eespecting the more easterly coast of the Siberian Ice Sea, he says it is cer- tainly known that the Walruses of Behring's Sea extend west- ward in great numbers to Koljutschin Island. Only the males, however, reach this limit, the females not extending beyond the vicinity of the mouth of the Kolyma Eiver.* It hence appears that about 1735 to 1739 Walruses were met with as far eastward as the mouth of the Lena Eiver 5 but Wrangell, nearly a century later, explored quite thoroughly this whole region without meeting with them, and I have found only one reference to their existence on the Siberian coast be- tween the Kolyma and Jenesei Eivers later than those cited by von Middendorff. According to a recent letter t from Professor Nordenskjold, of the Swedish Northeast Passage Expedition, "two Walruses" were seen in August, 1878, a little to the eastward of the Jenesei Eiver, and that open water was found as far as the mouth of the Lena. From this it would seem that there is nothing to prevent, at least in favorable years, the W^alruses from passing eastward to the mouth of the Lena. There still remains, how- ever, a breadth of some thirty degrees of longitude (between 130° and 160°) where as yet no Walruses have been seen. They appear to have been only very rarely met with to the eastward of the Jenesei (longitude 82° E.), and to be uncommon east of the Gulf of Obi. At present the Atlantic Walrus ranges along the northeast- ern coast of North America from Labrador northward to Ee- pulse Bay and Prince Eegentfs Inlet, and along the shores of Greenland $ in the Old World only about the islands and in the icy seas to the northward of Eastern Europe and the neigh- boring portions of Western Asia, where it rarely, if ever, now visits the shores of the continent. On the eastern coast of North America, Walruses have been met with as far north as explorers have* penetrated, and as far as the Esquimaux live. They winter as far north as they can find open water, retiring southward in autumn before the ad- vance of the unbroken ice-sheet. Kane speaks of their remain- ing in Eenssellaer Harbor (latitude 78° 37') in 1853, till the sec- ond week of September, when the temperature reached zero of Fahrenheit. | *Von MiddcndorfFs Sibirische Reise, Bd. iv, 1867, pp. 935, 936. t See Nature, vol. xix, p. 102, December 5, 1878. \ Arctic Exploration, vol. i, p. 140. 80 ODOBvENUS EOSMARUS — ATLANTIC WALRUS. NOMENCLATURE. — Several specific names have been in more or less current use for the Atlantic Walrus, or rather for the Atlantic and Pacific species collectively. Accepting Odobamus as the proper generic name of the group, there is nothing to prevent the adoption of rosmarus for the specific name of the Atlantic species. It was used for this species exclusively by Linne, Erxlebeu, and other early systematic writers, the Pacific Walrus being at that time unknown tq the sy stematist s. If Ros • marus be used as the generic name of the group, as it has been by a few late writers, as a substitute for the wholly untenable one of Trichechus, it will be, of course, necessary to adopt some other name for the species. Dr. Gill has used obesus of Illiger ; but as this was applied by Illiger exclusively to the Pacific Wal- rus, it cannot properly be used for the Atlantic species. It would be difficult to select a subsequent name that would not be open to objection, if one should stop short of trichechus, used (inadvertently"?) in a specific sense ("Rosmarus triclieclius") by Lamont in 1861. The name longidem of Fremery, 1831, was based on what subsequent writers have considered as probably the female, but the name is highly inappropriate, inasmuch as it is the Pacific species, and not the Atlantic, that has the longer tusks. There are left virginianus of DeKay and dubius of Stannius : the first is objectionable on account of its geograph- ical significance ; the other is only doubtfully referable to the Atlantic species. Adopting Odobccnus for the genus, leaves rosmarus available for the species, thus settling the whole diffi- culty. As already noticed (antea, p. 20), two species besides virgi- nianus have been based on fossil remains, and have been made the basis of new genera. The first of these is the Odobenothe- rium lartetianum of Gratiolet, since referred by Defrance to the existing species ; the other is the Trichecodon liuxleyi of Lan- kester, which there is perhaps reason for regarding as the large extinct progenitor of the existing Walruses. ETYMOLOGY. — The term rosmarus was originally used by Olaus Magnus, about the middle of the sixteenth century, in a vernacular sense, interchangeably with morsus, the Latinized form of the Eussian word morsz (or morss). It was used in the same way by Gesner a few years later, as well as by numerous other pre-Linna3an authors. Respecting the etymology of the word, von Baer gives the following : " In dem historisch-topo- ETYMOLOGY. 81 graphischen Werke : De gentium septentrionalium. conditionibus cet. Romae 1555 heisst es : Norvagium littus maximos ac grandes pisces elepliantis habet, qui morsi sen rosmari vocantur, forsitan ol) asperltate mordendi sic appellati, (Eine recht witzige Etymo- logie !) quia, si quern hominem in mar is littore viderint apprehen- dereque poterint, in eum celerime insiliunt, ac dente lacerant et in momenta interimunt." * The same author also gives the following from Herberstain (1567): " Under andern ist auch ein thier, so grosse wie ein ochs, und von den einwonern Mors oder der Tod geheissen wird." f Hence, either from superstitious notions of the terri- ble character of this animal, or from the resemblance of the Russian word morss to the Latin word mors, these terms be- came early confounded, and rendered by the German word Tod, 1 or death, f In the account of the exploits of the Norman Othere, where the Walrus first finds its place in literature, it is termed Horse- wael. As noted by Martens § and other writers, equivalent words in other languages have become current for this animal, as Walross or Wallross of the Germans, Wallrus of the Dutch, *In an early (1658) English version of Olaus Magnus's work (UA Com- pendious History of the Goths, Swedes, & Vandals and other Northern Nations. Written by Olaus Magnus, Arch-Bishop of Upsal, and Metropoli- tan of Sweden", p. 231), this passage is rendered as follows: "The Norway Coast, toward the more Northern parts, hath huge great Fish as big as Ele- phants, which are called Morsi, or Rosmari, may be they are so from their sharp biting ; for if they see any man on the Sea-shore, and can catch him, they come suddenly upon him, and rend biTn with their Teeth, that they will kill him in a trice." From this it would appear that Morsw, as used by Olaus Magnus, might be simply the Latin word morws, from mordere, to bite. tSee von Baer, M6m. de Acad. des Sci. de St. Pe*tersb., vie se'r., Sc. math., phys. et nat., tome iv, 2de pars, pp. 112, 113. t Von Baer quotes a passage from the "Rerum Moscoviticarum auctores varii," originally published early in the sixteenth century, in which occurs the phrase "scandut ex mari pisces morss nuncupati," which he regards as the first introduction into Latin of the Sclavic name Mopatt. In Western Europe it a little later became current in the form of Morsz, which was soon written Morss or Mors, from which Buflbn later formed the name Morse, which has since been the common appellation of this animal among French writers. Von Baer further observes that the accidental resemblance in sound of this word to that of the Latin word for death (mor«) appears to have contributed not a little to the strange conception of the terribleness of this animal which was early entertained and even still prevails in Western Europe, although the Russian accounts do not speak of it. §Zoolog. Garten, Jahrg. xi, 1870, p. 283, where the etymology of the names of the Walrus is briefly discussed. Misc. Pub. No. 12 6 *82 ODOBJENUS ROSMARUS ATLANTIC WALRUS. and Walrus of the English. By the early Scandinavian writers it was termed Rosmlivalr, which later became resolved into Eos- mul, from which, perhaps, originated the Latin term Rosmarus, which has the same significance, introduced by Olaus Magnus and Gesner, and the Norwegian word Eostungr. Gesner and several subsequent writers also used the word Meerross, and we have in English the equivalent term Sea-horse, as one of the ap- pellations of the Walrus, and also, but more rarely, Meerpferd in German, and Cheval marin in French. The current French term Morse appears, as already stated, to have been introduced by Buffon as a modification of the Rus- sian word morss, used by Michow (1517) and Herberstain (1549). Among other old vernacular names we find in English Sea • Coiv, in French Vache marine, in Latin Bos marinus, etc., while by the early French settlers in America it was commonly termed Bete a la grande dent. LITERATURE. — 1. General History. — Passing over the by some supposed allusions to the Walrus by Pliny as too vague and uncertain for positive identification, * we meet, according to von Baer, with the first positive reference to the present species in the account of the exploits of the famous Norman ex- plorer Othere, or Octher, who, about the year 871 (890 accord- ing to some authorities), made a voyage to some point beyond the North Cape, where he met with large herds of Walruses, some of the tus]£S of which he is said to have taken to England as a present to King Alfred, t Walruses appear to have been * See K. E. von Baer, M&n. de PAcad. Imp. des Sci. de St. Pe"tersb., vime se"r., Sci. math., phys. et nat., tome iv, 3me livr., 1836, (1837), pp. 101, 102. To this admirable monograph I am greatly indebted for information respecting the earlier publications bearing upon the history of the Walruses. To this exhaustive memoir the reader is referred for a full exposition of this part of the subject. The following short summary is based, so far as the early his- tory of the subject is concerned, mainly upon von Baer's monograph, an analysis of which will be presented at a subsequent page. (See posted, p. 88, footnote.) tHakluyt's rendering of this account is as follows: "The principall purpose of his [Othere's] traveile this way, was to encrcase the knowledge and discoverie of these coasts and countreyes, for the more comoditie of fish- ing of horsewhales, which have in their teeth bones of great price and ex- cellencie : whereof he brought some at his returne unto the king. Their skinnes are also very good to make cables for shippes, and so used. This kind of whale is much lesse in quantitie then other kindes, having not in length above seven elles." — HAKLUYT'S Voyages, vol. i, p. 5. GENERAL HISTORY. 83 an object of chase on the coast of Finmark as early as 980, and must have been met with by the Norsemen when they visited Greenland about the end of the tenth century. Their tusks were an article of commercial value among the Mongolian and Tartar tribes as early as the twelfth to the fifteenth centuries. Aside from the various notices by Scandinavian writers, the earliest unmistakable reference to the Walrus, other than that connected with Othere, as above mentioned, was, according to von Baer (1. c., p. 108), by Albertus Magnus, in the first half of the thirteenth century. Says this writer (as quoted by von Baer), whose account is here paraphrased : The hairy Cetaceans have very long tusks, by which they suspend themselves to the rocks in order to sleep. Then comes the fisherman and separates near the tail as much skin as he can from the underlying fat, and then attaches a cord, which has at the other end a large ring, which he makes fast to a post or tree. Then when the fish awakens (by all of. these operations he was not yet awakened), they cast a huge sling-stone upon his head. Being aroused, he attempts to get away, and is held by the tail near to the place and captured, either swimming in the water or half alive on the shore. This ludicrous description von Baer believes had for its foundation misunderstood reports of the Walruses7 habit of reposing upon the shore or upon ice-bergs, the use of their tusks in climbing up to these places of rest, and their deep sleep, and that the account of the mode of capture was based on an incorrect knowledge of the use of the harpoon j and that the account shows that as early as the thirteenth century the Walrus was harpooned on the coast extending from the White Sea north- wards. * * This curious legend is quoted by Gesner in his Historia Animalia Aqua-' tilia, 1558, p. 254. The following rendering appears also in the above-cited English version of Olaus Magnus : "Therefore, these Fish called Rosmari, or Morsi, have heads fashioned like to an Oxes, and a hairy Skin, and hair grow- ing as thick as straw or corn-reeds, that lye loose very largely. They will raise themselves with their Teeth as by Ladders to the very tops of Rocks, that they may feed on the Dewie Grasse, or fresh Water, and role themselves in it, and then go to the Sea again, unless in the mean while they fall very fast asleep, and rest upon the Rocks, for then Fisher-men make all the haste they can, and begin at the Tail, and part the Skin from the Fat ; and into this that is parted, they put most strong cords, and fasten them on the rug- ged Rocks, or Trees, that are near; then they throw stones at his head, out of a Sling, to raise him, and they compel him to descend, spoiled of the greatest part of his Skin which is fastened to the Ropes : he being thereby 84 ODOB^ENUS ROSMARUS — ATLANTIC WALRUS. The Walrus is also referred to by Hector Boethius in 1526, in his History of Scotland ; * by Herberstain (or Herberstein, as also written) in 1549 5 by Par6 about the year 1600 5 and by Al- drovandus in 1642. Herberstain also very correctly indicates the habits of these animals, which, he says, repair to the shore in large herds to repose, and that while the herd sleeps one of their number keeps watch. He compares their feet to those of the Beaver, and refers to the value of their tusks to the Eussians, Turks, and Tartars, and observes that they called them fish-teeth, t Even before the middle of the sixteenth century, Walruses had been met with on the eastern shore of North America. In May, 1534, they were seen by Cartier, and later in the same century by Fischer, Drake, and others, on the coast of Nova Scotia and adjacent islands, and later still by other explorers on the islands in the Gulf of Saint Lawrence (see antea, p. 66), in the accounts of whose voyages f occur interesting notices of these animals. In the year 1553, Edward VI of England sent an expedi- tion under Willoughby and Chancellor to the White Sea, which resulted in still further increasing our knowledge of the Wal- ruses, especially of their distribution eastward along the Arcti^ coast of Europe and Asia. Chancellor's short account § refers especially to the uses made of the skins and tusks. The earliest delineations of the Walrus appear to have been made by Olaus Magnus in his " Tabula Terrarum Septentrio- nalium" (1555), where he has portrayed many strange and fabu- lous animal forms which there is reason to believe were based upon this animal. 1 1 Gesner a few years later (1558), in his ." His- debilitated, fearful, and half dead, lie is made a rich prey, especially for his Teeth, that are very pretious amongst the Scythians, the Moscovites, Rus- sians, and Tartars, (as Ivory amongst the Indians) by reason of its hardness, whiteness, and ponderousnesse. For which cause, by excellent industry of Artificers, they are made fit for handles for Javelins : And this is also testi- fied by Mechovita, an Historian of Poland, in his double Sarmatia, and Paulus Jovius after him, relates it by the Relation of one Demetrius, that was sent from the great Duke of Moscovy, to Pope Clement the 7th." — Loc. cit., pp. 231,232. "" "Scotorum Regni Descriptio, p. 90," as cited by various writers. t Herberstain, as cited by von Baer, 1. c., p. 111. tSee Hakluyt's Voyages, vol. iii, ed. 1810, pp. 237,238,242,249,254, etc. $ See Hakluyt's Voyages, vol. i, ed. 1599, p. 237. || Olaus Magnus's figures will be noticed later under the section devoted to the figures of the Walrus (postea, p. 92 et seq.). GENERAL HISTORY. 85 toriuni Animalium " (in the volume devoted to the " Animalia Aquatilia "), faithfully copied all of Olaus Magnus's figures under the heading "De Cetis," and then presents, under the name RosmaruS) the figure of the Walrus from Olaus Magnus. This figure, however, he judiciously criticises, stating that the tusks should be in the upper jaw, and not in the lower, as they were represented by Olaus Magnus. This last-named author, in the later editions of his work "De Gentium Septentrionalium Con- ditionibus," etc. (as in that of 1563), rightly places, according to von Baer, the tusks in the upper jaw. Gesner (continues von Baer) knew only the first edition of this work, and took his figure from the above-mentioned " Tabula Terrarum Septen- trionalium." Also were unknown to him the accounts of the Wal- rus given by " Herberstain, Chancellor, and Othere," so that he made extracts from only Michovius and Albertus Magnus. He also knew no better than to offer, as a figure of the Walrus, a drawing he had received from Strassburg, representing, pretty fairly, the head and tusks, while the rest was purely a fabrica- tion. Some rhymes, which he further inflicts upon his readers, .show clearly how " awful " the conceptions of the Walrus then were (or, as von Baer puts it, " Wie schauerlich noch die Yor- stellungen vom Wallrosse waren ").* In 1608, a young living Walrus was taken to England, having been captured on Bear or Cherie Island off the coast of Nor- way, t while four years later (1612) another young Walrus, with the stuffed skin of its mother, was taken to Hollajid. The first appears to have been very intelligently described by JElius Ever- hard Yorstius, whose description is quoted by De Laet. f The specimen taken to Holland was well figured by Hessel Gerard, the young one doubtless from life, the figures being published by him in 1613, § and subsequently repeatedly copied (as will be more fully noticed later). In 1625, Purchas, in his history of the voyages of the English to Cherie Island and Spitzbergen (then called " Greenland "), gives much interesting information respecting the chase of the * To show what these conceptions were, von Baer cites the passages already quoted (antea, p. 81), in reference to the singular misinterpretations given in Western Europe to the Russian name Moras. See von Baer, 1. c., p. 113. t Recueil de Voy. au Nord, 2e 6A., tome ii, p. 368. i Nov. Orb. s. Doscrip. Ind. Occ., 1633, p. 41. § See von Baer, 1. c., p. 128; Gray, Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., 1853, p. 115. 86 ODOB^ENUS ROSMARUS ATLANTIC WALRUS. Walrus at these islands, and in one place a quaint description and some very curious figures of the animal.* In 1675, the Walrus was again described and wretchedly figured by Martens, t who is said to have been the first " natu- ralist " who ever saw the Walrus in its native haunts. Zorg- drager, $ in 1720, supplied by far the fullest account of these animals, as observed by him in Spitzbergen, that had appeared up to that date. He gives not only a quite detailed and truth- ful account of their habits, especially under persecution, but also of their wholesale destruction at that early time in the Spitz- bergen seas, and of their extermination at some of the points at which they had formerly been accustomed to land in immense herds. He also notes the increasing difficulties of their capture owing to the great shyness of man they had acquired in conse- quence of persecution, and describes the manner in which they were captured, and also their products. Copious extracts from Zorgdrager's account of the Walrus are given by Buffon (trans- lated into French from a German edition), and he has also been extensively quoted by even much later writers. The Greenland Walrus was described by Egede § in 1741, by Anderson 1 1 in 1747, by Ellis ff in 1748, byCranz**in 1765r and by Fabricius tt in 1780, some of whom added much infor- mation respecting its habits and distribution, its usefulness to the natives and their ways of hunting it, as well as respecting its external characters. The above-cited accounts of the Walrus formed the basis of numerous subsequent compilations, and most of those last given are cited by the early systematic writers, few of whom, as pre- viously shown (see antea, pp. 8-11), had any just appreciation of even its most obvious external characters. Linne", as already noted (anted,, p. 8), profited little by what had been written by preceding authors, while Brisson, Erxleben, and Gmelin manifest a scarcely better acquaintance with this badly misrep- resented and poorly understood creature. No little confu- sion has hence arisen in systematic works respecting its posi- * See anteh, p. 74-78, and posted. t Spitzbergen, pp. 78-83, pi. P, fig. &. \ Bloeyende Opkomst der Aloud e en Hedendaagsche Groenlandsche Vis- schery, etc., ed. 1720, pp. 165-172. § Det gamle Gr<>nlands nye Perlustration, etc., 1741, p. 45. H Nachrichten von Island, Gronland und der Strasse Davis, p. 258. 1f Voyage to Hudson's Bay, p. 134. ** Historic von Gronland, pp. 165, 167. ft Fauna Groenl., p. 4. GENERAL HISTORY. 87 tion and affinities (see anted,, pp. 7-12). The accounts by Hout- tuyn, Buffon, Pennant, P. S. L. Miiller, and Schreber are excel- lent for their time. These authors all recognized the close relationship of the Walrus to the Seals, and quite correctly indicated its external characters and habits. Some of these accounts, however, include references to both species. Daubenton, in Buffon's "Histoire Naturelle," * gave a de- scription and figure of a Walrus's skull, and made the first contribution to our knowledge of its internal anatomy, based on the dissection of a fostal specimen. Since the beginning of the present century, the Walrus has been the subject of almost numberless notices, as well as of sev- eral elaborate papers, devoted in most cases to special points in its anatomy, very few of which need be here enumerated, t The elder Cuvier, beginning with his " Leyons d'Anatomie compare'e " (1800-1805), and ending with the third edition of his "Ossemens fossiles" (1825), contributed considerably to our general knowledge of its structure and affinities, especially of its osteology ; he in 1825 f first figuring and describing its skel- eton. A paper by Sir Everard Home, § in 1824, figured and de- scribed the stomach and feet from specimens taken to England from Hudson's Bay, preserved in salt. This paper is noteworthy mainly on account of the singularly erroneous interpretation there made of the structure and functions of the feet, Home supposing that these organs were provided with sucking discs, by means of which the creature was enabled to adhere firmly to the ice in climbing. The skeleton of the Walrus was again figured and described by Pander and d? Alton |i in 1826, and still later by Blainville fl about 1840. Yon Baer, ** in 1835, published some account of the arterial system of the Walrus, based on a dissection of a young specimen. Its general anato- my, especially its limb-structure, myology, vascular and respi- ratory systems, viscera and generative organs, and external cha- * Tome xiii, 1765, pp. 415-424, pll. liv, Iv. The skull had been previously figured by Houttuyn (in 1761), as will be noticed later. t Those relating to its dentition have been already noticed in detail (see anted,, pp. 47-57) ; several others have also been specially referred to, and nearly all are cited in the references given at pp. 23-26. \ Ossem. Foss., 3e <5d., tome v, iime pt., pp. 521-523, pi. xxxiii. $ Phil. Trans. , 1824, pp. 233-241, pi. iv. || Skelete der Robben und Lamantine, pll. i, ii. H Osteographie, Des Phoques, pll. i and iv. ** Me"m. de 1'Acad. St. P6tersb., vime se"r., Sci. math., phys. et nat., tome iime. 1835, pp. 199-212. 88 ODOB^ENUS ROSMARUS ATLANTIC WALRUS. I racters, were quite fully and satisfactorily treated by Dr. J. Murie* in 1872. Illiger, in 1811, in a paper on the geographical distribution of the mammals of the Northern Hemisphere (see antea, p. 18), first nominally recognized the Pacific Walrus as a species distinct from the Atlantic animal, while Fremery, in 1831, recognized three species, and Stannius, in 1842, admitted two,t but, as already noticed, only one species of Walrus has been commonly recognized. The matter of variation dependent upon sex, age, and individual peculiarities, has received, as already noticed (see antea, pp. 38-43), special attention at the hands of Wieg- mann, Stannius, Jaeger, and other writers. Unquestionably, the most important paper relating to the lit- erature, geographical distribution, and habits of the Walruses is the well-known and justly celebrated memoir by von Baer,f * Trans. Lend. Zool. Soc., vol. vii, pp. 411-462, 8 woodcuts, and pU. li-lv. t For a notice of the literature of this part of the subject see antea, pp. 17-23. t Anatomische und zoologische Untersuchungen iiber das Wallross (Triche- chus rosmarus) und Vergleichung dieses Thiers mit andern See-Saugethieren. Von Dr. K. E. v. Baer. Gelesen den 6. Nov. 1835. y Jonston || in 1657. In 1598, De Veer, in a work entitled " The Navigation into the Forth- Seas," ft gave an illustration entitled "The Portrait- ure of our boats and how we nearly got into difficulty with the Seahorses." In this picture are depicted several Seal-like ani- * This figure is not included in Gray's series. t Icones Animalium, 1553, and Historia Animalium, 1558. t See Fig. 8, copied by Gray from Gesner. § " Paralipomena, etc., adnexa ad Aldrovandi Historiam Monstroruni, p. 106," according to von Baer. i| De Piscibus, pi. xliv. 1T Amsterdam, 1598; translated and republished in London in 1609, and reprinted from the London edition by the Haklnyt Society in 1853, the last- named being the edition here quoted. 96 ODOB^ENUS ROSMARUS ATLANTIC WALRUS. mals standing on the ice, with long tusks and an arched body, supported on a decurved bifurcate tail and the fore limbs, while the heads of several others are seen in the water. They are represented as having distinct pointed ears and no hind feet, unless the tail-like ending of the body may be supposed to rep- resent the hind limbs.* An explanation of the inaccuracy of FIG. 9.— "Sea Horse, 1609." these figures is evidently afforded by the context (pp. 218-219 of the Hakluyt edition), in which we find the following: "And passing along by it ["Admiralty Island"], we saw about two hundred seahorses lying upon a flake of ice, and we sailed close by them and draue them from there, which had almost cast us doun ; for they being mighty strong fishes [Zee-mon- sters, the editor says is the term used in the original Dutch], and of great force swam towards us (as if they would revenge on us for the despight that we had done them) round about our scuts [boats] with a great noyse, as if they would have de- voured us 5 but we escaped from them by reason of a good gale of wind ; yet it was not wise of us to wake sleeping wolves." FIG. 10.—' < Walruss. Ad vivum delineatum ab Hesselo G. A. 1613. (Reduced four-sevenths. ) " In 1613 a very correct and in many ways admirable repre- sentation of the Walrus was published by Hessel Gerard t (or * One of these figures has been copied by Gray (Proc. Zool. Soc. London,. 1853, p. 114, fig. 6), but omitting the ears and somewhat reduced in size. Gray's figure is here reproduced (see Fig. 9). t " Histoire de Spitsberghe," as cited by Gray. Bluinenbach and von Baer cite doubtfully "Descriptio ac delineatio geographica detectionis freti, s. transit us ad occasum supra terras Americanas in China atque Japonem duc- turi, etc." Von Hessel Gerard. Amsterdam, 1613. 4°. FIGURES. 97 Gerrard, as also written), drawn from life from a young animal, which, with the stuffed skin of its mother, arrived in Holland in 1612. This representation consists of two figures, one of a full- grown animal, the other of a young one a few months old.* The hind portion of the larger animal is partly hidden by the figure of the smaller one. The general form of the body, the tusks, and extremities are all faithfully portrayed, the hind limbs being turned forward in their natural position, — the first figure, and the only one for the next two hundred and fifty years, in which the hind limbs are placed in a natural position. This figure has been many times copied, — first by De Laet t in 1633, and sub- sequently from De Laet, by Wormiusj: in 1665, by Jonston,§ Sh aw, 1 1 Schinz,fl Gray,** and doubtless by many others. Most of the early authors, as Wormius, Jonston, and others, copied, not directly from Gerard, but from De Laet, while Shaw copied from Jonston, and Schinz from Blumenbach, in several cases these second and third hand representations doing great injus- tice to Gerard's original figure. Blumenbach,tt through the kindness of his friend Forster, was enabled to take his from Gerard's original imprint, and it is a much finer illustration than that afforded by De Laet, the one usually copied. Yon BaerfJ also refers to a colored copy of Gerard's figure, which he obtained, with a collection of na-tural-history illustrations, from a bookseller in Leipsic, in which the coloring was truthfully executed, agreeing closely with the color of the young animal he saw alive in St. Petersburg. §§ Gerard's often-copied drawing * See Fig. 10, copied by Gray, and here reproduced. tNovus Orbis, seu Descrip. Ind. Occident., 1633, p. 38. JMus. Worm., p. 289. § De Piscibus et Cetis, 1649, pi. xliv (also in subsequent editions). || General Zool., i, 1800, pi. Ixviii*. IF Naturgesch. und Abbild. der Sauget., pi. Ixv, lower figure. **Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., 1853, p. 115, fig. 9. Gray's figure is here given (see Fig. 10). tt Abbild. naturliist. Gegenstiinde, 1796-1810, No. 15 (plate and text). ttLoc. cit., p. 129. §§ Von Baer's account of this important early figure is as follows : " Diese vortreffliche Zeichnung wurde in Kupfer gestochen und einigen Exemplaren von dem Abdrucke der Descriptio ac delineatio geographica detectionia freli, 8. transilus ad occasum supra terras Americanas in Chinam atque Japonem ducturi etc., der von Hessel Gerard in Amsterdam 1613, 4°. besorgt ist, beigegeben. In diesem Buche wurde der Originalkupferstich von Forster gefunden und Blumenbach mitgetheilt. Da er sich, wie Blumenbach sagt, in keiner an- dern Ausgabe desselben Werkes und auch in dieser nnr in den wenigsten Exemplaren findet, so ist wohl wahrscheinlich, dass er gar nicht zu dem Misc. Pub. No. 12 7 98 ODOB^ENUS EOSMARUS ATLANTIC WALRUS. was well worthy of repetition, being incomparably better than any other made prior to those taken from the living specimen received at the Zoological Gardens in London in 1853. Purchas, in his " Pilgrimes,"* gives some very interesting, and in many respects excellent, representations of the Walrus, to which I find no reference in the writings of von Baer or Gray, or, in fact, anywhere. In the principal of these figures, the general form of the Walrus is more correctly delineated than in any figure, except Gerard's, that appeared prior to 1857. Barring its facial expression, and the presence of what seems to be a mane, it is excellent. The general outline of both the body and the limbs are surprisingly truthful, as is likewise the attitude. The hind feet are turned forward, and the size and position of the tusks are correctly represented. The face, how- ever, has a most ludicrous half-leonine, half-human expression, which is heightened by the addition of an ear having the gen- eral form, of a human ear. In addition to this, the creature is Werke gehort uncl nur von dem Herausgeber oder von den Kaufern einigen Exemplaren beigebunden ist. Ich habe nicht Gelegenheit gehabt, das hier genannte Werke zu sehen und darnach zu bestimmen, ob das Kupfer zu dem Buche gehort, vermuthe aber eines Theils aus der angegebenen Seltenheit seines Vorkommens und andern Theils aus dem Umstande, dass die Figur in mehreren Werken des 17. Jahrhunderts wiederholt wurde, dass sie damals bekannter war, als im 18ten . Ja, ich besitze selbst ein colorirtes Blatt, das ich in einer Sammlung naturhistorischer Abbildungen in Leipzig aus dem Nach- lasse eines Naturalienhandlers kaufte und welches, zwar nicht derOriginal- Kupferstich, doch eine Copie desselben ist. Die Farbe, welche beide Thiere auf meinem Blatte haben, ist ganz iibereinstimmend mit der Farbe des jungen Wallrosses. das hier zu sehen war. Da nun die erwachsenen Wall- rosse in der Regel heller sind, so ist es mir wahrscheinlich, dass auch die Colorirung damals nach dem jungen Thiere gemacht ist." — VON BAER, I. c., pp. 128, 129. Gray says : "In a small quarto tract, called the ' Histoire du Pays nomine" Spitsberghe, e'crit par H. G. A., Amsterdam, chez Hessel Gerrard A.', 1613, a plate at page 20 contains an excellent figure of the Morse and its young, ' ad vivum delineatum ab Hesselo G. A.' This figure was repeated in De Laet's 'Arner. Descript.', p. 28, 1633, by Jonston, < Pisces', t. 44, in 1657, and by Shaw, 'Zoology', t. 68*, from Jonston." Gray copies this figure with the following title: "Fig. 9. Walrms. Ad vivum delineatum ab Hesselo G. A. Histoire de Spitsberghe, by H. G. A., 1613. Another edition, same date. (Reduced four-sevenths. )"— Proc. Zool Soc. Land., 1853, p. 115. It would thus appear that either Gerard's figure was published simulta- neously in several different works, since that mentioned by Gray is not the one cited by von Baer, or else that, as von Baer suspected, and as seems more probable, the plate did not really belong to the work von Baer cites, but merely happened to be bound with it. *Vol. iii, pp. 472-473 bis. _ FIGURES. 99 represented as having a heavy mane, extending from the head to the middle of the back. The figure bears the quaint legend, "The Seamorce is in quantity as bigg as an oxe." Another illustra- tion on the opposite page shows " The manner of killing ye Seamorces," and represents a small herd of Walruses attacked by a party of hunters armed with lances. The Walruses are all headed toward the water, the men being between them and the sea. The Walruses are depicted in the attitude of walking, all having the hind feet turned forward, these figures giving apparently a correct idea of the Walrus's manner of progres- sion on land. These two illustrations form part of a series that embellish a map of " Greenland" ( Spitz bergen), the others rep- resenting different scenes in Whale-fishing and " the manner of killing Beares." Zorgdrager,* in 1720, gave a figure of a Walrus which has a Seal-like head with two long tusks in the upper jaw, and the general body-contour of a Walrus. The posterior third of the body and hind limbs are fortunately, to judge by the rest of the figure, left to the imagination, being hidden behind the figure of a Seal ("Zee Bob"); the fore limbs bear no resemblance to those of a Walrus. In 1741, Egede t gave a Seal-like figure of a Walrus, with its calf, confronting a Polar Bear. The open mouth displays a series of long sharp teeth, looking even less like Walrus tusks than the general form of the animal does like the outline of a Walrus. This figure of the Walrus is surprisingly poor, con- sidering the excellent description Egede gives of the animal. In 1748, Ellis | further enriched the iconographic literature of the Walrus by furnishing a figure, respecting which he says : "I shall not detain the Eeader with an Account of a Creature [" Sea Horse"] so often described, but refer him to the Cut, in which he will find it very truly represented."§ The figure, how- ever, is one of the worst imaginable, considering the oppor- tunity Ellis evidently had for observation. In some respects it bears some resemblance to that given by De Yeer. Ellis's figure combines a Lynx-like face with Lion-like fore limbs, short, * Bloeyende Opkomft der Aloude en Hedendaagsche Groenlaiidsche Vis- schery, 1720, plate facing p. 162, upper left-hand figure. t Besclireibung imd Naturgeschichte von Gronland, 1763, p. 106, pi. vi, lower left-hand figure, Krunitz's German translation. The work appeared in Danish as early as 1741. t Voyage to Hudson Bay, pi. facing p. 134, middle figure. $Loc. cit., p. 236. 100 ODOBJENUS ROSMARUS ATLANTIC WALRUS. round, prominent ears, small, pointed, in ward- curving tusks, no hind feet, and a body tapering to a doubly emarginate fish-like tail, possibly intended to represent hind limbs. Pontoppidon, in his Natural History of Norway, published in 1751, gave a figure of the Walrus in which the resemblance consisted mainly in the presence of two huge tusks in the upper jaw. Only the head, neck, and upper portion of the body are represented; but the general outline, as far as seen, is sug- gestive of the animal it was intended to represent. Houttuyn,* in 1761, gave a very fair figure of the skull and os penis of a Walrus. As P. L. S. Miiller, in 1773, used Houttuyn's plates in his u Natursystem," these figures are there again called into service, to which was added a noteworthy representation of the animal.t This represents an apparently young Walrus as lying partly on the side, with the diminutive hind feet FIG. 11.—" Wall-Boss, Marten's Spitzbergen, &c. 1675, t. P, fig. &. (Reduced three-tenths. ) " turned forward. The general outline of the body indicates the obese form of the Walrus 5 but the head, with its small, short tusks, has scarcely the faintest resemblance to the head of that animal. * Natuurlyke Historic of uitvoerige Beschryving der Dieren, Planten en Mineraalen, volgens liet Samenstel van den Heer Linnaeus. Met naaw- keurige Af beeldingen. Eerste Deels, tweede Stuk, 1761, pi. xi, figg. 1, 4. t Des Ritters Carl von Linue* Koniglich Schwedischen Leibarztes, &c. &c. vollstandiges Natursystem nach der zwolften lateinischen Ausgabe und nach Anleitung des holliindischen Houttuynischen Werks mit einer ausfiihrliclien Erklarung ausgefertiget von Philipp Ludwig Statius Miiller, etc. Erster Theil. Nurnberg, 1773. PL xxix, fig. 2. This is one of the few original plates added by Miiller to Houttuyn's series FIGURES. 101 In 1765, a most wretched and ludicrous caricature of the Walrus was contributed by Martens.* In this figure, the rauch- abused Walrus is represented as having an enormously large and shapeless head, in which the small tusks are set widely apart ; it has small Seal-like fore feet, and no hind limbs, or, if present, they are directed backward, and look more like a fish's tail than distinct limbs. The tusks alone give the figure any suggestion of what it was intended to represent. The next figure of which I have knowledge was published by Buffon,t also in 1765, and soon after copied by Schreber.f This FIG. 12.— "Ze Morse, Buffon, xiii, t. 548, 1765. (Reduced two-fifths.)" was evidently drawn from a stuffed specimen, to which the taxi- dermist had given the attitude and general form of a common Seal. Iii 1827, a very fair figure of the head (the animal being supposed to be in the water, with only the head visible) was published in Griffith's Animal Kingdom (vol. ii, pi. v), which was later repeated by Hamilton, § and also elsewhere. In 1836, a very fair, colored figure (evidently from a stuffed specimen), barring the posterior direction of the hind limbs, appeared in the "Disciples edition" || of Cuvier's Regne Animal, copied from Pal- * Spitzbergische Keisebeschreibung, pi. P, fig. &. This fig. is also repro- duced by Gray (1. c., fig. 7), and is here copied as Fig. 11. tHistoire Naturelle, t. xiii, pi. liv. t Siiuget., pi. Ixxix. $ Amphibious Carnivora, p. 106, in Jard. Nat. Library, Mam., vol. viii. || Le Kegne Animal, etc., par Georges Cuvier. "Edition accompagne'e des planches grav6es, .... par une reunion de disciples de Cuvier," etc. Paris, 1836 et seq. The Walrus is figured in "Mammiferes," pi. xliv. The history of the figure is given as follows: " Figure dessine"e d'apres cello qu'a donne"e Pal- las dans la Zooyraphia Rosso -Asiatica, et re'forme'e, pour le pose, d'apres un croquis ine"dit de Choris ; au vingtieme environ de la grandeur naturelle." The only copy of Pallas's "Icones" accessible to me is imperfect, and has not the figure here copied. There is, however, a quite different one, which will be noticed later in another connection. Whether Pallas's figure here copied represents the Atlantic- or the Pacific species cannot well be deter- mined. 102 ODOB^ENUS ROSMARUS ATLANTIC WALRUS. las. Another much like it was published soon after in Macgil- livray's British Quadrupeds, * and still another, also quite simi- lar, in Hamilton's Marine Carnivora.t The vignette-titlepage of the last-named work also represents a " Walrus hunt," in which a boat's crew are depicted as attacking a group of five old Wal- ruses. The plate in Hamilton's "Amphibious Carnivora" pur- ports to have been drawn from a specimen in the Edinburgh Eoyal Museum, and seems to be essentially the same as that in Macgillivray's British Quadrupeds, with a somewhat altered position and different background. In each of these plates are represented two other distant figures of the Walrus. In each, the tusks are long, and seem to represent the Pacific rather than the Atlantic species, as is also the case in the " Dis- ciples edition" of the Begne Animal. In all these last-named figures, the hind limbs are directed posteriorly, but in other respects they are fair representations. Dr. Kane, f in 1856, gave several illustrations of the animal, and also of its breathing-holes, and of the implements employed by the Innuits in Walrus-hunting. In Sonntag's "Narrative of the Grinnell Exploring Expedition," § published in 1857, a * Jardine's Nat. Library, Mam., vol. vii, 1838, pi. xx. tlbid., vol. viii, 1839, pi. i. t Arctic Exploration, vol. i, pp. 141 (" Walrus Sporting"), 142 ("Walrus- hole), 419 ("portrait"); vol. ii, plate facing p. 214 ("Walrus Hunt off Pi- kantlik" — a nearly full figure. $This curious and apparently little known brochure, by the eminent astronomer of the Expedition, is well worthy of attention, notwithstanding, the ludicrously sensational character of the titlepage affixed by the en- terprising pub Ushers. The titlepage, transcribed in full, is as follows : "Professor Sonntag's Thrilling Narrative of the Grinnell Exploring Expe- dition to the Arctic Ocean, in the years 1853, 1854, and 1855, in search of Sir John Franklin, under the command of Dr. E. K. Kane, U. S. N. Con- taining the History of all previous explorations of the Arctic Ocean, from the year 1618 down to the present time ; showing how far they advanced northward, what discoveries they made and their scientific observations. The present whereabouts of Sir John Franklin and his party, if they are still ah' ve. A statement of the only practicable method by which the North Pole may be reached; the reasons why all exploring expeditions have hitherto failed to penetrate the icy barriers of the Polar Eegions. Highly important astronomical observations, proving that there is no such thing as apparent time at the North Pole ; sufferings of Dr. Kane's exploring party ; how they were buried for two years in the ice, enduring a degree of cold never experienced by any human being before; their miraculous escapes and unprecedented hardships; their abandonment of the ship ; and perilous journey of four hundred miles over the ice. With nearly one hundred splendid engravings. By Professor August Sonntag, Astronomer to the FIGURES. 103 group of four old Walruses is figured (full-page woodcut, p. 113). The animals are disposed in various attitudes, and represent admirably the grim visage, postures, and uncouth proportions of the Atlantic Walrus. The figure in the foreground is pre- sented in profile, with both fore and hind limbs in a natural position; behind this are two old veterans seen in half-profile, and behind these a third lying on its back with the hind limbs thrust upward. This illustration, evidently a study from life, is by far the best representation of the adult Atlantic Walrus with which I am acquainted. In 1857, Dr. Gray reproduced, as pre- viously detailed (antea, pp. 93-100), a series of the early figures from Olaus Magnus, Gesner, Jonston, Gerard, Martens, Buffon, and Cook. The next original figures of the Walrus with which I am acquainted were drawn from the living specimen in the Gar- dens of the Zoological Society of London by Mr. Wolf, and appear in Wolf and Sclater's " Zoological Sketches,"* published in 1861. In plate xviii is represented a group of Walruses in various attitudes. Those in the foreground are young and tusk- less, with a heavy array of long mystacial bristles, and much thinner necks and shoulders than the Walrus is commonly repre- sented as having, doubtless owing to the very emaciated condi- tion of the living original. At about this date (1861), some very good pictures of groups of Walruses were published by Mr. Lamont in his entertaining and instructive book entitled " Seasons with the Sea-horses." In a spirited plate (called " Chase of the Walrus"), facing the titlepage, is portrayed a group of Walruses in the sea, attacked Expedition, formerly of the Eoyal Observatory at Vienna, and late of the U. S. National Observatory, Washington City, D. C. Philadelphia, Penn. : Jas. T. Lloyd & Co. Cincinnati, Ohio: Jas. T. Lloyd & Co." No date. Large 8vo, pp. 176, paper. Copyright dated 1857. The publishers state: "The undersigned having purchased Professor Sonntag's Narrative of the Grinnell Expedition, some months since, have used their best judgment and abilities in preparing this thrilling narrative for the press, to make it as acceptable to the reading public as possible," etc. The name of the author is alone sufficient guaranty of the trustworthy and instructive character of the work, which, despite the dime-novel aspect of its exterior, is a valuable contribution to the history of the Arctic Re- gions. Pages 80 to 85 are devoted to a general account of the Walrus. At page 83 is a sketch of a " Desperate attack of Walruses on the English Boat," based apparently on Captain Beechey's account of an adventure with these animals. "Vol. i, pi. xviii. 104 ODOB^NUS ROSMARUS ATLANTIC WALRUS. by a boat's crew, one of the poor animals having been already harpooned. Another plate, facing page 72, entitled " Walruses on the Ice," represents a herd on the ice in various attitudes, most, but not all, of which have the hind feet extended back- ward, in the manner of Seals. In his later work, " Yachting in the Arctic Seas/7 he has given (plate opposite p. 56) a very fine side-view of the head, and on p. 221 a large vignette figure of the head seen in front. Mr. Brown also refers to " the excellent figures of the Wal- rus taken by the artist of the Swedish Expedition," namely, a "chromolithograph and head, both drawn by Heir von Yhlen," — " under the direction of such well-informed naturalists as Torell, Malmgren, Smith, Goes, Blomstrand, &c.," in which "the fore flippers are represented as rather doubled back, and the hind flippers extended.77 This work (" Svenska Expeditioner til Spetsbergen ar 1861, pp. 168-182, pi. facing p. 169, and head p. 308 77) I have been unable to see, but presume the figures are the same as those in the German translation of this work, which appeared in 1869. * The frontispiece of this work repre- sents a group of four old Walruses resting on the ice, with a fifth in the water in the foreground. A woodcut of the head of a young, or more probably a female, is given on p. 132, and on p. 136 a hunting-scene. In 1867 appeared figures of the second living specimen received at the Zoological Society7s Gardens. According to Dr. Muriet these were published in " The Field,77 " Land and Water," " Illustrated London News," and elsewhere. The figure origi- nally appearing in " The Field " (drawn by Mr. Wood) is repub- lished by Dr. Murie in his " Memoir on the Anatomy of the Walrus " { from the original wood-block. This is a rather more robust figure than those published by Wolf and Sclater, but is likewise tuskless (being also that of a very young animal), and shows similarly the long, descending, curved mystacial bris- tles. In 1870, Dr. Gilpin figured a male Walrus killed in March, 1869, in the Straits of Belle Isle, Labrador. In this figure, the general form of the body is very well represented, but the hind * Die schwedischen Expeditionen nach Spitsbergen und Bitren-Eiland, ausgefuhrt in den Jahren 1861, 1864 und 1868, etc. (for full transcript of the titlepage see antea, p. 92). t Trans. Zool. Soc. Lond., vol. vii, 1872, p. 413. t Loc. cit., p. 416. FIGURES. 105 limbs are turned backward, as in the common Seals. A view of the muzzle forms a second figure, and the form of one of the fore limbs is given in outline. Wells, in his " Gateway to the Polynia/7 published in 1873, gives a plate (facing page 201) in illustration of the Walrus. The figure in the foreground represents an individual flat on its belly with all the limbs directed posteriorly. Other figures represent other individuals reposing in various attitudes. The above-enumerated figures of the Walrus embrace all the original figures of the Atlantic species thus far known to me, and all to which I have seen references, so far as figures of the entire -animal are concerned. In recapitulation, it may be stated that Gesner's figure, published in 1558, is the first that had an actual foundation in nature, all the preceding (the mythical ones of Olaus Magnus) being purely fictitious or based on erroneous conceptions. Gesner's, as already noticed, was a curious combi- nation of reality with myth, the head only being drawn from nature, and a fanciful body added ! The first really drawn from nature (" ad vivum ") was Hessel Gerard's excellent figure pub- lished in 1613. Subsequently appeared numerous figures in the works of travellers, drawn apparently either from memory or by artists who had never seen the animal they so confidently attempted to depict. The first representation based on a museum specimen appears to have been Buffon's, in 1765, which has been aptly described as being merely a common Seal with tusks. Other figures fol- lowed later, as those in the so-called " Disciples edition" of Cu- vier's Eegne Animal, and in the two already cited volumes of Jardine's Naturalist's Library, drawn also from stuffed speci- mens, in which the hind limbs were always placed in a wholly false attitude, though in other respects passably fair figures. Not until a living specimen reached London, in 1853, did the cor- rect attitudes of the animal and the natural position of the hind,, limbs become generally known to naturalists, and not until then was the truthfulness of Gerard's early figure duly recog- nized and appreciated, notwithstanding that von Baer, nearly twenty years earlier, testified to its excellence, and correctly described the flexibility of the limbs. Now, through the two living specimens seen and figured in London, and through excellent recent figures of the Pacific Walrus, the attitudes and external bearing of few of our marine mammalia are better known than those of the Walruses. 106 ODOB^ENUS ROSMARUS ATLANTIC WALRUS. In addition to the above-described figures of the general ani- mal, representations of various anatomical details, both of the osteology and the soft parts, have been from time to time pub- lished. As early as 1761, the skull, as previously stated, was figured by Houttuyn, and again by Daubenton* in 1765, these being the earliest figures of the skull to which I find reference. Goethe, in his " Morphologic n (see antea, p. 48), gave important figures illustrative of the dentition and structure of the ante- rior portion of the skull. Home, t in 1824, published a series of excellent figures of the extremities and stomach. G. Cuvier, J in 1825, figured skulls and the skeleton, his figures of the skull being also reproduced in the " Disciples " edition of Cuvier's Eegne Animal. § Pan- der and d? Alton, in 1826, in their " Yergleichende Osteolo- gie,"|| gave an excellent figure of the skeleton and detail illus- trations of the skull and limbs. In the figure of the skeleton, the hind feet are turned forward in a plantigrade position, and the fore limbs are given their natural pose. Yon Baer,fi in 1835, figured the blood-vessels of the limbs, and, in 1840, De Blainville ** figured the skeleton and the skull. Gray, ft in 1850, gave a view of the skull, the same figure being re- peated in some of his later works. J{ Owen, in 1845, figured the dentition in his " Odontography " (pi. cxxxii, fig. 8), the skull and dentition in 1854, §§ and gave another figure in 1868. 1 1 1 1 In 1857, Walrus skulls were figured by Blasius, flff and Leidy *** the same year figured a fossil skull from Monmoutk County, New Jersey. Later, as already noticed (antea, p. 54) r the milk dentition was figured by Malmgren, and also by * Buffon's Histoire Nat., tome xiii, pi. Iv. An artistically much improved (but unaccredited) copy of Daubenton's figures appears in Hamilton's "Am- phibious Carnivora" (Jardme's Naturalist's Library, Mam., vol. viii, pp. 100, 101). t Phil. Trans., 1824, pp. 235-241, pll. iv-viii. t Ossem. Fossiles. § Mam., pi. xliv. || Lieferung xi, Die Robben und Lamantine, pll. i, ii. f M6m. do 1'Acad. St. P6tersb., Sci. Nat., vime s6r., 1835, t. iii, pi. — . ** Oste'og., Des Phoques, pll. i (skeleton) and iv (skull) ; eight figures. tt Cat. Mam. Brit. Mus., p. 31, fig. 11 (small woodcut). it Cat. Seals and Whales, 1866, p. 35, fig. 12. §§ Encycl. Brit., article Odontography, p. 463, fig. 112. Ill) Comp. Auat. and Phys. Vertebr., vol. iii, p. 338, fig. 265. 11F Fauna Wirbelth. Deutschl., pp. 261, 262, figg. 14.3-150. *** Trans. Amer. Phil. Soc. Phila., (2), vol. xi, pll. iv, v. HABITS AND THE CHASE. 107 Peters. Dr. Murie, in 1874, gave numerous figures illustrative of its external characters, myology, dentition, generative, di- gestive, and vocal organs, based on a dissection of the young Walrus that died in the Garden of the Zoological Society of Lon- don in 1867, these being the only figures, so far as known to me, devoted to the general anatomy. Doubtless other figures of the skull, and possibly of the dentition, have appeared that are not here noted. HABITS AND THE CHASE. — The Walruses are at all tunes more or less gregarious, occurring generally in large or small compa- nies, according to their abundance. Like the Seals, they are restricted in their wanderings to the neighborhood of shores or large masses of floating ice, being rarely seen far out in the open sea. Although moving from one portion of their feeding-grounds to another, they are said to be in no true sense a migratory ani- mal.* They delight in huddling together on the ice-floes or on shore, to which places they resort to bask in the sun, pressing one against another like so many swine. They are also said to repair in large herds to favorable shores or islands,! usually in May and June, to give birth to their young, at which times they some- times remain constantly on land for two weeks together, with- out ever taking food, f They are believed to be monogamous^ and to bring forth usually but a single young at a time, and never more than two. The period of gestation is commonly be- lieved to be about nine months. The young are born from April to June, the time probably varying with the latitude. Malm- gren states that the pairing of the Walruses takes place about the end of May or the beginning of June ; that the female gives birth to a single young in May or June ; and that the period of pregnancy lasts probably for a year. He states that Dr. A. von Goes found a month-old foetus in the uterus of a female on the 8th of July, in latitude 80° N"., but adds that females with ma- ture young in the uterus have been taken as late as the end of * See Brown, Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., 1868, p. 433. t Says Zorgdrager (writing in 1750), as quoted by Buffon, in referring to this habit : " Auciennement & avant d'avoir e"t6 perse" elite's, les morses s'avan- coient fort avant dans les terres, de sorte que dans les hautes marges ils <§toient assez loin de Peau, & que dans le temps de la basse mer, la distance 6tant encore beaucoup plus grande, on le abordoit ais&neiit." — Hist. Nat., tome xiii, p. 306. $ See Slmldhain, Phil. Trans., vol. Ivi, 1777, p. 249, quoted anted, p. 67. 108 ODOB^ENUS ROSMARUS ATLANTIC WALRUS. June or July. The females, lie believes, suckle their young for two years, and that hence not less than three years elapse be- tween each birth. The females with their newly-born young are said to keep aloof from the society of other Walruses, and that females are never found to be pregnant during the year following the birth of their young. Females in the second year of suckling their young collect in large herds and live apart from the full-grown males. Of thirty full-grown Walruses killed by Malmgren's harpooner in Henlopen Straits, in the month of July, not one was a male. Where the full-grown males were at this time was unknown, but they were believed by the hunters to be "on the banks," remote from the land, while the females with their young sought the bays and open sea near the shores, the two sexes thus living in separate herds.* Notwithstanding the explicitness of Malmgren's account, who no doubt correctly details his own experience in the matter, there is much rebutting testimony, most observers reporting that both sexes and the young occur in the same herds, t The only detailed account of the pairing and repro- * See further Malmgren's paper, as translated in Arch, fur Naturgesch., 1864, pp. 70-72. t Says Dr. Kane : " The early spring is the breeding season, ... at which time the female with her calf is accompanied by the grim-visaged father, surging in loving trios from crack to crack, sporting around the berg- water, or basking in the sun." — Arctic Exploration, vol. ii, p. 131. Dr. Hayes, referring to a herd upon which he made an attack, thus ob- serves : " Besides the old bulls, the group contained several cows and a few calves of various sizes — some evidently yearlings, others but recently born, and others but half or three quarters grown. Some were without tusks, while on others they were just sprouting j and above this they were of vari- ous sizes up to those of the big bulls, which had great curved cones of ivory nearly three feet long.'7 — Open Polar Sea, p. 406. Lament also refers to the presence of young and old, males and females, in the same herd, and to the custom of the Walrus-hunters of^triking a young one in order to detain the herd, which, through sympathy, join con- certedly in its defense, thus affording the hunters opportunity for further slaughter. — Seasons with the Sea-horses, pp. — . Through the kindness of Prof. Henry A. Ward, of Rochester, N. Y., I am in receipt, in answer to inquiries respecting the ha,bits and reproduction of the Walrus, of the following information from the pen of .Captain Adams, of the whaling-steamer "Arcturus," from Dundee to Baffin's Bay. Captain Adams, writing from long experience in Walrus-hunting, says: "I am of opinion that the female Walrus prefers low flats of land on which to bring forth her young. The time is in mid-spring. In early May I have seen very young Walruses on the ice with their mothers. I have also seen afterbirths -on the ice, but still think that low flat land is preferred when a.ttaiu able. I do HABITS AND THE CHASE. 109 duction of the Walrus is that long since given by Shuldham, based on observations made a century ago at the Magdalen Islands in the Gulf of St. Lawrence (see antea, p. 67), to which he says they repair " early in spring " and immediately bring forth their young. Captain Parry states that he met with females accompanied by their young in Fox Channel, July 13, and Mr. Lamont speaks of meeting with young accompanied by their parents at the same season (July 15) in the vicinity of Spitsbergen. Captain Hayes refers to meeting with " calves newly born " as early as July 3 in Frobisher's Bay. Captain Parry says that Walruses killed by the Esquimaux in March (in the years 1822 and 1823) were observed to be with young. * When repairing to the land or to the ice-floes to rest, those first arriving are described as generally composing themselves for a nap at the place where they first land, but their comrades still in the water having a strong desire to land at the same spot, the latter force those already on shore higher up, while they in turn are pushed forward by later comers, their habits in this, as well as in^many other respects, resembling those of the Sea Lions and Sea Bears. The Walrus, like the common Seals, is said to have its breath- ing-holes in the ice. These are described by Dr. Kane as being similar to those of the Seals, having "the same circular, cleanly- finished margin," but made in much thicker ice, with the " radi- ating lines of fracture round them much more marked." The ice around the holes *is much discolored, while near them are numbers of broken 'clam-shells, and in one instance Dr. Kane found " gravel, mingled with about half a peck of coarse shin- gle of the beach. " t Kane says the Walrus often sleeps in the water between the fields of drift-ice. " In this condition," he relates, eyes and snorting with rage j she quickly receives a harpoon in the back and a bullet in the brains, and she hangs lifeless on the line: now the junger begins to utter his plaintive grunting bark, and fifty furious Walruses are close round the boat in a few seconds, rearing up breast high in the water, and snorting and blowing as if they would tear us all to pieces. Two of these auxiliaries are speedily harpooned in their turn, and the rest hang back a little, when, as bad luck would have it, the junger gives up the ghost, owing to the severity of his harpooning, and the others no longer attracted by his cries, retire to a more pru- dent distance. But for the < untoward ' and premature decease of the junger, the men tell me we should have had more Wal- ruses on our hands than we could manage. We now devote our attention to < polishing off' the two live Walruses — well-sized young bulls — who are still towing the heavy boat, with their two dead comrades attached, as if she were behind a steam-tug, and struggling madly to drag us under the icebergs : a vigor- ous application of the lances soon settles the business, and we now, with some difficulty, tow our four dead victims to the near- est flat iceberg and fix the ice-anchor, by which, with the pow- erful aid of block and tackle, we haul them one by one on the ice and divest them of their spoils. . . . " While we were engaged in cutting up these Walruses, there were at least fifty more surrounding the iceberg, snorting and bellowing, and rearing up in the water as if smelling the blood *It is, perhaps, almost needless to say that the "spouting" here referred to is merely the spray thrown upward by the forcibly expelled breath as they rise to the surface, although a "spouting from their blow-holes" has occa- sionally been attributed to them since the time of Martens, who says they " blow water from their nostrils like a whale." See on this point von Baer (1. c., pp. 139-147), who has discussed the matter at length in his above- cited memoir on the Walruses. 118 ODOB^NUS ROSMARUS — ATLANTIC WALRUS. of their slaughtered friends, and curious to see what we were doing to them now. They were so close that I might have shot a dozen of them ; but, as they would have been sure to sink be- fore the boat could get to them, I was not so cruel as wantonly to take their lives. When the Walruses were all skinned, we followed the herd again with success ; and when we left off, in consequence of dense fog suddenly coming on, we had secured nine altogether — a very fair morning's bag we thought. . . . During this morning's proceedings I realized the immense advantage of striking a junger first, when practicable. This curious clannish practice of coming to assist a calf in distress arises from their being in the habit of combining to resist the attacks of the Polar Bear, which is said often to succeed in kill- ing a Walrus. If, however, Bruin, pressed by hunger and a tempting opportunity, is so illadvised as to snap a calf, the whole herd come upon him, drag him under water, and tear him to pieces with their long sharp tusks. I am told this has been seen to occur, and I quite believe it."* Capt. William Edward Parry, in his narrative of his second voyage for the discovery of a northwest passage, makes frequent reference to the Walrus, and his report of encounters with them shows that serious and even fatal consequences sometimes re- sult to the boats' crews who venture to attack them. "In the course of this day [July 15, 1822, in Fox Channel] the Walruses," says Captain Parry, "became more and more numerous every hour, lying in large herds upon loose pieces of drift-ice ; and it having fallen calm at one P. M., we despatched our boats to endeavor to kill some for the sake of the oil they afford. On approaching the ice our people found them huddled in droves of from twelve to thirty, the whole number near the boats being perhaps about two hundred. Most of them waited quietly to be fired at, and even after one or two discharges did not seem to be greatly disturbed but allowed the people to land on the ice near them, and, when approached, shewed an evident disposition to give battle. After they had got into the water, three were struck with harpoons and killed from the boats. When first wounded they became quite furious, and one, which had been struck from Captain Lyon's boat, made a resolute attack upon her, and injured several of the planks with its enor- mous tusks. A number of the others came round them, also repeatedly striking the wounded animals with their tusks, with * Seasons with the Sea-horses, pp. 81-83, 84. HABITS AND THE CHASE. 119 the intention of either getting them away or else of joining in the attack upon them. Many of these animals had young ones which, when assaulted, they either took between their fore-flip- pers to carry off, or bore away on their backs. Both of those killed by the Fury's boats were females, and the weight of the largest was fifteen hundred- weight and two quarters nearly 5 but it was by no means remarkable for the largeness of its dimensions. The peculiar barking-noise made by the Walrus, when irritated, may be heard, on a calm day, with great dis- tinctness at the distance of two miles at least. We found mus- quet-balls the most certain and expeditious way of despatching them after they had been once struck with the harpoon, the thickness of the skin being such, that whale-lances generally bend without penetrating it. One of these creatures, being accidentally touched by one of the oars of Lieutenant Mas's boat, took hold of it between its flippers and forcibly twisting it out of the man's hand, snapped it in two."* Again, says the same writer, "The Heckla's two boats had one day a very narrow escape in assaulting a herd of these ani- mals [Walruses] j for several of them, being wounded, made so fierce an attack on the boats with their tusks, as to stave them in a number of places, by which one was immediately swamped and the other much damaged. The Fury's being fortunately in sight prevented any further danger ; two of the Walruses were killed and secured, and the damaged boats lightened and towed to the shore, from which they had been several miles dis- tant."! In addition to the foregoing testimony respecting the power and courage of these animals when in the water, I add the fol- lowing : Mr. Lamont states that " a boat belonging to a sloop from Tromsoe had been upset two or three days before, in our immediate vicinity, and one of the crew killed by a Walrus. It seemed that the Walrus, a large old bull, charged the boat, and the harpooner, as usual, received him with his lance full in the chest ; but the shaft of the lance broke all to shivers, and the Walrus, getting inside of it, threw himself on the gunwale of the boat and overset it in an instant. While the men were floun- dering in the water among their oars and tackle, the infuriated animal rushed in among them, and, selecting the unlucky har- pooner, who, I fancy, had fallen next him, he tore him nearly * Narrative of Parry's Second Voyage, p. 268. tIMd., p. 469. 120 ODOB^ENUS EOSMARUS ATLANTIC WALRUS. into two halves with his tusks. The rest of the men saved them- selves by clambering on to the ice until the other boat came to their assistance. " Upon another occasion I made the acquaintance of the skyp- par of a sloop who had been seized by a bereaved cow Walrus, and by her dragged twice to the bottom of the sea, but without receiving any injury beyond being nearly drowned, and having a deep scar plowed in each side of his forehead by the tusks of the animal, which he thought did not wish to hurt him, but mis- took him for her calf as he floundered in the water. " Owing to the great coolness and expertness of the men fol- lowing this pursuit, such mishaps are not of very frequent oc- currence, but still a season seldom passes without two or three lives being lost in one way or another."* Among the numerous writers who have described a " Walrus hunt," no accounts that I have seen more vividly portray the scene, or give more information respecting the nature and habits of the Atlantic species, than Dr. 1. 1. Hayes, for which reason I deem no apology is necessary for transcribing his lengthy account in full. Under date of July 3, 1861 (the scene being in Frobisher's Bay), he says: "I have had a Walrus hunt and a most exciting day's sport. Much ice has broken adrift and come down the Sound, during the past few days ; and, when the sun is out bright and hot, the Walrus come up out of the water to sleep and bask in the warmth on the pack. Being upon the hilltop this morning to select a place for building a cairn, my ear caught the hoarse bel- lowing of numerous Walrus ; and, upon looking over the sea, I observed that the tide was carrying the pack across the outer limit of the bay, and that it was alive with the beasts, which were filling the air with such uncouth noises. Their numbers appeared to be even beyond conjecture, for they extended as far as the eye could reach, almost every piece of ice being covered. There must have been, indeed, many hundreds or even thou- sands. "Hurrying from the hill, I called for volunteers, and quickly had a boat's crew ready for some sport. Putting their rifles, a harpoon, and a line into one of the whale boats, we dragged it over' the ice to the open water, into which it was speedily launched. "We had two miles to pull before the margin of the pack * Seasons with tlie Sea-horses, pp. 84, 85. HABITS AND THE CHASE. 121 was reached. On the cake of ice to which we first came, there were perched about two dozen animals ; and these we selected for the attack. They covered the raft almost completely, lying huddled together, lounging in the sun or lazily rolling and twisting themselves about, as if to expose some fresh part of their unwieldy bodies to the warmth — great, ugly, wallowing sea-hogs, they were evidently enjoying themselves, and were without apprehension of approaching danger. We neared them slowly, with muffled oars. "As the distance between us and the game steadily narrowed, we began to realize that we were likely to meet with rather formidable antagonists. Their aspect was forbidding in the extreme, and our sensations were perhaps not unlike those which the young soldier experiences who hears for the first time the order to charge the enemy. We should all, very possibly, have been quite willing to retreat had we dared own it. Their tough, nearly hairless hides, which are about an inch thick, had a singularly iron-plated look about them, peculiarly suggestive of defense ; while their huge tusks, which they brandished with an appearance of strength that their awkwardness did not diminish, looked like very formidable weapons of offense if applied to a boat's planking or to the human ribs, if one should happen to find himself floundering in the sea among the thick- skinned brutes. To (Complete the hideousness of a facial expres- sion which the tusks rendered formidable enough in appearance, Nature had endowed them with broad flat noses, which were covered all over with stiff whiskers, looking much like porcu- pine quills, and extending up to the edge of a pair of gaping nostrils. The use of these whiskers is as obscure as that of the tusks $ though it is probable that the latter may be as well weapons of offense and defense as for the more useful purpose of grubbing up from the bottom of the sea the mollusks which constitute their principal food. There were two old bulls in the herd who appeared to be dividing their time between sleeping and jamming their tusks into each other's faces, although they appeared to treat the matter with perfect indifference, as they did not seem to make any impression on each other's thick hides. As we approached, these old fellows — neither of which could have been less than sixteen feet long, nor smaller in girth than a hogshead — raised up their heads, and, after taking a leisurely survey of us, seemed to think us unworthy of further notice ; and, then punching each other again in the face, fell once more 122 ODOB^ENUS ROSMARUS ATLANTIC WALRUS. asleep. This was exhibiting a degree of coolness rather alarming. If they had showed the least timidity, we should have found some excitement in extra caution ; but they seemed to make so light , of our approach that it was not easy to keep up the bold front with which we had commenced the adventure. But we had come quite too far to think of backing out ; so we pulled in and made ready for the fray. " Beside the old bulls, the group contained several cows and a few calves of various sizes, — some evidently yearlings, others but recently born, and others half or three quarters grown. Some were without tusks, while on others they were just sprout- ing j and above this they were of all sizes up to those of big bulls, which had great curved cones of iv ory , nearly three feet Ion g. At length we were within a few boat's lengths of the ice raft, and the game had not taken alarm. They had probably never seen a boat before. Our preparations were made as we approached. The Walrus will always sink when dead, unless held by a harpoon- line ; and there were therefore but two chances for us to secure our game — either to shoot the beast dead on the raft, or to get a harpoon well into him after he was wounded, and hold on to him until he was killed. As to killing the animal where he lay, that was not likely to happen, for the thick skin destroys the force of the ball before it can reach a vital part, and indeed, at a distance, actually flattens it; and the skull is so heavy that it is hard to penetrate with an ordinary bullet, unless the ball happens to strike through the eye. " To Miller, a cool and spirited fellow, who had been after whales on the l nor- west coast', was given the harpoon, and lie took his station at the bows; while Knorr, Jensen, and myself kept our places in the stern-sheets, and held our rifles in readi- ness. Each selected his animal, and we fired in concert over the heads of the oarsmen. As soon as the rifles were discharged, I ordered my men to 'give way7, and the boat shot right among the startled animals as they rolled off pell-mell into the sea. Jensen had fired at the head of one of the bulls, and hit him in the neck ; Knorr killed a young one, which was pushed off hi the hasty scramble and sank; while I planted a minie-ball somewhere in the head of the other bull and drew from him a most frightful bellow, — louder, I venture to say, than ever came from wild bull of Bashan. When he rolled over into the water, which he did with a splash that sent the spray flying all over us, he almost touched the bows of the boat and gave Miller a* HABITS AND THE CHASE. 123 good opportunity to get in his harpoon, which he did in capital style. " The alarmed herd seemed to make straight for the bottom, and the line spun out over the gunwale at a fearful pace; but, having several coils in the boat, the end was not reached before the animals began to rise, and we took in the slack and got ready for what was to follow. The strain of the line whipped the boat around among some loose fragments of ice, and the line having fouled among it, we should have been in great jeo- pardy had not one of the sailors promptly sprung out, cleared the line, and defended the boat. " In a few minutes the whole herd appeared at the surface, about fifty yards away from us, the harpooned animal being among them. Miller held fast to his line, and the boat was started with a rush. The coming up of the herd was the signal for a scene which baffles description. They uttered one wild concerted shriek, as if an agonized call for help; and then the air was filled with answering shrieks. The i liukl Jiuk! huh!' of the wounded bulls seemed to find an echo everywhere, as the cry was taken up and passed along from floe to floe, like the bugle-blast passed from squadron to squadron along a line of battle ; and down from every piece of ice plunged the startled beasts, as quickly as the sailor drops from his hammock when the long-roll beats to quarters. With their ugly heads just above the water, and with mouths wide open, belching forth the dismal i huk! huk! huk! ' they came tearing toward the boat. u In a few moments we were completely surrounded, and the numbers kept multiplying with astonishing rapid ity . The water soon became alive and black with them. " They seemed at first to be frightened and irresolute, and for a time it did not seem that they meditated mischief; but this pleasing prospect was soon dissipated, and we were forced to look well to our safety. " That they meditated an attack there could be no longer a doubt. To escape the onslaught was impossible. We had raised a hornets' nest about our ears in a most astonishingly short space of time, and we must do the best we could. " It seemed to be the purpose of the Walrus to get their tusks over the gunwale of the boat, and it was evident that, in the event of one such monster hooking on us, that the boat would be torn in pieces, and we would be left floating in the sea help- less. We had good motive therefore to be active. Miller 124 ODOB^ENUS ROSMARUS — ATLANTIC WALRUS. plied his lance from the bows, and gave many a serious wound. The men pushed back the onset with their oars, while Knorr, Jensen, and myself loaded and fired our rifles as rapidly as we could. Several times we were in great jeopardy, but the timely thrust of an oar, or the lance, or a bullet saved us. Once I thought we were surely gone. I had fired and was hastening to load ; a wicked-looking brute was making at us, and it seemed probable that he would be upon us. I stopped loading, and was preparing to cram my rifle down his throat, when Knorr, who had got ready his weapon, sent a fatal shot into his head. Again, an immense animal, the largest that I had ever seen, and with tusks apparently three feet long, was observed to be making his way through the herd, with mouth wide open, bel- lowing dreadfully. I was now as before busy loading ; Knorr and Jensen had just discharged their pieces, and the men were well engaged with their oars. It was a critical moment, but, happily, I was in time. The monster, his head high above the boat, was within two feet of the gunwale, when I raised my piece and fired into his mouth. The discharge killed him in- stantly and he went down like a stone. " This ended the fray. I know not why, but the whole herd seemed suddenly to take alarm, and all dove down with a tre- mendous splash almost at the same instant. When they came up again, still shrieking as before, they were some distance from us, their heads all now pointed seaward, making from us as fast as they could go, their cries growing more and more faint as they retreated in the distance. " We must have killed at least a dozen, and mortally wounded as many more. The water was in places red with blood, and several half-dead and dying animals lay floating about us. The bull to which we were made fast pulled away with all his might after the retreating herd, but his strength soon became ex- hausted ; and, as his speed slackened, we managed to haul in the line, and finally approached him so nearly that our rifle-balls took effect and Miller at length gave him the coup de grace with his lance. We then drew him to the nearest piece of ice, and I had soon a fine specimen to add to my Natural History collec- tions. Of the others we secured only one $ the rest had died and sunk before we could reach them. " I have never before regarded the Walrus as a formidable animal ; but this contest convinces me that I have done their courage great injustice. They are full of fight 5 and, had we not HABITS AND THE CHASE. 125 been very active and self -possessed, our boat would have been torn to pieces, and we either drowned or killed. A more fierce attack than that which they made upon us could hardly be imagined, and a more formidable looking enemy than one of these huge monsters, with his immense tusks and bellowing throat, would be difficult to find. Next time I try them I will arm my boat's crew with lances. The rifle is a poor reliance, and, but for the oars, the herd would have been on top of us at any time."* Captain Hall, in his "Arctic Besearches," also thus makes reference to a Walrus-fight in Frobisher Bay: "On their way back, Mr. Lamb, in charge of the second boat, had a fight with some Walrus in the following manner. Approaching a piece of ice on which some of these creatures were basking, he attacked one of them, whereupon all the rest immediately rushed toward the boat, and vigorously set upon him and his crew. For a time it seemed necessary to fly for safety ; but all hands resisted the attack, and would have got off very well, but that one of the Walrus herd pierced the boat's side with his tusks, and made the invaders retreat to repair damages. Mr. Lamb had to drag his boat upon an ice-floe near by, and stuff in oakum to stop a serious leak thus caused. Finally he succeeded, though with some difficulty, in getting back, and thus ended his encounter with a shoal of Walrus."t Dr. Kane, in describing the Innuit method of attacking the Walrus from the ice, says : "When wounded, he rises high out of the water, plunges heavily against the ice, and strives to raise himself with his fore-flippers upon its surface. As it breaks under his weight, his countenance assumes a still more vindictive expression, his bark changes to a roar, and the foam pours from his jaws till it froths his beard. . . . He can strike a fearful blow ; but prefers charging in a soldierly man- ner. I do not doubt the old stories of the Spitzbergen and Che- rie Island fisheries, where the Walrus put to flight the crowds of European boats. Awuk [Walrus] is the lion of the Esqui- maux and they always speak of him with the highest respect. " I have heard of oomiaks being detained for days at a time at a crossing of straits and passages which he infested. Gov- ernor Flaischer told me that, in 1830, a brown Walrus, which according to the Esquimaux is the fiercest, after being lanced * The Open Polar Sea, pp. 404-411. tArctic Researches and Life among the Esquimaux, pp. 334, 335. 126 ODOBJENUS ROSMARUS ATLANTIC WALRUS. and maimed at CTpernavik, routed his numerous assailants, and drove them in fear to seek for help from the settlement. His movements were so violent as to jerk out the harpoons that were stuck into him. The governor slew him with great diffi- culty after several rifle-shots and lance-wounds from his whale- boat. aOn another occasion, a young and adventurous Inuit plunged his nalegeit into a brown Walrus ; but, startled by the savage demeanor of the beast, called for help before using his lance. The older men in vain cautioned him to desist. < It is a brown Walrus/ said they 5 iAuvek-Kaiok!'> 'Hold back!7 Find- ing the caution disregarded, his only brother rowed forward and plunged the second harpoon. Almost in an instant the animal charged upon the kayacker, ripping him up, as the de- scription went, after the fashion of his sylvan brother, the wild boar. The story was told me with much animation 5 how the brother remaining rescued the corpse of the brother dead j and how, as they hauled it up on the ice-floes, the ferocious beast plunged in foaming circles, seeking fresh victims in that part of the sea which was discolored by his blood. " Some idea may be formed of the ferocity of the Walrus," continues Dr. Kane, "from the fact that the battle which Morton witnessed, not without sharing some of its danger, lasted four hours ; during which the animal rushed continually at the Esquimaux as they approached, tearing off great tables of ice with his tusks, and showing no indication of fear what- ever. He received upward of seventy lance-wounds,— Morton counted over sixty ; and even then he remained hooked by his tusks to the margin of the ice, unable or unwilling to retire. His female fought in the same manner, but fled on receiving a lance- wound. The Esquimaux seemed to be fully aware of the danger of venturing too near ; for at the first onset of the Wal- rus they jumped back far enough to be clear of the broken ice. Morton described the last three hours as wearing, on both sides, the aspect of an unbroken and seemingly doubtful com- bat."* From the foregoing it appears that the early accounts of the courage of the Walrus and its attacking and even destroying boats in defense of its young, or in retaliation for an assault, finds ample corroboration. I conclude the abundant evidence on this subject by the following from the pen of Mr. Eobert * Arctic Exploration, vol. i, pp. 414-417. HABITS AND THE CHASE. 127 Brown, who says: "When attacked, unlike the other Seals (unless it be the Cystophora [Hoodel Seal]), it [the Walrus] will not retreat but boldly meet its enemies. I was one of a party in a boat which harpooned a solitary Walrus asleep on a piece of ice. It immediately dived, but presently arose, and, not- withstanding all our exertions with lance, axe, and rifle, stove in the bows of the boat ; indeed we were only too glad to cut the line adrift and save ourselves on the floe which the Walrus had left, until assistance could reach us. Luckily for us the enraged Morse was magnanimous enough not to attack its chop-fallen enemies, but made off grunting indignantly, with a gun-harpoon and a new whale-line dangling from its bleeding flanks."* The foregoing pages sufficiently indicate the methods and im- plements commonly employed in destroying the Walrus for com- mercial or other purposes. To complete the account of the chase it is only necessary to note the special equipment of a Walrus-hunter, and to describe the manner of disposing of : the animal when captured, with a brief account of its products and their uses. This will be given from Mr. Lamont's work, already so often quoted, who, in a chapter devoted to the subject, has furnished the only connected and detailed account known to me. From this I condense the following : A well-appointed Walrus-boat for five men is twenty-one feet long by five feet beam, having her main breadth about one-third from the bow, and strongly built. She is low -shaped at both ends, and should be light, swift, and strong, and easy to man- age, and hence has the keel well depressed in the middle. She is always " carvel-built," being thus much less liable to injury from ice or the tusks of the Walruses than if " clinker-built," and easier to repair when damaged. She is braced with thick and strong stem- and stern-pieces, to resist concussions with the ice. There is a deep notch in the centre of the stem-piece, and three others in a block of hard wood on each side of it, for the lines to run through, in addition to which there is also some- times an upright post on the bow for making fast the lines, but usually the foremost thwart is used for this purpose. Each man rows with a pair of oars hung in grummets to single stout thole- pins. The steersman rows with his face to the bow, and steers with his pair of oars instead of with a single oar or rudder ; and each man rowing with a pair of oars enables the crew to turn * Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., 1868, p. 429. 128 ODOB^NUS ROSMARUS ATLANTIC WALRUS. the boat much quicker than it could be done otherwise, while the shortness of the oars renders them easier to handle and less in the way among the ice than longer ones would be. The har- pooner rows the bow-oans and is the commander of the boat, he alone using the weapons and the telescope. The strongest man in the boat is placed next the harpooner, to haul in the line when a Walrus is struck and to be the assistant of the harpooner. The boats are always painted white outside to assimilate then? color to that of the ice. Each boat is provided with six har- poons, placed in racks, three on each side of the bow (inside), and protected by a painted canvas curtain. To each harpoon is attached twelve or fifteen fathoms of line, each coiled sepa- rately in flat boxes under the front thwart, the end being firmly fastened to some strong part of the boat. The lines should be of the finest quality of two-inch tarred rope, "very soft laid," of the best workmanship and materials. Four shafts for the harpoons are usually carried, made of white-pine poles about twelve feet long, and about an inch and a half in thickness, fitted at one end to enter the socket of the harpoon. The har- poons are used for either thrusting or darting, and a skillful harpooner is said to be able to secure a Walrus at a distance of four or five fathoms. When possible, they are thrust into the victim, and a precautionary twist given in order to disengage the shaft and more securely entangle the barbs in the monster's blubber or skin. In addition to the harpoons are usually car- ried four or five very large lances, with heavy, white-pine shafts about nine feet long, and increasing in thickness from an inch and a half to two and a half where it enters the socket of the lance. This is for the double purpose of giving the necessary strength to the shaft, and to afford buoyancy enough to float the lance-head in ease it becomes disengaged from the animal, the lance-head being secured to the shaft by a double thong of raw seal-skin. Each boat is also provided with five "haak- picks," or boat-hooks, which may be used in dispatching Seals, as well as for the ordinary uses of a boat-hook ; also with several axes, a large one for decapitating the dead Walruses, and a small one for cutting the line in case the Walrus proves too fierce and mischievous, or in case of accidents ; five or six large, sharp •" flensing " knives ; an ice-anchor, with tackle for hauling the dead Walruses on to flat icebergs ; lockers supplied with vari- ous smaller implements and a small outfit of provisions, to guard against the uncertainties arising from accidents and thick HABITS AND THE CHASE. 129 weather. In the way of additional weapons, heavy rifles with plenty of ammunition are considered desirable, and often prove of great service when the Walruses are too wary to permit a near approach, as often happens. Generally a mast and sail are, or should be, also carried, though by no means always needed.* According to the same writer, the manner of "flensing," or taking off and securing the skin and blubber, is as follows : The huge beasts being drawn up on to an ice-floe, the skin, with the blubber adhering, is then removed by dividing the skin into halves t by a slit along the ventral and dorsal lines of the body. It is then loaded into the boats and taken to the ships and thrown into the hold in bulk. Afterward, as leisure or oppor- tunity offers, the skins are drawn up, spread across an inclined platform erected on deck for the purpose, and the blubber re- moved. This is done by two men who act as "blubber-cutters," clad in oil- skin suits, and armed with large, sharp knives hav- ing curved edges. The blubber is then dexterously removed from the skin, cnt into slabs of twenty or thirty pounds7 weight, and thrown down the hatchway, where two men are stationed to receive it and slip it into the square bung-holes of the casks. From its oiliness it soon finds its own level in the casks, which, when full, are tightly closed, t Captain Hall describes the Esquimaux method of taking the Walrus as follows : " The hunter has a peculiar spear, to which is attached a long line made of Walrus hide 5 this line is coiled, and hung about the neck; thus prepared, he hides himself among the broken drifting ice, and awaits the moment for strik- ing his game. The spear is then thrown, and the hunter at once slips the coil of line off his head, fastens the end to the ice by driving a spear through a loop in it, and waits till the Wal- rus comes to the surface of the water, into which he has plunged on feeling the stroke of the harpoon ; then the animal is quickly dispatched by the use of a long lance. The recklessness and cool daring of the Innuit is forcibly shown in this operation, for if he should fail to free his neck of the coil at just the right moment, he would inevitably be drawn headlong beneath the ice.»§ * Compiled from Lament's Seasons with the Sea-horses, pp. 43-51. tin the case of full-grown Walruses; but in the case of "calves," the skin is left entire. t Compiled from Lament's Seasons with the Sea-horses, pp. 76, 77. § Arctic Eesearohes, etc., p. 500. Misc. Pub. No. 12 9 130 ODOB^ENUS EOSMARUS ATLANTIC WALRUS. "In attacking the Walrus in the water they [the Esquimaux] use the same gear [as in attacking Whales], but much more caution than with the Whale, always throwing the Tcatteelik from some distance, lest the animal should attack the canoe and demolish it with his tusks. The Walrus is in fact the only animal with which they use any caution of this kind."* This "gear," or katteelil^ is said to be the largest-of their weapons, and to be used only in attacking Whales and Walruses. It has a shaft of light wood, about four feet in length, like those of their weapons used in killing Seals, but the shaft is much thicker than in the others, especially near the middle, where is lashed a small shoulder of ivory for the thumb to rest against, in order to give additional force in throwing or thrusting the spear. The spear-point is of ivory, fitted into the socket at the end of the shaft, where it is secured by double thongs, in such a way as to give it steadiness when a strain is put upon it in the direction of its axis, but provided with a spring that disengages it when a lateral strain endangers its breaking. To the line attached to the ImUedik a whole Seal-skin, inflated like a bladder, is fastened, for the purpose of impeding the progress of the animal in the water when struck, t Dr. Kane gives a graphic account of a Walrus hunt by a party of Innuits. They set off with three sledges drawn by dogs, for the open water, ten miles distant. As they neared the new ice, they would from time to time remove their hoods and listen in- tently for the animal's voice. Myouk, one of the party, becom- ing convinced, by signs or sounds, or both, that the Walruses were waiting for him, moved gently on and soon heard the cha- racteristic bellow of a bull. The party now forming in single file followed in each other's steps, winding among hummocks and approaching in a serpentine course the recently frozen ice- spots surrounded by firmer ice. " When within half a mile of these, the line broke, and each man crawled toward a separate pool ; Morton on his hands and knees following Myouk. In a few minutes the Walrus were in sight. They were five in num ber, rising at intervals through the ice in a body, and breaking- it up with an explosive puff that might have been heard for miles. Two large grim-looking males were conspicuous as the leaders of the group. " Now for the marvel of the craft. When the Walrus is above * Narrative of Parry's Second Voyage, p. 510. \ See Parry's Second Voyage, pp. 507, 508, and pi. facing p. 550, figs. 20, 21 HABITS AND THE CHASE. 131 water, the hunter is flat and motionless $ as he begins to sink, alert and ready for a spring. The animal's head is hardly be- low the water-line before every man is in a rapid ran; and again, as if by instinct, before the beast returns, all are motion- less behind protecting knolls of ice. They seem to know before- hand not only the time he will be absent, but the very spot at which he will reappear. In this way, hiding and advancing by turns, Myouk, with Morton at his heels, has reached a plate of thin ice, hardly strong enough to bear them, at the very brink of the water-pool the Walrus are curvetting in. " Myouk, till now phlegmatic, seems to waken with excite- ment. His coil of Walrus-hide, a well-trimmed line of many fathoms7 length, is lying at his side. He fixes one end of it in an iron barb, and fastens this loosely by a socket upon a shaft of Unicorn's [Narwhal's] horn : the other end is already 16oped, or, as sailors would say, ' doubled in a bight'. It is the work of a moment. He has grasped the harpoon : the water is in mo- tion. Puffing with pent-up respiration, the Walrus is within a couple of fathoms, close before him. Myouk rises slowly ; his right arm thrown back, the left flat at his side. The Walrus looks about him, shaking the water from his crest : Myouk throws up his left arm ; and the animal, rising breast-high, fixes one look before he plunges. It has cost him all that curiosity can cost: the harpoon is buried under his left flipper. " Though the Awuk [Innuit name of the Walrus] is down in a moment, Myouk is running at desperate speed from the scene of his victory, paying off his coil freely, but clutching the end by its loop. He seizes as he runs a small stick of bone, rudely pointed with iron, and by a sudden movement drives it into the ice : to this he secures his line, pressing it close down to the ice surface with his feet. " Now comes the struggle. The hole is dashed in mad com- motion with the struggles of the wounded beast ; the line is drawn tight at one moment, the next relaxed : the hunter has not left his station. There is a crash of the ice ; and rearing up through it are two Walruses, not many yards from where he stands. One of them, the male, is excited and seemingly terri- fied : the other, the female, collected and vengeful. Down they go again, after one grim survey of the field ; and on the instant Myouk has changed his position, carrying his coil with him and fixing it anew. " He has hardly fixed it before the pair have again risen, 132 ODOB.ENUS ROSMARUS ATLANTIC WALRUS. breaking up an area of ten feet diameter about the very spot he left. As they sink once more he again changes his place. And so the conflict goes on between address and force, till the victim, half exhausted, receives a second wound, and is played like a trout by the angler's reel." The method of landing the beast upon the ice is thus de- scribed : " They made two pair of incisions in the neck, where the hide is very thick, about six inches apart and parallel to each other, so as to form a couple of bands. A line of cut hide, about a quarter of an inch in diameter, was passed under one of these bands and carried up on the ice to a firm stick well secured in the floe, where it went through a loop, and was then taken back to the animal, made to pass under the second band, and led off to the Esquimaux. This formed a sort of l double purchase ', the blubber so lubricating the cord as to admit of a free move- ment. • By this contrivance the beast, weighing some seven hundred pounds, was hauled up and butchered at leisure." * Eeferring again to the chase of the Walrus, Dr. Kane says the manner of hunting varies considerably with the season of the year. In the fall, when the pack is but partly closed, they are found in numbers about the neutral region of mixed ice and water, when the Esquimaux assail them in cracks and holes with nalegeit and line. This fishery, as the season grows colder, darker, and more tempestuous, is attended with, great hazard, and scarcely a year passes without a catastrophe. The spring fishery begins in March. The Walrus is now taken in two ways. Sometimes when he has come up by the side of an iceberg or through a tide-crack to enjoy the sunshine, he lingers so long that he finds his retreat cut off by the freezing-up of the open- ing through which he ascended. The Esquimaux, scouring the ice-floes with keen hunter-craft, then scent him out by the aid of their dogs and despatch him with spears. Again they are found " surging in loving trios from crack to crack, sporting around the berg- water or basking in the sun," when they are attacked by their vigilant enemies with the spear and harpoon. This mode of attack " often becomes a regular battle, the male gallantly fronting the assault and charging the hunters with furious bravery. Not unfrequently the entire family, mother, calf, and bull, are killed in one of these combats." t * Arctic Exploration, vol. i, pp. 407-414, 417. t Ibid., yol. ii, pp. 131-133. PKODUCTS. 133 PRODUCTS. — The commercial products of the Walrus are its oil, hide, and tusks. The oil is said to be much inferior in quality to that of Seals5 but is used for nearly the same purposes.* The yield is also much less in proportion to the size of the animal, in the largest specimens seldom exceeding five hundred pounds.t The hide is said to be a valuable commodity, and u sells for from two to four dollars per half skin, calves only counting for a half; it is principally exported to Eussia and Sweden, where it is used to manufacture harness and sole leather ; it is also twisted into tiller-ropes, and is used for protecting the rigging of ships from chafing. In former tunes nearly all the rigging of vessels on the north coasts of Norway and Eussia used to be composed of Walrus-skin, [fl When there is a superfluity of the article in the market I believe it is boiled into glue. It is from an inch to an inch and a half thick, very pliable in its green state, but slightly spongy, so that I should doubt the quality of the leather made from it."§ As noted in the earlier portions of this paper, the tusks were in very early times a valuable article of traffic among the bar- barous tribes of Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. Brown states that u there is said to be a letter in the library of the Vatican proving that the old Norse and Icelandic colonists in Greenland paid their * Peter's Pence7 in the shape of Walrus tusks and hides." || The ivory afforded by the tusks, though * Lamont says it is usual to mix the Seal and Walrus oil indiscriminately together, and that "the compound is always exported into Southern Europe under the name of Seal oil." — Yachting in the Arctic Seas, p. 89. • t Scoresby states that he "never met with any that afforded above.twenty or thirty gallons of oil." — Account of the Arctic Regions, vol. i, p. 503. t [In the instructions given to Jonas Poole by the Muscovie Company in March, 1610, occurs the following : "And in as much as we have agreed here with a Tanner for all the Morses hides which wee kill and bring into England, and have sent men of purpose for the slaying, salting, and ordering of the same, whereof we have appointed one to goe in your ship : We would have you reserve the hides, and stoore your ship therewith in stead of ballast. And if you obtayne a greater quantitie then you can bring away with you, having alwayes regard to commodities of more value, which are Oyle, Teeth, and Whales finnes [whalebone], that none of them be left behind ; We would have you leave the said overplus of hides in some convenient place, till the next yeere, that we send more store of shipping." — Purchas his Pilgrimes, vol. iii, p. 709.] § Seasons with the Sea-horses, p. 77. UProc. Zool. Soc. Lond., 1868, p. 434. 134 ODOB^NUS ROSMARUS ATLANTIC WALRUS. inferior in quality to Elephant ivory, is used for nearly the same purposes. It is said, however, to sooner become yellow by ex- posure, to be of coarser texture, and hence to have less commer- cial value. I have met with no statistics relating to the amount annually obtained, or the price it brings in market. * The flesh of the Walrus is sometimes used as food by Arctic voyagers, and forms an important article of diet with the Esqui- maux and Tschuchchis. Captain Hall states that while his party remained at Cape True they were never in want of food. "Walrus," he says, "was abundant, and was indeed almost exclusively our diet. We had Walrus brains for supper 5 stewed Walrus, or Walrus boiled, for dinner j but always Walrus, and no bread." t Kichardson states that "their flesh is preferred by the Esquimaux before that of the Small Seal (PJioca Mspida), their feet or fins are considered delicacies, and the heart and liver were pronounced by our navigators to be excellent. The tongue is said to be good when fresh, but becomes oily by keep- ing." { In the narrative of Cook's last voyage it is stated that the fat of the Pacific Walrus "is as sweet as marrow," but that it soon grows rancid unless salted, when it will " keep much longer." The lean flesh is described as being coarse and black, and as having a rather strong taste, but the heart is said to be "nearly as well tasted as that of a bullock." § Captain Parry, in a passage already quoted (antea, p. 119), states that the meat was not only eaten by his men, but was " eagerly sought after on this and every other occasion throughout the voyage, by all those among us who could overcome the prejudice arising chiefly from the dark color of the flesh. In no other respect that I could ever discover, is the meat of the Walrus when fresh-killed in the slightest degree offensive or unpalatable. The heart and liver are indeed excellent." || FOOD. — The food of the Walruses has long been a subject of dispute, not less from the varied character of the substances * Mr. Lament says, respecting products of the Walrus and their value : " Curiosity led me once to weigh and value the marketable parts of a large bull Walrus, and the following results were arrived at : — Weight of Walrus blubber = 520 pounds, about one fifth of a ton, which at 40Z. a ton is worth 81. ; 300 pounds of skin &t2d. a pound = 21. 10s., and 8 pounds of ivory at 5s.. a pound = 21., giving a value of 121. 10s." — Yachting in the Arctic Seas, p. 89. t Arctic Researches, etc., p. 557. t Suppl. Parry's Second Voyage, p. 338. § Cook's Last Voyage, vol. ii, p. 457. || Narrative of Parry's Second Voyage, p. 268. FOOD. 135 found in their stomachs by different observers than from the peculiar conformation of their teeth. Martens, j udging from the appearance of their excrement, thought it must subsist mostly upon sea-grass. Anderson, however, correctly stated that they subsisted upon Mollusca, which they obtained from the bottom of the s>ea by digging with their tusks. Cranz also says its food seems to consist wholly of " muscles and such kind of shell- fish" and "sea-grass." F. Cuvier, Bell, and others, thought the dentition indicated that their diet must be mainly, if not wholly, vegetable. Most modern observers who have given attention to the matter state that they have often found vegetable mat- ter mixed with other food in their stomachs, some claiming the food to be in small part vegetable, but mainly animal, while others think the fragments of sea-weed so frequently met with in their stomachs are only accidentally present. Mr. Brown, who appears to have had excellent opportunity of obtaining infor- mation on this point, observes: "I have generally found in its stomach various species of shelled Mollusca, chiefly Mya trun- cata, a bivalve very common in the Arctic regions on banks and shoals, and a quantity of green slimy matter which I took to be decomposed Alga3 which had accidentally found their way into its stomach through being attached to the shells of the Mollusca of which the food of the Walrus chiefly consists. I cannot say that I ever saw any vegetable matter in its stomach which could be decided to have been taken in as food, or which could be distinguished as such. As for its not [sic] being car- nivorous, if further proof were necessary, I have only to add that whenever it was killed near where a Whale's carcass had been let adrift, its stomach was invariably found crammed full of the Tcrang or flesh of that Cetacean. As for its not being able to hold the slippery cuirass of a fish, I fear the distin- guished author of < The British Mammalia ? [Bell ] is in error. The Narwhal, which is even less fitted in its want of dentition for an ichthyophagous existence, lives almost entirely upon pla- tichthyoid fishes and Cephalopoda. Finally the cxperimentum crucis has been performed, in the fact that fish have been taken out of its stomach ; and a most trustworthy man, the captain of a Norwegian sealer, has assured me (without possessing any theory on the subject) that he has seen one rise out of the water with a fish in its mouth."* That it will readily subsist on fish, as well as other animal *Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., 1868, pp. 430, 431. 136 ODOB^NUS ROSMARUS ATLANTIC WALRUS. food, is further proven by Mr. Bartlett, who states that the one received at the Gardens of the London Zoological Society in 1867 was fed on fish, mussels, whelks, clams, and the stomachs, intestines, and other soft parts of fishes, and that while on the way from the Davis's Straits to the Shetland Islands was fed on strips of boiled pork, and subsequently during the voyage on mussels. He says he is inclined to believe it would eat car- rion or decomposed flesh, and raises the question whether the Walruses may not " be the scavengers of the Arctic seas, the Vultures among mammals," and suggests that the strong bris- tles of the muzzle may have something to do with the gather- ing of this kind of food, " as well as with shrimp-catching." He further states that it declined every kind of sea-weed offered.* Mr. Larnont informs us that he has found their stomachs to contain great quantities of sand-worms, star-fish, shrimps, clams (Tridacna), and cockles (Cardium), and that he believes that they also eat marine algae, or sea- weeds. Malmgreu states that he found that the Walruses of Spitz - bergen subsist almost exclusively upon two species of mussel, namely, Mya truncata and Saxicava rugosa, which live buried from 3 to 7 inches deep in the mud, in 10 to 50 fathoms of water. By aid of their grinding teeth and tongue they remove the shells, and swallow usually only the soft parts of the animal. Only once among many thousands examined did Malmgren find any to which a piece of the shell adhered. The young subsist for two years almost solely upon the milk of the mother, they being unable to dig mussels from the mud until their tusks have attained a length of 3 or 4 inches, which length is not acquired till the animals have reached the age of two years.t In common with some other Pinnipeds, the White Whale and probably other Cetaceans, the Walrus takes into its stomach small stones and gravel, but for what purpose appears as yet unknown. Mr. Brown tells us that considerable quantities of these are always seen around its atluk, or breathing-holes.:): *Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., 1867, p. 820. t See Malmgren as translated in Toschel's Arch, fur Naturgesch., 1864, pp. 68-72. The reasons here given to account for the long period of nursing seem reasonable, but other authorities believe that they derive nourishment from the mother for only one year. tProc. Zool. Soc. Lond., 1868, p. 430. FUNCTIONS OF THE TUSKS. 137 FUNCTIONS OF THE TUSKS. — The functions of the tusks have been also a matter of dispute, more especially as to whether they are to any degree organs of locomotion. Eeferences to their use in effecting a landing upon ice-bergs or upon icy or rocky shores have ' conie down to us from the earliest times, and enter into nearly all the accounts of this animal that have hitherto appeared. That they are thus used rests upon the testimony of a multitude of observers, yet some have claimed that this is not one of their functions. Malmgren states most explicitly that these reports are false, and that the tusks are useful only as weapons, and for the far more important service of digging up the mollusks, that almost exclusively constitute their food.* Other writers, how- ever, who appear to have had equally as good opportunity for observation, refer to the tusks as being of considerable service to the animals in climbing. Cranz says: "The use the Sea-cow raakes of these tusks seems to be in part to scrape muscles and such kind of shell-fish out of the sand and from the rocks, for these and sea-grass seem to be its only food; and also to grapple and get along by, for he fastens them in the ice or rocks, and thus draws up his unwieldy helpless trunk ; and finally 'tis a weapon of defence both against the white bear on the land and ice, and the sword-fish in the sea."t Most of the other early accounts of the Walrus contain simi- lar statements respecting the use of the tusks as locomotive organs, and many later writers also refer to this use of them. Mr. Brown says: "I have seen it also use them [the tusks] to * Says Malmgren : u In Betreff der eigentlichen Bestinimung der Z aline "bin icli iin Staude die nothige Aufklarung zu geben. Es lasst sich'nicht bestreiten, dass dieselben als Waffen angewendet werdeu mid als solche aucli furchtbar siiid ; dftss sie aber auch als Lokomotionsorgane dienen sollten, ist eine Fabel, und daher der Name Odontobcenus Steenstr. nicht passend. Gleich den Robben bewegen sick die Walrosse nur mit Hiilfe ikrer Fiisse, sowohl auf dem Eise als an den sandigen Meeresgestaden, an denen sie bis- weilen kinaufsteigeu, urn zu scklafen, oft zu Hunderten ueben einander. Die Bestimmung der Zahne ist eine ganz andere und fur die Existenz des Walrosses bei weiteni wichtigere, denn nur mit Hiilfe derselben kann es zu seiner Nahrung kominen. Ich fand, dass das Walross sich aussclilieslicli von zwei Muscheln, Mya tnmcata und Saxicava rugosa, niihrt, welche in einer Wassertiefe von 10-50 Faden 3-7 Zoll in dem Bodenlehm eingegrabeu leben. Uni an diese zu koiumen, muss das "Walross sie aus dem Lelim aufgraben." — Ofversigt Vetensk. AJcad. Forliandl. Stockholm, 1863, p. 131, as translated in Archiv fiir Naturgesch., 1864, p. 68. t The History of Greenland, etc. , Brethren's Society's English translation, London, 1767, p. 127. 138 ODOB^NUS ROSMARUS ATLANTIC WALRUS. drag its huge body on to the ice. In progressing on shore it aids its clumsy progression by their means.77* Dr. Kane observes: "Even when not excited, he manages his tusks bravely. They are so strong that he uses them to grapple the rocks with, and climbs steeps of ice and laud which would be inaccessible to him without their aid. He ascends in this way rocky islands that are sixty and a hundred feet above the level the of sea 5 and I have myself seen him in these elevated posi- tions basking with his young in the cool sunshine of August and September/7 1 ENEMIES. — In respect to the enemies of the Walruses, man is, of course, their chief foe ; but, after man, all writers rank the Polar Bears as their principal adversaries. In their conflicts with this formidable antagonist, the Walrus is usually the reputed victor. Says Mr. Brown : " The Eskimo used to tell many tales of their battles ; and though I have never been fortunate enough to see any of these scenes, yet I have heard the whalers give most circumstantial accounts of the Walrus drowning the Bear, etc. These accounts may be taken merely for what they are worth ; but still this shows that they are not wholly confined to Eskimo fable, and ought therefore not to be hastily thrown aside. There is no doubt, however, that the Bear and Walrus are (like all the Pinnipedia) but indifferent friends." f Captain Hall, however, relates the following story, rife among the Innuits, of a very ingenious way the Polar Bear has of kill- ing the Walrus. The bear is said to take up his position on a cliff , to which Walruses are accustomed to resort in line weather to bask in the sun on the rocks at its base. The Bear, mounted on the cliff, watches his opportunity, and " thrWs down upon the animal's head a large rock, calculating the distance and the curve with astonishing accuracy, and thus crushing the thick, bullet-proof skull. If the Walrus is not instantly killed — simply stunned — the Bear rushes down to the Walrus, seizes the rock, and hammers away at the head till the skull is broken. A fat feast follows. Unless the Bear is very hungry, it eats only the blubber of the Walrus, Seal and Whale.7? Captain Hall accom- panies his account with a picture of a Bear in the act of hurling a stone upon the head of a Walrus ! § The story, doubtless without *Proc. Zool. Soc. Lend., 1868, p. 430. JProc. Zool. Soc. Lond., 1868, p. 430. t Arctic Exploration, vol. i, p. 415. § Arctic Researches, etc., p. 581. ENEMIES. 139 basis in fact, is of interest in its bearing upon the mythical history of the Walrus. In fact, Dr. Kane, on the other hand, says : " The generally-received idea of the Polar Bear battling with the Wal- rus meets little favor among the Esquimaux of Smith's Straits. My own experience is directly adverse to the truth of the story. The Walrus is never out of reach of water, and, in his peculiar element, is without a rival. I have seen the Bear follow the Ussuk [Bearded Seal, Erignathus barbatus] by diving ; but the tough hide and great power of the Walrus forbid such an at- tack." * The Walrus is also greatly persecuted with parasites. These, according to Brown, are two species of Hcematopinus, one of which invariably infests the base of the inystacial bristles, and the other its body. " I have seen," says this writer, " the Wal- rus awuldng loudly on the ice, tumbling about and rushing back from the water to the ice, and from the ice to the water, and then swimming off to another piece, and repeating the same ope- ration, as if in pain. A few hours afterwards I saw a flock of Saxicola cenanthe (it was on a land floe, close to the Fru Islands) alight on the spot. On going over, I found the ice speckled with one of these species of Hcematopinus, on which the birds had been feeding $ and the unfortunate Walrus seems to have been in the throes of clearing itself of these troublesome friends, after the approved fashion. Subsequently I have seen these and other small birds alight on the back of the Walrus to peck at these insects, just as crows may be seen sitting on the backs of cattle in our fields." t It seems also to be infested with intestinal parasites. Dr. Murie, f in his report upon the causes of the death of the specimen in the Zoological Society's Gardens, found it infested by a species of Ascaris (A. Mcolor, Baird) to such an extent that it was probably the cause of its death. He states that he removed from its stomach about " half a pailful n of small round worms, two and a half to three inches in length. Their presence had evidently induced chronic gastritis, death resulting from ulceration. Circumstances seemed to indicate that they had not been introduced with its food since its cap- ture, but that it was infested with them before its capture and confinement. * Arctic Exploration, vol. i, p. 263. tProc. Zool. Soc. Loncl., 1868, p. 430. tlbid., pp. 67-71. 140 ODOB^ENUS ROSMARUS ATLANTIC WALRUS. DOMESTICATION. — The Walrus possesses a high degree of cerebral development, and seems to be easily susceptible of domestication. It appears, however, to be difficult to keep alive in confinement, especially when taken far south of its natural home. Doubtless the long period occupied in its trans- portation from the Arctic regions to the zoological gardens of European cities, during which time it is necessarily subject to very unnatural conditions and unsuitable food, does much toward reducing it to a greatly enfeebled state before it reaches European ports. It appears, however, that three specimens have at different times reached England, while two at least have been taken to Holland and one to St. Petersburg. In each case they were quite young animals, probably less than a year old. The first specimen seen alive in England reached London August 20, 1608. The account of the capture of this specimen and of its arrival in London is thus detailed by Purchas. It was brought in the ship " God-speed," commanded by Thomas Wei- den, on its return from a voyage to Cherie (now Bear) Island. The account says : " On the twelfth [of July, 1608,] we took into our ship two young Morses, male and female, alive : the female died before we came into England : the male lived about ten weeks. When wee had watered, we set sayle for England about foure of the clock in the morning. . . . The twentieth of August, wee arrived at London, and having dispatched some pri- vate business, we brought our living Morse to the Court, where the king and many honourable personages beheld it with ad- miration for the strangenesse of the same, the like whereof had never before been seene alive in England. Not long after it fell sicke and died. As the beast in shape is very strange, so is it of strange docilitie and apt to be taught, as by good experience we often proved.'7* It hence appears that this spe- cimen lived for only about three weeks after its arrival in Lon- don. Another is reported to have been exhibited alive in Hol- land in 1612. This specimen was secured with its mother, which died on the voyage to Holland, but its skin was preserved and stuffed, the two forming the originals of Gerard's famous draw- ing already noticed. Yon Baer,t however, raises the question whether the London and Holland specimens were not really the * Purchas his Pilgrimes, etc., 1624, vol. iii, p. 560. tLoc. cit., p. 131. DOMESTICATION. 141 same individual exhibited at different times in the two coun- tries, and devises an ingenious explanation for the origin of the supposed discrepancy of dates. He seems to be led into these doubts by the similarity of some of the circumstances attend- ing the capture and exhibition of these animals, and the close agreement of the dates. Master Welden's account of the cap- ture and transportation of his specimen to London, and of its early death there, seems, however, too explicit to be overthrown by mere conjecture. There is apparently no reason for suppos- ing that the London specimen was ever seen alive in Holla ird. From a statement in Camper's writings, it would appear that a living specimen reached Amsterdam about or before 1 78G, as he refers to having seen the living Walrus in that city.* But of this specimen there appears to be no further record. The specimen taken to St. Petersburg from Archangel, and described by von Baer, lived only a week after its arrival in St. Peters- burg. In 1853, a second living specimen reached London, and was placed in the Gardens of the Zoological Society, where, how- ever-, it survived only a few days, dying apparently of improper and insufficient food. A third specimen, captured in Da vis's Straits, August 28, 1867, reached the Zoological Society's Gar- dens in London about October 28 of the same year, where it lived till December 19, or for nearly five weeks, when it died of chronic gastritis induced by the immense number of intestinal worms (Ascaris), by which it was unfortunately infested.t The first London and Holland specimens were quite young animals, as were also probably all the others. The second London speci- men (1853) was a " very young" female, but I have seen no fur- ther statement respecting its probable age or its size. The third London specimen (1867), a male, was judged to be less than a year old, but measured 8 feet in length and weighed about 250 pounds. No other specimen has thus far, so far as I can learn, been taken alive to any point south of the Scandi- navian ports, to which, according to Brown, they have of late been frequently carried. J That the Walrus, when young, possesses, like the common Seals, a high degree of docility and intelligence, is amply evi- * Camper says : " . . . . et que j'en avois vu plusieurs meme iin vivant a Amsterdam.7' — (Euvres, tome ii, 1803, p. 481. tbee Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., 1867, p. 818, and 1868, p. 67. JProc. Zool. Soc., 1868, p. 431. 142 ODOB^ENUS ROSMARUS ATLANTIC WALRUS. dent from observations made upon it in captivity. In fur- ther illustration of this point I quote the following from Mr. Brown's important paper on the Seals of Greenland and Spitz - bergen, from which I have already quoted so largely. Mr. Brown says, in referring to the subject of its naturalization in zoological gardens : "I cannot better conclude these notes on the habits of the Walrus than by describing a young one I saw on board a ship in Davis's Straits, in 1861, and which, had it survived, was intended for the Zoological Society. It was caught near the Duck-Islands off the coast of North Green- land, and at the same time its mother was killed ; it was then sucking, and too young to take the water, so that it fell an easy prey to its captors. It could only have been pupped a very few hours. It was then three feet in length, but already the canine tusks were beginning to cut the gums. When I first saw it, it was grunting about the deck, sucking a piece of its mother's blubber, or sucking the skin which lay on deck, at the place where the teats were. It was subsequently fed on oatmeal and water and pea-soup, and seemed to thrive upon this outre nour- ishment. No fish could be got for it ; and the only animal food which it obtained was a little freshened beef or pork, or Bear's flesh, which it readily ate. It had its likes and dislikes, and its favorites on board, whom it instantly recognized. It became exceedingly irritated if a newspaper was shaken in its face, when it would run open-mouthed all over the deck after the perpetrator of this literary outrage. When a 'fall'* was called it would immediately run at a clumsy rate (about one and a half or two miles' an hour), first into the surgeon's cabin, then into the captain's (being on a level with the quarterdeck), apparently to see if they were up, and then out again, granting all about the deck in a most excited manner < awuk ! awuk I ' When the men were ' rallying 't it would imitate the operation, though clumsily, rarely managing to get more than its own length before it required to turn again. It lay during the day basking in the sun, lazily tossing its nippers in the air, and ap- peared perfectly at home and not at all inclined to change its condition. One day the captain tried it in the water for the * " When a boat gets 'fast' to a wliale, all tlie rest of the crew ran shout- ing about the decks, as they get the other boats out, 'A fall ! a fall! ' It is apparently derived from the Dutch word ' Val', a whale." t " When a ship gets impeded by loose ice gathering around it, the crew rush in a body from side to side so as to loosen it, by swaying the ship from beam to beam. This is called 'rallying the ship'." DOMESTICATION. 143 first time 5 but it was quite awkward and got under the floe, whence it was unable to extricate itself, until, guided by its piteous t aw liking'*) its master went out on the ice and called it by name, when it immediately came out from under the ice and -was assisted on board again, apparently heartily sick •of its mother element. After surviving for more than three mouths, it died, just before the vessel left for England. As T was not near at the time, I was unable to make a dissection in order to learn the cause of its death.'7* Mr. Laniont thus describes a young Walrus he saw on board the Norwegian brig " Nordby,77 in the possession of Captain Eric- son : " Before parting company, we went on board the < Xordby ' to see a young live Walrus ('a leetle boy -Walrus', as Ericson in his broken English called it), which they had on board as a pet. This interesting little animal was about the size of a sheep, and was the most comical fac-simile imaginable of the old Wal- rus. He had been taken alive after the harpooning of his mother a few weeks ago, and now seemed perfectly healthy, and tame and playful as a kitten. It was, of course, a great pet with all 011 board, and seemed much more intelligent than I believed ; the only thing which seemed to destroy its equanimity was pull- ing its whiskers, or pretending to use a i rope's end7 to it, when it would sneak off, looking over its shoulder, just like a dog- when chastised! They said it would eat salt fish, salt-beef, blubber, or anything offered it ; but I strongly advised Ericson • to give it, if possible, a mixture of vegetables or sea- weed alon with such strong diet. I assured him that, if he succeeded in taking it alive to the Kegentfs Park or the Jardin des Plantes, * lie would get a large price for it 5 but before I left Spitsbergen in September, I heard with regret that the curious little beast had died.77 f Mr. Lamont, on one of his later Arctic expeditions, captured several young Walruses, and seems to have had three alive at \ one time on board the "Diane.77 The first was captured on May \ 27, and safely landed on board, " uttering the most discordant *. cries which ever assailed the ears of man.77 UA harsh note — or, : more properly speaking, noise, something between a grunt and a bark — henceforth, till we were hardened to the annoyance, broke our slumbers at night and destroyed the peace and quiet of the day. Though particularly anxious to secure and .carry * Proc. Zool. Soc. Loud., 186^. pp. -!:>l, 43.^. t Seasons with the Sea-horses, pn. IVJ, -10. (V £•» ; I 144 ODOB^ENUS ROSMARUS ATLANTIC WALRUS. home a young specimen of this interesting animal, we soon found the company of so noisy a shipmate, with the anxiety connected with its weaning, was not an unmixed blessing." Again he says : " . . . . we found amusement in attempts to wean the Walrus-cub, who still proved obstreperous when attempts were made to inject preserved milk into his guzzle by means of a special piece of apparatus -borrowed from the doctor's case. In all other respects he comported himself with the < strange docilitie ' noted by Master Thomas Welden of the God Speed in 1608. He became a great pet with the men : a dear, loving little creature, combining the affection of a spaniel with the pro- portions of a prize pig. What struck us in watching its singu- lar dexterity was that there could be any difference of opinion as to the hind-flippers of the Walrus being used in conjunction with the forepaws after the ordinary method of quadrupeds for walking on land or ice. i Tommy ? also exhibited a marvellous knack in climbing, or rather wriggling, his supple carcase up on to casks and packages in the hold." Later two others were cap- tured, and the three were kept in a pen together. The unlucky fate that finally befell "Tommy" is thus related : u< Tommy', the first young Walrus picked up at Kovaya Zemlya, a month ago, to the great grief of every one except i Sailor ' and the cook, was found dead, with his face immersed in a pail of gruel and one of the others lying on top of him — clearly suffocated. They were confined in a pen forward well out of the way j for they lately had become a great nuisance, crawling about the deck, always in someone's way, and had taken to roaring like bears down the companion at night. A few nights before his death this little beast had fallen down the hatchway ; this might have had something to do with his untimely end. Nothing was found on examination but a total absence of fat, the rest of the dis- section was reserved for the anatomical rooms of the University of Edinburgh, our late companion and playmate being duly salted and packed in an old pork-barrel." * Of the fate of the others I find no record, but they evidently did not live to reach England. " Taking into consideration," says Mr. Lamont, on an early page of his work last cited, " the facility with which a Walrus cub may be captured, it seems strange that they are not more often met with in the zoological gardens of Europe." After alluding to previous attempts to take them to European cities, he says : " Until some special vessel, with cows on boardr * Yachting in the Arctic Seas, pp. 47, 48, 62, 218. DOMESTICATION. 145 or plenty of Swiss preserved milk, visits the Walrus haunts and thus solves the difficulty of weaning, it will not be easy to import a young Walrus in good condition, and many of the interesting habits and traits of this animal will remain unknown. Although the calf of the previous season frequently accompanies the dam with her more recent offspring, at that age the < half- Walrus ? is too unwieldy a beast to be captured alive ; if this were prac- ticable, there can be no doubt its nutrition would be a simple matter." * From the foregoing accounts of the survival for a considera- ble period in captivity, and from the hardships we are told the third London (1867) specimen t survived during its long voyage to London, it is evident that with a sufficient supply of proper food, and due arrangement for the comfort of the captives dur- ing transportation, coupled with a speedy voyage, as by steam- ship, young Walruses might easily be taken in numbers and brought safely to southern ports. Whether, however, they could long endure the great change of climate they would be thus forced to experience is a matter of more uncertainty, yet they in all probability would not suffer more than the Polar Bear, or the Sea Lions and Sea Bears, which have of late been frequently seen in different zoological gardens. A Sea Lion, as is well known, not only survived a voyage from Buenos Ayres, * Yachting in the Arctic Seas, p. 82. tThis specimen was captured in Davis Strait, August 25, " by a noose swung over his head and one fore limb from the ship and hauled on board. For some days the captive was kept tied to a ring-bolt on deck, and refused food altogether. Subsequently he was induced to swallow thin strips of boiled pork, and was thus fed until the vessel reached the Shetlands, when a supply of fresh mussels was provided for its use. A large box with openings at the sides was fabricated ; and the animal, secured therein, was brought safely to Dundee on the 26th ult. [October]. From that port to London the Walrus had been conveyed in the steamer 'Anglia' under the care of the society's superintendent."— Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., 1867, p. 819. Mr. Bartlett further says, in referring to the specimen: " As regards the present animal, I may state that on my arrival at Dundee, on the 29th of October, I found the young Walrus in a very restless state, and, as I thought, hungry; it was being fed upon large mussels ; about twenty of these were opened at a meal, and the poor beast was fed about three times a day. [!] I immediately told the owners that I thought the animal was being starved. Stevens at once agreed and a codfish was procured from the neighborhood, and by me cut into long thin strips. On offering these pieces of cod to the animal, he greed- ily devoured them. Since that time I have fed the Walrus upon fish, mussels, ichelks, clams, and the stomachs and intestines and other soft parts of fishes cut small ; for I find that it cannot swallow anything larger than a walnut." — IUd., pp. 819, 820. Misc. Pub. No. 12 10 146 ODOB^NUS ROSMARUS ATLANTIC WALRUS. across the tropics, to London, but lived there for more than a year,* and finally died " from natural causes.7' Since writing the above I have met with the following from the pen of Mr. Alfred Newton, respecting the feasibility of ob- taining living specimens of the Walrus for the Gardens of the London Zoological Society. Referring to the specimen taken to London in 1608, Mr. Newton says: "Now surely what a rude skipper, in the days of James I, could without any preparation accomplish, this Society ought to have no difficulty in effecting ; and I trust that the example may not be lost upon those who control our operations. From inquiries I have made, I find it is quite the exception for any year to pass without an opportu- nity of capturing alive one or more young examples of Triche- chus rosmarus occurring to the twenty or thirty ships which annually sail from the northern ports of Norway, to pursue this animal in the Spitsbergen seas. It has several times happened that young Walruses thus taken are brought to Hammerfest j but, the voyage ended, they are sold to the first purchaser, gen- erally for a very trifling sum, and, their food and accommodation not being duly considered, they of course soon die. Lord Dufferin brought one which had been taken to Bergen, and succeeded in bringing it alive to Ullapooljt and Mr. Larnont mentions another which he saw in the possession of Captain Erichson. f In making an attempt to place a live Walrus in our Gardens, I do not think we ought to be discouraged by the bad luck which has attended our efforts in the case of the larger marine Mammalia. Every person I have spoken with on the subject corroborates the account given by honest Master Wei- den of the ' strange docilitie' of this beast j and that in a mere financial point of view the attempt would be worth undertaking is, I think, manifest. To the general public perhaps the most permanently attractive animals exhibited in our Gardens are the Hippopotamuses and the Seals. What then would be the case of a species like the Walrus, wherein the active intelli- gence of the latter is added to the powerful bulk of the for- mer ?"§ Since Mr. Newton wrote the above, another specimen has reached London, as already detailed, but this was ten years * See Mnrie, Trans. Zool. Soc. Lond., vol. vii, 1872, p. 528. t " Letters from High Latitudes, pp. 387-389." t " Seasons with the Sea-horses, pp. 26, 27." $ Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1864, p. 500. ODOB^ENUS OBESUS PACIFIC WALRUS. 147 ago. What efforts have been made, if any, since that date, I know not, but the skill, energy, and money which, some fifteen years ago, placed a White Whale (Beluga catodon) in the Aquarial Gardens of Boston, and has recently safely brought another to New York, and has taken others alive into the inte- rior nearly to Cincinnati (the latter dying, however, before quite reaching that city), ought certainly, if directed toward securing living specimens of the Walrus for public exhibition, meet with easy success. As to the influence of a change from an Arctic •climate to mild temperate latitudes, it may be well to recall the fact that not many centuries since the natural habitat of the Walrus extended to the southern shores of Nova Scotia and Oape Breton. ODOB^ENUS OBESUS, (HI) Allen. Pacific Walrus. "Wallross, STELLER, Beschreib. von dem Lande Kamtsch., 1774, 106." Sea Horse, COOK'S Third Voyage, ii, 1784, 456, pi. Iii; ibid., abridged ed., iii, 40. Tricheclms rosmarus, SHAW, Gen. Zool., i, 1800, 234 (in part), fig. 68* (from Cook). — VON SCHRENCK, Eeisen im Amur-Lande, i, 1859, 179, (in part). — LEIDY, Trans. Amer. Phil. Soc., xi, 1860 (in part).— VON MIDDENDORFF, Sibirische Reise, iv, 1867, 934 (in part). Also in part of most recent authors. Tricliechw obesus, ILLIGER, Abhandl. d. Berlin. Akad. (1804-11), 1815, 64, 70, 75 (distribution). TricJiechus divergent, ILLIGER, Abhandl. d. Berlin. Akad. (1804-11), 1815, 68 (based on Cook's description and figure of the Pacific "Walrus). Bosmarus obesus, GILL, Proc. Essex Inst., v, 1866, 13 (in part only).— BALL, Alaska and its Resources, 1870, 503, 577. — SCAMMON, Marine Mam., 1874, 176 (figure of animal). Tricliechm coolfii, FREMERY, Bijdrag. tot de naturkuund. Wetensch., vi, 1831, 385. Rosmarus cooM, GILL, Intern. Exh., 1876, Anim. Resources U. S., No. 2, 1876, 4 (" Pacific Walrus"; no description); Johnson's New Univ. Cycl., iii, 1877, 1725 (no description). Eosmarus arcticus, PALLAS, Zool. Rosso-Asiat., 1831, 269, "pis. xxviii, xxix."— ELLIOTT, Cond. of Affairs in Alaska, 1875. 121, 160 (Prybilov Islands). Eosmarus tricliechus, GILL, Johnson's New Univ. Cyclop., iii, 1877, 633 (in part only). EXTERNAL CHARACTERS AND SKELETON. — Similar in size (or possibly rather larger) and probably in general contour (though commonly depicted and described as more robust or thicker at the shoulders) to the Odobccnus rosmarus, but quite different in its facial outline. The tusks are longer and thinner, 148 ODOBJENUS OBESUS PACIFIC WALRUS. generally more convergent, with much greater inward curva- ture ; the mystacial bristles shorter and smaller, and the muzzle relatively deeper 'and broader, in correlation with the greater breadth and depth of the skull anteriorly. The Pacific Walrus has been supposed to further differ from the Atlantic species by the more naked condition of the skin 5 but this seems to be merely a feature of age, baldness being more or less common in old age to both species. The color of the hair is nearly the same in both. A large old male in the Museum of Comparative Zool- ogy, Cambridge, collected at the Prybilov Islands by Capt. Charles Bryant, is entirely destitute of hair, except around the edge of numerous old scars, and on the breast and ventral sur- face where here and there are patches very thinly clothed with very short hair, hardly sufficient in amount to remove the gen- eral impression of almost complete baldness. The longest mys- tacial bristles are scarcely more than an inch in length, while the greater part barely project beyond the skin. There is an- other similar specimen in the collection of the National Museum. A much younger specimen (a female) in the collection of Prof. H. A. Ward, of Eochester, is as well clothed with hair as is the Atlantic species at the same age, from which the color of the hair does not appreciably differ. The mystacial bristles are somewhat longer than in the above-described very old specimens, but are rather shorter than in the Atlantic species at the same age. Probably in young individuals the bristles are much longer than in the adult, as is the case in the Atlantic species. The chief external difference between the two species appears to consist in the shape of the muzzle and the size and form of the bristly nose-pad, which has a vertical breadth at least one-fourth greater than in the Atlantic species. Yery important differ- ences between the two species are exhibited in the skull, as will be presently described. The old male Alaskan Walrus in the Museum of Comparative Zoology has a length as mounted of 3350 mm. (about 10 J feet), and a circumference at the shoulders (axillae) of 3050 mm. The skeleton, as measured while the bones were still connected by cartilage, gave a total length of 9£ feet (2646 mm.), of which the skull measured 15 J inches (354 mm.); the cervical vertebra} 13 (330 mm.) ; the dorsal vertebrae 45 (1130 mm.) ; the lumbar 15 (370 mm.) ; and the caudal 23 (580 mm.). The fore limb, from the proximal end of the humerus to the end of the first or longest digit has a length of 40 inches (1010 mm.), and the hind limb, from the proximal end of the femur to the end of the Ion- MEASUREMENTS. 149 gest digit, a length of 54 inches (1040 ram.). The scapula has a length of 16J inches (420 mm.), and the innominate bones a length of 13 inches (330 mm.). The measurements more in de- tail of the principal bones, taken from the skeleton as mounted, are as follows : Measurements of an adult male skeleton of Odobwnus olesus. mm. Total length of skeleton 2890 Total length of skull 390 Extreme breadth of skull 305 Length of canines (from plane of molars) 559 Length of lower jaw 290 Breadth at condyles ,... 238 Length of cervical series of vertebrae * — 400 Length of dorsal series of vertebrae 1170 Length of lumbar series of vertebrae 380 Length of the sacral and caudal series of vertebrae 550 Length of first rib, osseous portion 150 Length of first rib, cartilaginous portion 95 Length of first rib, total 245 Length of second rib, osseous portion 240 Length of second rib, cartilaginous portion 160 Length of second rib, total 400 Length of third rib, osseous portion 310 Length of third rib, cartilaginous portion 180 Length of third rib, total 590 Length of fourth rib, osseous portion 440 Length of fourth rib, cartilaginous portion . 190 Length of fourth rib, total 630 Length of fifth rib, osseous portion 480 Length of fifth rib, cartilaginous portion 220 Length of fifth rib, total 700 Length of sixth rib, osseous portion 565 Length of sixth rib, cartilaginous portion 255 Length of sixth rib, total 820 Length of seventh rib, osseous portion 575 Length of seventh rib, cartilaginous portion 285 Length of seventh rib, total 860 Length of eighth rib, osseous portion 580 Length of eighth rib, cartilaginous portion 275 Length of eighth rib, total 855 Length of ninth rib, osseous portion 570 Length of ninth rib, cartilaginous portion 345 Length of ninth rib, total 915 Length of tenth rib, osseous portion 560 Length of tenth lib, cartilaginous portion 400 Length of tenth rib, total 960 Length of eleventh rib, osseous portion 525 Length of eleventh rib, cartilaginous portion 380 Length of eleventh rib, total , 905 150 ODOBJENUS OBESUS PACIFIC WALEUS. TnTn. Length of twelfth rib, osseous portion 500 Length of twelfth rib, cartilaginous portion 320 Length of twelfth rib, total 820 Length of thirteenth rib, osseous portion 450 Length of thirteenth rib, cartilaginous portion 210 Length of thirteenth rib, total 660 Length of fourteenth rib, osseous portion 365 Length of fourteenth rib, cartilaginous .portion 120 Length of fourteenth rib, total 485 Length of fifteenth rib, osseous portion 70 Length of fifteenth rib, cartilaginous portion 00 Length of fifteenth rib, total 70 Length of sternum, osseous portion . 540 Length of sternum, total 650 Length of scapula 420 Breadth of scapula 245 Greatest height of its spine (at base of acromion) 53 Length of thehumerus 390 Transverse diameter of its head 110 Antero-posterior diameter of its head 132 Transverse diameter of distal end 138 Length of radius 273 Length of ulna 362 Longest diameter of proximal end of ulna 130- Length of carpus 48 Length of first digit 124 Length of metacarpal of second digit 87 Length of third digit 68 Length of fourth digit 68 Length of fifth digit 75 Length of femur 250' Circumference of neck of femur 135 Least transverse diameter of shaft 55 Transverse diameter of shaft at end 118 Length of tibia 380- Length of fibula 375 Length of tarsus 172- Length of metatarsal of first digit 142 Length of second digit 126 Length of third digit 123 Length of fourth digit 132 Length of fifth digit 158 Length of innominate bone 430 Greatest width of pelvis anteriorly 32fr Length of ilium 475 Length of ischio-pubic bones 245 Length of thyroid foramen 153 Length of os penis 710 Width of maims at base of metacarpus 140' Width of pes at base of metatarsus , 130 MEASUREMENTS AND EXTERNAL CHARACTERS. 151 Respecting the size and external dimensions, Mr. Elliott says? "the adult male is about 12 feet in length from nostrils to tip of tail [probably in a curved line over the inequalities of the surface] and has 10 or 12 feet of girth, and an old bull, shot by the natives on Walrus Island, July 5, 1872, was nearly 13* feet long, with the enormous girth of 14 feet. The immense mass of blubber on the shoulders and around the neck makes the head and posteriors look small in proportion and attenuated."* He estimates the gross weight of a well-conditioned old bull at "two thousand pounds," the skin alone weighing from "two hundred and fifty to four hundred pounds," and the head "from sixty to eighty." The head, he adds, will measure eighteen inches in length from between the nostrils to the occiput.! Captain Cook says the weight of one, " which was none of the largest," was eleven hundred pounds without the entrails, the head weighing forty-two and the skin two hundred and five. Of this specimen he gives the following measurements: Ft. In. Length from the snout to the tail 9 4 Length of the neck from the snout to the shoulder-bone 2 6 Height of the shoulder 5 0 i fore 2 4 Length of the fins < n (hind 2 6 fore 1 2i hind 2 0 (breadth 0 5£ Snout { . , . 10 (depth 1 3 Circumference of the neck close to the ears 2 7 Circumference of the body at the shoulder 7 10 Circumference near the hind fins 5 6 From the snout to the eyes 0 7| This was evidently either a female or not fully grown. The circumference, as here given, is somewhat less than the length. Eespecting the external appearance of the old males as ob- served in life by Mr. Elliott on Walrus Island, Mr. Elliott says : " I was surprised to observe the raw, naked appearance of the hide, a skin covered with a multitude of pustular-looking warts and pimples, without hair or fur, deeply wrinkled, with dark red venous lines, showing out in bold contrast through the thick yellowish-brown cuticle, which seemed to be scaling off in places as if with leprosy. They struck my eye at first in a * This is well shown in Mr. Elliott's figures. t Condition of Affairs in Alaska, pp. 161, 162. t Voyage to the Pacific Ocean, etc., vol. ii, p. 459. Breadth of the fins J 152 ODOB^ENUS OBESUS PACIFIC WALRUS. most unpleasant manner, for they looked like bloated, mortify- ing, shapeless masses of flesh ; the clusters of swollen, warty pimples, of a yellow, parboiled flesh-color, over the shoulders and around the neck, suggested unwholesomeness forcibly." * The old male, in the Museum of Comparative Zoology, of which measurements are given above, is almost wholly naked, except about the numerous old healed gashes and scars, which are generally bordered with very short, stiff, brownish hair. Cap- tain Scamnion, however, who has also observed them in their native waters, states that the hair that covers " most individu- als is short and of a dark brown ; yet there is no lack of exam- ples where it is of a much lighter shade, or of a light dingy gray. . . . The young, however, before its cumbrous canines protrude . . . is of a black color." t The mystacial bristles appear to vary in length in different individuals. Pallas's figure of a rather young animal represents them as thick and long. In the old specimen in the Museum of Comparative Zoology they are very short, and do not form a very prominent feature of the physiognomy. On the upper part of the muzzle they are merely short, small-pointed spines, one- fourth to one-half or three-quarters of an inch in length ; they increase somewhat in length toward the edge of the lip, where the longest obtain a length of about two inches. They are quite slender, the coarsest having a diameter of not more than eight one-hundredths of an inch. Captain Scammon states that " The cheeks are studded with four or five hundred spines or whiskers, some of which are rudi- mentary, while others grow to the length of three or four inches. They are transparent, curved, abruptly pointed, and about the size of a straw, but not twisted, as has been stated by some writers." f Mr. Elliott describes them as being " short, stubbed, gray- white bristles, from one-half to three inches long." § The descriptions of the bristles of the Atlantic Walrus, as given by numerous writers, agree in representing them as much longer and thicker than in the Pacific species, the dimensions usually assigned being a length of four or five inches, or even, in some cases, six, and about one-twelfth of an inch thick. The figures and descriptions commonly represent them as forming, by their * Condition of Affairs in Alaska, p. 160. t Marine Mammalia, p. 177. t Marine Mammalia, p. 176. § Condition of Affairs in Alaska, p. 161. EXTERNAL CHARACTERS. 153 size and length, next to the long tusks, one of the most striking features of the physiognomy. In Cook's and Elliott's figures of the Pacific species, how- ever, they are by no means a prominent feature, and there are no such allusions to the formidable aspect they give to the facial ex- pression as are commonly met with in the accounts of the Atlantic species. A direct comparison of speci- mens of corresponding ages shows them to be much shorter than in the Atlan- tic Walrus. The eyes of the Atlantic Walrus are described as fiery red, one writer com- paring them to glowing coals. Mr. Elliott refers to those of the Pacific species as having the sclerotic coat "of a dirty, mottled coffee- yellow and brown, with an occasional admixture of white $ the iris light-brown, with dark-brown rays and spots " ; and in no case have I seen any reference to their being " red." While most writers who have de- scribed the Atlantic Wal- rus from life refer to the ™ x/ redness of the eyes as a remarkable and striking feature, Cook, Scainmon, and others (Mr. Elliott ex- cepted) make no reference to the color of the eyes, which would hardly have escaped them had they possessed the redness char- acteristic of the Atlantic species. Mr. Elliott further describes the eyes as small, but prominent, "protruding from their sockets like those of a lobster," and FIG. 13. — Odobcenus oltesus. 154 ODOB^NUS OBESUS — PACIFIC WALRUS. states that the animals have the power of rolling them about in every direction, so that when aroused they seldom move the head more than to elevate it, the position of the eyes near the top of the head giving them the needed range of vision. The nostrils, as in the Atlantic species, are at the top of the muzzle $ they are " oval, and about an inch in their greatest diameter." The auricular opening is placed nearly in a line with the nostrils and eye, and hence near the top of the head in a fold of the skin. {The animal is said to have a keen sense of smell and an acute perception of sound, but a limited power of vision. * An idea of the uncouth and peculiar facial aspect of the Pa- cific Walrus may be derived from the above-given figures (Fig. 13) drawn by Mr. Elliott, to whose kindness I am indebted for their presentation in the present connection. I append herewith measurements of a considerable series of skulls, of different ages, one only of which is marked as that of a female, they being mostly skulls of middle-aged or very old males. *See Elliott, 1. c., pp. 161, 162. MEASUREMENTS OF SKULLS. 155 •5 "5 a p $ P O . to So S o nd as cs f>> ka 'o 5 .2 g S fr fr^ssas ^^^g§^^ •ssaoOtid PIOUOJOO ys ^qSpq '.AiBf JO.AIOI 86 § 53 UUOJI.TBIOUI •qjaa} JO 80IJ88 S; g § g § § § S § : •sdiq. <\-Q ^jBdB aouB^sip 'sauiuBQ •asBq 'JB saSpa |Bttia!j. -xa uaaAvjaq oouBjsip 'sautuBQ •asreq :JB aoua.iajumo.no 'saunreo '0 0 <£ e3 58 5 aqj jo UA\.O.IO paansBoui ' raojj 'sauiuBQ S S g g JS S g m 10 co •* •* •* eo -B{Bd jo oSpa japurq oy. sataBi 'sauoq JBSB^J •q^Suai; 'sauoq -qao uaa^aq saouB^stp ^SBai •sassaoojd pio^SBta S S C-l CO S S § § S S "o "o «o g i g I I'jlilll 156 ODOBJENUS OBESUS PACIFIC WALRUS. DIFFERENTIAL CHARACTERS. — As already stated, the Pa- cific Walrus differs from the Atlantic Walrus very little in external characters, except in facial outline and in the size and FIG. 14. — Odobcenus olesus. •"set" or curvature of the tusks. The skulls, however, afford many important differential characters, and on these differ- DIFFERENTIAL CHARACTERS. 157 ences I venture to predicate the existence of two species, using* the term " species n in its commonly accepted sense. To show more readily what these differences are, I present herewith a series of figures of skulls of both old and young of the two forms. The skulls selected for this purpose are average exam- ples of a considerable series, the adult skulls being those of males of strictly comparable ages. FIG. 15. — Odobosnus rosmarus. The skulls of the two species seen in profile (Figs. 14 and 15) exhibit the following differences : The first and most obvious 158 ODOB^ENUS OBESUS PACIFIC WALRUS. is perhaps that presented by the tusks, which, in the Pacific- species (Fig. 14), are much longer and thicker than in the other (Fig. 15), less incurved and more convergent 5 their alve- oli are deeper and thicker, with heavier walls, thereby giving much greater fullness to the front wall of the skull, I even modifying the form of the nasal bones. The front I outline, as seen in profile, is very oblique in the Atlantic species, while in the Pacific species it is nearly vertical, the front edge of the nasal bones being very little poste- rior to the front border of the base of the tusk, while in the Atlantic species they scarcely FIG. 1.6.— Odobwnm rosmarus. pass beyond a vertical line drawn from the hinder border of the tusk. The orbits in the Pacific species are placed more ante- riorly than in the other. In the front view of the skulls, the muzzle is seen to be much smaller in the Atlantic species (Fig. 16) than in the Pacific (Fig. 17), with, however, not very marked differ- ences in outlines and proportions. The receding upper bor- der in the latter is a marked feature. The difference in size here shown is FIG. n.—OdoloMus obesus. an important one, since the two skulls compared differ very little in general size, DIFFERENTIAL CHARACTERS. 159 they giving very nearly the same measurements in respect to extreme dimensions of length and breadth. The difference is FIG. 18. — Odobamns rosmarus. hence one of proportion, resulting from the far greater develop- ment in both breadth and depth of the anterior portion of the skull in the Pacific species. But while the skull of the FIG. 19. — Odobcenua obcsits. Atlantic species is smaller anteriorly than the other, it has the occipital region (Fig. 18) more heavily developed than is the case in the Pacific species (Fig. 19). The difference in develop- ment of the mastoid processes is strongly apparent, not only as respects massiveness, but in the general outline. In the Pacific 160 ODOB^ENUS OBESUS PACIFIC WALRUS. species there is a thinness and anterior deflection not seen in the other. The sculpturing of the occipital plane (after allow- ing for a considerable range of individual variation in this respect) is quite different, as well as the relative degree of verticality. The occipital breadth of the skull, as compared with the total length of the skull, is not greatly different in the two forms. In the Pacific species, the occipital condyles are narrower than in the other, and are placed at a somewhat dif- ferent angle, both laterally and vertically. FIG. 20. — Odobcenus rosmarus. The difference in relative development of the anterior and posterior portions of the skull in the two species is best seen from above (Figs. 20 and 21). In this view, the narrow facial breadth in the Atlantic species (Fig. 20) is in striking contrast with its great occipital breadth, whereas in the Pacific species (Fig. 21) the two regions are more equally developed. Another difference brought out in this view is the greater interorbital con- striction in the Pacific species, which is not only relatively but actually much narrower than in the other, while the point of DIFFERENTIAL CHARACTERS. 161 greatest constriction is considerably posterior to the same point in the Atlantic species. There are also important differences in the form of the differ- ent bones of the skull, as shown in the young. In the Pacific species (Fig. 22), the nasals are nearly one-third longer and narrower than in the Atlantic species (Fig. 23), and the frontals have a quite different posterior outline, they being abruptly FIG. 21. — Odobcenus olesus. narrowed just behind the orbital fossae to less than half the breadth they present in the Atlantic Walrus, and extend further posteriorly in a narrow point instead of being rather abruptly truncated. In the Atlantic species, the lateral anterior angle of the frontals is in a line with the most laterally projecting portion of the inaxillaries, while in the Pacific species the breadth at this point is considerably greater than at the ante- rior border of the frontals. While the frontals present in each species a considerable range of variation in respect to their pos- terior outlines, the average difference is very nearly as here rep- Misc. Pub. No. 12 11 162 ODOB^ENUS OBESUS PACIFIC WALRUS. resented. The young skulls here compared are of nearly the same age ; but unfortunately the absence of the occipital por- tion of the skull in the only Pacific specimen of this age (Fig. 22) I am able to figure renders it impossible to compare by fig- ures the occipital region in young specimens. Other specimens FIG. 22. — Odobamus obesus. FIG. 23. — Odobamus rosmarus. young enough to have the sutures still open show the differ- ences seen in the occipital region of older skulls. Another difference, but one apparently less constant than the others, is the presence in the young skull of the Pacific Walrus (Figs. 22 and 24) of an extension posteriorly of the intermaxilla- ries for two-thirds of the length of the nasals. In the Atlantic skull (Figs. 23 and 25), the intermaxillaries do not enter into the dorsal outline of the skull, but terminate at the anterior bor- der of the nasals. This difference is open to exceptions, and is not offered as a character of importance, since the same modifi- cation or backward prolongation of the intermaxillaries occurs occasionally in the Atlantic species, and is sometimes absent in the Pacific species, while in some examples the intermaxillaries reach the dorsal surface only as isolated ossicles between the nasals and maxillaries. As a rule, however, the conditions in this respect shown in the young skulls here figured appear to be diagnostic of the two species. DIFFERENTIAL CHARACTERS. 163 A comparison of the skulls as seen from below (Figs. 26 and 27) shows not only the considerably greater contraction of the skull anteriorly, and the greater massiveness and different form of the mastoid processes in the Atlantic Walrus, but other weighty differences. These are especially seen in the size and form of the auditory bullse, and, to a less extent, in the form of the occipital condyles, the form of the glenoid cavity, the orb- ital fossa3, etc. In the Atlantic Walrus (Fig. 26), the auditory FIG. 24. — Odobcenus obesus. FIG. 25. — Odobcenm rosmarus. bullae are relatively larger than in the other (Fig. 27), more quadrilateral in outline, and rather more swollen. The differ- ences in size and outline are very considerable, the auditory bullse in the Pacific species being, as respects outline, nearly triangular. The inner anterior angle is also strongly developed, being by far the most inwardly salient portion of the bullae, while in the Atlantic skull it is greatly suppressed. As regards the occipital condyles, they are broader and shorter in the Atlantic species, and less produced anteriorly. The space between them is also 164 ODOB^ENUS OBESUS PACIFIC WALRUS. considerably broader than in -the other, and the plane of artic- ulation is more nearly vertical. This seems correlate with the greater incurvation of the tusks ; these, being almost vertical in the Pacific species, allow a greater declination of the head. Another difference apparent in this aspect of the skull is the relative posterior extension of the condylar portion, which, in the Pacific species, extends much further beyond the posterior bor- der of the mastoids than in the other. This is obviously due to greater length of the basioccipital segment of the skull in the Pacific species, which is clearly shown in the annexed figures FIG. 26. — Odobcenus rosmarus. (Figs. 26 and 27). The position of the foramina of the basal portion of the skull is also quite different in the two, as is especially seen in respect to the condylar foramina, which are situated more posteriorly in the Atlantic species than in the other, due, perhaps, to the shortness in this form of the basi- occipital region. DIFFERENTIAL CHARACTERS. 165 Another difference not yet noted consists in the greater length and massiveness of the zygomata in the Pacific species, in which they are fully one-third heavier than in the Atlantic species $ they being in the former both deeper and thicker. (This is well shown in the above given figures of the skulls as seen in profile and from above and below, but especially as as seen from below.) The orbital fossa3 are also quite different, they being relatively long and narrow in the Pacific, and shorter and broader in the Atlantic Walrus. FIG. %7.—Odobcvnu8 obesus. To sum up in a word the above-detailed cranial differences between the two species of Walruses, the skull of the Pacific animal is heavily developed anteriorly and relatively much less so posteriorly, while in the Atlantic Walrus just the reverse of this obtains, the skull in the latter being heavily developed posteriorly and relatively less so anteriorly. The axis of vari- ation being at the posterior border of the orbital fossae, the 166 ODOB^NUS OBESUS — PACIFIC WALRUS. zygomata share the general character of the anterior half of the skull. FIG. 28. — Odobcenm rosmarus. Adult. But equally striking differences are seen in a comparison of the lower jaws of the two species. These differences correlate FIG. 29. — Odobcenus obesus. Adult. in a most interesting manner with those that characterize the cranium. Thus, in the Atlantic species (Figs. 28 and 30), the DIFFERENTIAL CHARACTERS. 167 mandible is far less massive anteriorly than in the Atlantic Walrus (Figs. 29 and 31), while it is much more massive pos- teriorly. There is also considerable difference in the mandibles of the two in other respects. Thus, not only is the mandible of the Pacific Walrus much thicker, both laterally and ver- tically, at the symphysis, but the border of the ramus is widely unlike in the two forms. In the Atlantic Walrus (Fig. 30), the FIG. 30. — Oddbcenus rosmarvs. Adult. inferior border of the ramus, from the posterior end of the sym- physis to the front- of the jaw, rises by a gradual and nearly uniform curve ; in the Pacific Walrus (Fig. 31), the inferior bor- der scarcely rises at all, the jaw in front being simply bluntly rounded. In respect to the posterior portion of the ramus, the differences consist in the greater breadth of the condylar por- tion in the Atlantic species, and the greater thickness of the FIG. 31. — Odolcenu* olesus. Adult. coronoid process. These differences are all strongly pro- nounced in even quite young skulls, this being especially the case with respect to the inferior border of the symphysial por- tion of the jaw (Figs. 32 and 34). Another difference consists in the position of the coronoid process, which in the Pacific Walrus, especially in the young, is central to the axis of the ramus, while in the Atlantic species it rises more from the inner 168 ODOBJENUS OBESUS PACIFIC WALRUS. edge, and the process itself lias an inward curvature not seen in the other (Figs. 33 and 35). The cranial differences here detailed as obtaining between the Atlantic and Pacific Walruses are borne out by a large series of the skulls of the two species, numbering not less than twelve to fifteen of each. There is in each spe- cies a considerable range of individual variation; but the mum %vt\m differences presented by the skulls here figured fairly rep- resent average conditions. The only exception to be made is in respect to the tusks of the Pacific speci- FIG. 32. — Odobcenua rosmarus. Young, men figured, which are per- haps above the average in size, while they are remarkably di- vergent, more so than in any other specimen of this species that I have seen. Ordinarily, or as a rule, they are more or less convergent, and some- times even meet or overlap, while in the Atlantic species they are, as a rule, divergent. While in the Pacific species the tusks descend almost ver- tically, in the Atlantic spe- cies they are quite uniformly strongly incurved. In view of the differences in the skulls here described, together with the correlating differences of facial expres- sion, notwithstanding the ab-. FIG. 33. — Odolwnus olesm. Young, sence of other very strongly marked external differences, I have little hesitation in accord- ing to these two forms specific rank. Added to these differ- ences is the fact of their unquestionably long geographic separation. Whether an individual of one species may not oc- casionally find its way to the habitat of the other is a question for future consideration. That such an occurrence is not iinpos- DIFFERENTIAL CHARACTERS. 169 sible seeing evident from the fact of the existence, during por- tions of the year at least, of areas of open water along those portions of the' Arctic coast supposed to separate the habitats of the two species. Further than this, I have seen a skull (now in the Museum of the Boston Society of Natural History) which Capt. Charles Bryant (certainly a trustworthy authority) assures me was taken by his assistant, on Walrus Island, in the summer of 1871 or 1872, that agrees in every » particular with the skulls of the Atlan- tic species. This skull hav- ing been somewhat fantas- tically painted (the lower surface deep red and the upper yellowish-white), led me at first to doubt the cor- rectness of the alleged local- FIG. 34.— Odolanm rosmarus. Young, ity, supposing that if really obtained at the Prybilov Islands it might have been brought there from some distant point. This quaint ornamentation proves, however, an aid in fixing the locality of its capture as Walrus Island. It differing so widely from the form usually occurring in those waters, it at once attracted attention, and was mounted on a bracket and preserved as a curiosity, the paint being applied, as Captain Bryant informs me, to facilitate its being kept' free of dust ! Captain Bryant states (in a letter to the writer) that he has himself "seen two specimens like it," but adds that he "did not succeed in killing them." Hence, of course, their resemblance to the one now in question is only presumed, the animals being only seen alive. He writes, further, that this "head" was recognized as "different from any before seen there." I will merely add .that this Skull is indistin- FIG. 35.— Odolxenus olesus. Young. guishable in any essential detail from skulls of corresponding age from the Atlantic waters, and points to the occasional oc- currence of Odobcenus rosmarus within the habitat of Odobcmus obesus. As von Middendorff has shown (see antea, p. 78), the Walrus (presumably the Atlantic species) has occurred much further to the eastward than the limits assigned it by von Baer, he having traced it, satisfactorily to himself, apparently, to 170 ODQBJ3NUS OBESUS PACIFIC WALEUS. within thirty degrees of the western limit of the range of the Pacific animal. In view of these facts, the question arises as to whether the Atlantic species may not occasionally pass along the northern coast of Asia so far as to sometimes reach the habitat of the Pacific species. NOMENCLATURE. — The first specific name applied to the Pa- cific Walrus is obesus, given by Illiger in 1815, in his " Ueber- blick der Saugethiere nach ihrer Vertheilung iiber die Welt- theile."* In this paper this name is three times used as a dis- tinctive appellation for the Pacific Walrus, namely, (1) in his list of the species of Northern Asia, in which " Triclieclius ros- marus" and " Triclieclius obesus" are both given ; (2) in his list of the species of North America ; and (3) in his remarks respect- ing the first-named list. In these remarks (1. c., p. 75) he says, "Die beiden Arten des Wallrosses, Trichechus obesm und [T.] Rosmarus, sind schon bei Nord-Asien vorgekommen." For Eu- rope he gives only T. rosmarus (1. c., p. 56), respecting the dis- tribution of which he says, " Der Trichechus Rosmarus, das Wall- ross, lebt an den eisigen Kiisten von Nord-Europa, Nord-Asien^ und des ostlichen Nord- America n (1. c., p. 61). It is thus not quite clear whether he considered his T. rosmarus to have a complete circumpolar range, with T. obesus as a second species occurring only on the northeastern shores of Asia and the- north- western shores of North America, or whether, as is more probable,, he merely meantthat T. rosmarus ranged eastward along the Arc- tic coast of the Old World to the northern shore of Western Asia (as is the fact), and was replaced on the Pacific shores of Asia and America by T. obesus. In either case he recognized as a distinct species, under the name T. obesus, the Walrus of the North Pa- cific and adjacent portions of the Arctic Ocean. In the same paper is also a reference to a Triclieclius " diver gens? respecting which he thus observes : "Auser dern schon bei Europa erwahn- ten Wallross, Triclieclius Rosmarus, findet sich an der westlichen Nord-Amerkanischen und nahen Ost-Asiatischen Kiiste, und dein Eise dieser Meere, vielleicht aber auch an der ganzen Kiiste des Eisrneers das von Cook beschriebene und abgebildete Wall- ross, das ich wegen mehrerer Verschiedenheiten, besonders der Hauzahue, als eigne Art unter dem Namen divcrgens aufge- fiihrt habe n (1. c., p. 68). He thus, in the same paper, appears to recognize two species of Pacific Walruses. The name divergens, *Abhaii(l. tier Akail. der Wissenscli. /u Berlin, 1804-1811, (1815), pp. G4r 70, 75. NOMENCLATURE AND HISTORY. 171 however, does not again occur, so far as I can find, either in this paper or in any of the writings of this author. The name obesus has several pages priority over diver gens, and must hence be adopted for the Pacific Walrus. The next names applied to the Walruses are those used by Fremery, who, in 1831, recognized three species, namely, Triche- cJius rosmarus, T. longidens, and T. cooki. The first is the com- mon Walrus of the North Atlantic. The second was founded on a skull with long, slender, and somewhat converging tusks, the locality of which is not stated, but the species is usually considered as based on the skull of a female Atlantic Walrus, The third is obviously the Walrus described and figured by Cap- tain Cook. The latter is hence synonymous with obesus (and divergens) of Illiger. The second (longidens) has generally been, as just stated, considered as based on a female skull of the common Atlantic Walrus. In 1842, Stannius, while referring all the previously given names to one species, characterized what he believed to be a second species, under the name dubius, based on a large skull presenting unusual features of individual variation. I do not find that the locality of this specimen is distinctly given, but von Middendorff appears to consider Stannius's T. dubius to have reference to the Pacific Walrus.* In 1866, Gill, in adopting Rosmarus as the generic name of the \Valruses, took Illiger's name obesus for the specific name of the single species he (Gill) at that time recognized. Later (as already noticed, see antea, p. 22), in naming the two presumed species of Walruses, Gill chose obesus as the name of the Atlantic species, and took cooJcii of Fremery for the Pacific species, over- looking the fact that obesus was originally applied to the Pacific species, in obvious allusion to its supposed more robust or thicker form as compared with the Atlantic Walrus. HISTORY. — The Pacific Walrus appears to have received its first introduction into literature through the early exploration of the * Von Middendorff says: "Ersterer verglich [he refers at this point in a footnote to Stannius's paper] Schiidel und Gebisse der Walrosse unter einan- der und fand die Hauer bei den Walrossen der Beringsstrasse etwas langer, diinner und gelinde spiralig gegen einander gekriiinmt, iin Vergleiche mit denen des atlantischen Eismeeres. Seine eigenen schliesslichen Zweifel spricht aber der vorgeschlagene Name, Tricliechus dubius, deutlich genug a.us»—Sibiri8che Reise, Bd. iv, p. 792. I do not understand, however, that Stannius's T. dubius had any reference to either these characters or to the pacific Walruses. (Compare Stannius's paper in Miiller's Arch, fur Anat.r 1842, pp. 392, 405-407). 172 ODOB^ENUS OBESUS PACIFIC WALRUS. eastern portion of the Arctic coast of Asia, about the middle of the seventeenth century, by the Cossack adventurer Staduchin, who found (about 1645 to 1648) its tusks on the Tschuktschi coast, near the mouth of the Kolyma Eiver. A century later Deschnew found also large quantities of Walrus teeth on the sand-bars at the mouth of the Anadyr. These explorations, so interesting geographically, appear not to have been known in Moscow till Miiller, in 1735, discovered the reports of them at Jakutsk which he published in his "Saminlung russischer Geschichte." * Hence not until the last half of the eighteenth century did the Pacific Walrus become fairly known, mainly through the explora- tions of Steller, Kraschininnikoff, Cook, Kotzebue, Lutke, Bil- lings, Pallas, and others, each of whom referred to or gave more or less full accounts of it. The Pacific Walrus was first figured in Cook's "Last Voyage," and subsequently by Pallas. Later it was noticed by Wrangell on the Tschutkchi coast and by Beechey in Behring's Straits and the neighboring waters. More recently we have notices of it by Dall, Scamrnon, and Elliott, the two last-named authors giving us by far the most detailed account of these animals which has, to my knowledge, thus far appeared, and from whose writings I have freely bor- rowed in the preparation of the following pages. FIGURES. — The first figures of the Pacific Walrus appear to be those published in Cook's "Last Voyage," t in 1784, wtyen a group of Walruses is represented as resting on the ice. The more prominent of these figures was copied by Shawf in 1800, and later by Godrnan § and others. It was also reproduced by Gray in 1853, || and is here republished (Fig. 36). According to von Baer, Pallas, in his ulcones,"ff gave two illustrations of the Walrus. The one, he says, shows the animal from the side, the other as lying on its back. Von Baer describes these as being far better than any figures of the Walrus that had preceded them, with the exception of Gerard's (1612), al- ready described. The structure of the hind feet, he says, is well represented, except that the nails on all the feet are too long. * For this history in greater detail, see von Baer, 1. c., pp. 175-177. t Voyage to the Pacific Ocean, etc., under the direction of Captains Cook, €lerke, and Gore, in the years 1766-1780, vol. ii, pi. Hi. t General Zool., vol. i, 1800, pi. Ixviii, facing p. 234. Also Nat. Miscel., pi. Ixxvi. §Amer. Nat. 'Hist., vol. i, 1826, pi. || Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., 1853, p. 116. VIcoues ad Pallasii Zoographiam, fasc. ii." FIGURES. 173 The fore foot, however, he says, is wrongly represented. Von Baer criticises the form of the nose, the front part of which he says is too prominent, and has the angles or wings (Nasenfliigel) too distinct, and adds that the coloring is also faulty. But von Baer's comparison is made with the young specimen of the At- lantic Walrus he observed in St. Petersburg, and perhaps indi- cates the differences between the two species, rather than any incorrectness in Pallas's drawings. Yon Baer also refers to the figures in Cook's "Last Voyage" as being somewhat exagger- 174 ODOB^ENUS OBESUS PACIFIC WALRUS. ated in regard to the plump or robust form of the animal, unless, as he says, the Eastern (or Pacific) Walruses are fatter than the Western ones. Pallas, in his "Zoographia Bosso-Asiatica," •cites "tab. xxviii. et xxix." of his accompanying "Icones," but the only copy of the "Icones" I have seen contains only, one plate, marked as referring to page 269 of his "Zoographia" (the plates are not numbered), where the Walrus is described. This is a most indifferent and badly colored figure of an appar- ently not half-grown animal, in which the tusks are quite short, the mystacial bristles long and thick, the hind feet extended backward, the tail distinct and prominent, as well as the thighs and shoulders, and all the toes of both the fore and hind limbs are provided with long, conspicuous nails. The next illustration of the Pacific Walrus appears to have been published by Mr. H. W. Elliott * in 1873. This is the result of a careful study of the animals from lifet (on Walrus Island, Alaska, in July, 1872), by an artist not only qualified to do jus- tice to the subject from an artistic point of view, but who brings to his work the trained eye of a naturalist. This illustration represents a group of some ten or more old males quietly repos- ing on the rocks in a variety of postures. The figures in the foreground are expressive and detailed, and afford by far the best representations of an adult Walrus yet extant. The edi- tion of the work embraced only one hundred and twenty-five copies, and can hence, unfortunately, have but a very limited circulation. Two of the figures seen in the foreground, how- ever, have been reproduced by Scammonf from Mr. Elliott's drawings, and give a good idea of the form of these unwieldy creatures. I can refer with certainty to no heretofore-published figures of the skull or general anatomy, but some of the representations of the skull already mentioned in the account of the figures of the Atlantic species may possibly represent this species. GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION. — The habitat of the Pacific Walrus embraces a much smaller extent of coast and a much narrower breadth of both latitude and longitude than the Atlan- tic species. It is confined on the one hand to a comparatively small stretch of the northern and eastern coasts of Asia, and to * Report on the Prybilov Group, or Seal Islands, of Alaska (plates not num- bered and text unpaged). Washington, 1873. t See beyond, p. 179. t Marine Mammals of the Northwest Coast of North America, 1874, p. 177. GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTI6N. 175 a still smaller portion of the opposite American coast. To the westward the Walrus appears not to have been traced beyond Cape Sehelatskoi (157° 30' east longitude), and to have occurred in large herds only as far west as Koljutschin Island (185° east longitude) . These herds are reported as composed almost solely of males, the females rarely passing beyond the mouth of the Kolyma Eiver.* Wrangell, who passed two winters at the mouth of the Kolyma Eiver, asserts confidently that the Wal- rus of Behring's Straits were abundant at Cape Jakan (176° 30' •east longitude), but only once reached Cape Schelatskoi, while he found them numerous at Koljutschin Island. Thence east- ward they form the chief subsistence of the Tschutschi.t On the eastern coast of Asia, Steller (according to von Baer) reports that as early as 1742 none were killed by the Eussians south of Karaginskoi Island in latitude 60°. He reports, how- ever, finding one on the southern point of Kamtschatka, but von Baer questions whether in this isolated instance of its supposed occurrence so far south there may not be some mistake, and that the animal was really a large Seal or a Sea-cow (Rhytina)^ Krashinninikow states that in his day they were confined to the northern seas. He says, " On voit peu de chevaux marins dans les environs de Kamtscliafka, ou si Ton en trouve, ce n'est que dans les mers qui sont au nord. On en prend beaucoup plus pres du cap Tchukotskoi, ou ils y sont plus gros & plus nombreux •que par- tout ailleurs".§ Liitke found a dead one as far south as Karaginskoi Ostrow (latitude 58°).|| Higher up the coast from Cape Thaddeus northward and westward, they were met with in great numbers by the early Eussian explorers. In the Arctic Sea north of Behring's Straits they have been met with abundantly as far north as ships have penetrated, their north- ward range being only limited by the unbroken ice sheet. On the American coast they have been traced eastward only as far as Point Barrow, where they were observed by Beechey * See von Middendorff, Sibirisclie Reise, Ed. iv, p. 936, footnote. t "Auf der Insel KoliutscMn werden mauchmal eine grosse Menge Wall- rosse erlegt, indem die Eingebornen sie, werin sie aus dem Meere auf das Ufer steigenj plotzlich iiberfallen, ihnen den Riickweg ins Wasser abschneideu mid. mit Peitschen und Stocken welter hinanftreiben, wo sie sie dann mit leichter Millie erlegen. — Das Wallross 1st dem sitzenden Tschuktschen, wenn aucli nicht so unmittelbar, doch fast eben so allgemein niitzlich, als dem Nornaden das Rennthier." — Nordkilste von Sibirien, vol. ii, 1839, pp. 224, 225. tSee von Baer, 1. c.,-p. 183. v^Hist. de Kamtsch., etc., as translated by "M. E. . . ." (Eidous), torn. 1, 1767, p. 28.3. || Voyage autour du Monde, torn, ii, p. 178. 176 ODOB^ENUS OBESUS— PACIFIC WALRUS. in 1823. Cook, in 1799, found them numerous in the neighbor- hood of Icy Cape. They were also met with by Beechey on Diomede and Saint Lawrence Islands, and on other islands more to the southward.* Liitke found great herds at Saint Mathew's Island, in latitude 60°, t where their teeth were seen later by Billings.f They formerly resorted in summer in large numbers to Saint Paul's and Saint George's Islands, where, ac- cording to Sarytschew, 28,000 pounds of their teeth were ob- tained in a single year. They still resort, in small numbers, to a neighboring islet (Walrus Island), and even to the easternmost of the Aleutian chain, as will be presently more fully noted. For- merly they were also abundant on Nunivak Island, situated to the eastward of Mathew's Island, and not far from the Alaskan coast. On the coast of the mainland they have been met with in great herds at different times in Kotzebue and Norton Sounds and in Bristol Bay. Captain Cook appears not to have ob- served them south of latitude 58° 42', at which point he found them in Bristol Bay, as well as more to the northward.§ 'there appears to be no certain proof that they were in early times ever met with on the outermost of the Aleutian Islands, || and no early reference to their occurrence anywhere south of Bristol Bay and the Prybilov Islands. Brown, however, as late as 1868, says : " On the northwest coast of America I have known it to come as far south as 50° north latitude."^ Of this I can find only a partial confirmation, and think that possibly there is a mistake in respect to the latitude here given.** Elliott says, '* Narrative of a Voyage to the Pacific and Behring's Straits, vol. ii, p. 271.. t Voyage autour du Monde, torn, ii, p. 176. t Sauer's Account of Billings' Exped. to the North Parts of Eussia, p. 235. § Voyage to the Pacific Ocean, etc., vol. i, pp. 433r 455, 457 ; vol. ii, pp. 245, 248, 249, 259. || On this point, see von Baer, 1. c., p. 182. If Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., 1868, p. 432. ** Mr. Brown further states in the same connection that "It [the Walrus] is found all along the circumpolar shores of Asia, America and Europe," and that "It is not unlikely that it may even be found in the Antarctic regions" ! L. c., p. 432. This idea I have not seen elsewhere revived since the early part of the present century. (On this point see von Baer, 1. c., p. 173, and footnote.) Dr. Gray refers to the reported occurrence by Bonelli of "Sea Horses" on the Island of Saint Lorenzo, Callao. As this author describes "the two great white tusks projecting from the mouth on either side,7' and further says that "the tusks are of great value and form an important article of commerce," Dr. Gray concludes these remarks "cannot apply to the tusks of the Sea Bear"; but he adds that he had "never heard of the genus Triche- GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION. 177 writing in 1874, that " not more than thirty or thirty-five years ago small numbers of these animals were killed now and then on islands between Kodiak and Oonemak Pass" (lat. 55° to 57°). He adds none "are now found south of the Aleutian Islands.7'* Respecting their present distribution, Captain Scammon, writ- ing in 1874, from personal observation, says : " Great numbers of Walruses are found where the waters of the Arctic Sea unite with those of Behring Straits, and also in Behring Sea, and that innumerable herds still resort in the summer months to dif- ferent points on the southern or central coasts of Alaska, par- ticularly at Amak Island and Point Holier, on the northern shore of the Alaskan peninsula. Within the last ten years many of these animals have been destroyed by the whalers, both in the Arctic and Behriug Seas."t According to Mr. Elliott, the Walruses are now to be seen in the Prybilov Islands only on Walrus Island,! they being so shy and timid that they deserted the other islands as they became populated by man. In early days, or when the Rus- sians first took possession, a great many Walruses were found at Northeast Point, and along the south shore of Saint Paul's Island, but with the landing of the traders and seal-hunters the Walruses abruptly took their departure, and Walrus Island alone is now frequented by them, being isolated and seldom visited during the year by the natives. He adds that they are now most numerous, outside of the Arctic circle, in Bristol Bay, where "great numbers congregate on the sandy bars and flats, and where they are hunted to a considerable extent for their ivory ."§ They are now far less numerous than formerly, having greatly decreased in numbers within the last fifty years. So numerous were they in Behring's Straits about 1821, that a Russian writer elms living out of the Arctic Ocean, and should have believed that he [Bo- nelli] had mistaken the Sea Bear (Otaria leonina) for the Sea Horse," if he had not so particularly described the tusks. — Cat. Seals and Whales, p. 37. The reference by Bonelli to the great white tusks of the " Sea Horses" relates, in all probability, to the large canines of the Sea Elephant, which were for- merly employed for a variety of uses. * Condition of Affairs in Alaska, p. 164, footnote. t Marine Mammalia, p. 180. t A low rocky island, about half a mile long by one-eighth of a mile in breadth, situated a few miles to the southeastward of the eastern end of Saint Paul's Island. § Condition of Affairs in Alaska, pp. 161, 164. Misc. Pub. No. 12 12 178 ODOB^ENUS OBESUS — PACIFIC WALRUS. reports meeting with herds there embracing thousands, and even hundreds of thousands, of individuals.* During recent years, in addition to the number killed by the natives, the whalers are said to have destroyed as many as 12,000 annually, so reducing their numbers that the natives have be- come anxious lest they shall soon lose this source of subsist- ence, upon which they are so dependent. HABITS, FOOD, COMMERCIAL PRODUCTS, AND THE CHASE. — The Pacific Walrus appears to agree quite nearly in habits with its closely allied congener of the Atlantic waters. It has the same gregarious propensity, the same intense affection for its young, the same strong sympathy for a distressed comrade, lives upon similar food, and is limited in its distribution by about the same isotherms. Its leading characteristics were concisely stated nearly a century since by Captain Cook in the following words : " They lie, in herds of many hundreds, upon the ice ; hud- dling one over the other like swine ; and roar or bray very loud 5 so that, in the night, or in foggy weather, they gave us notice of the vicinity of the ice, before we could see it. We never found the whole herd asleep ; some being always on the watch. These, on the approach of the boat, would wake those next to them • and the alarm being thus gradually communicated, the whole herd would be awake presently. But they were seldom in a hurry to get away, till after they had been once fired at. Then they would tumble one over the other, into the sea, in the utmost confusion. And, if we did not, at the first discharge, kill those we fired at, we generally lost them, though mortally wounded. They did not appear to be that dangerous animal some authors have described ; not even when attacked. They are rather more so, to appearance, than in reality. Vast numbers of them would follow, and come close up to the boats. But the flash of a mus- quet in the pan, or even the bare pointing of one at them, would send them down in an instant. The female will defend the young one to the very last, and at the expense of her own life, whether in the water or upon the ice. Nor will the young one * Von Middendorff says, " Tausende ja Hunderttausende im lebensfrische- ren Berings-Eismeere," and cites as authority a Russian "writer named Hiilsen. Von Middendorff continues, " Im Jahre 1821 iiber sah er [Hiilsen] dort im Dezember Tausende, zu Ende des Juni Hunderttausende von Wal- rossen zugleich,welche die Luft mit ihrem Stohnen erfiillten und von denen «inige, fruchtlos kratzend, sich bemiihten an den Schlffswandungen empor- zuklimmen." — Silirische Rdse, Bd. iv, p. 913, and footnote. HABITS. 179 quit the dam, though she be dead ; so that, if you kill one, you are sure of the other. The dam, when in the water, holds the young one between her fore fins."* In Captain King's continuation of the narrative of Cook's last voyage, reference is made to a " Sea Horse" hunt. "Our people," says the account, " were more successful than they had been before, returning with three large ones, and a young one, besides killing and wounding several others. The gentle- men who went on this party were witnesses of several remark- able instances of parental affection in those animals. On the approach of our boats toward the ice, they all took their cubs under their fins and endeavored to escape with them into the sea. Several, whose young were killed or wounded and left floating on the surface, rose again and carried them down, some- times just as our people were going to take them up into the boat, and might be traced bearing them to a great distance through the water, which was colored with their blood. We afterward observed them bringing them, at times, above the surface, as if for air, and again diving under it with a dreadful bellowing. The female, in particular, whose young had been destroyed and taken into the boat, became so enraged that she attacked the cutter and struck her two tusks through the bottom of it."t The accounts given by subsequent observers confirm the general truthfulness of this brief but comprehensive sketch, and supply some further details respecting its interesting his- tory. Mr. H. W. Elliott, recently an agent in the employ of the Treasury Department of the United States Government, stationed at the Prybilov Islands, has made these animals a special study, under opportunities unusually favorable for observation. On Walrus Island, well known as being still a favorite resort for a large herd of old males, he was able to ap- proach within a few yards of a herd of several hundred old bulls, which lay closely packed upon a series of low basaltic tables, elevated but little above the wash of the surf. Here he studied and painted them from life,J seated upon a rocky ledge a few feet distant from and above them. He describes these scarred, wrinkled, and almost naked old veterans as of by no means prepossessing appearance. He says they are sluggish * Cook's Voyage to the Pacific Ocean, etc., vol. ii, p. 458. tlbid., vol. iii, p. 248. t See antea, p. 174. 180 ODOB^NUS OBESU8 PACIFIC WALRUS. and clumsy in the water and almost helpless on land, their im- mense bulk and weight, in comparison with the size and strength of their limbs, rendering them quite impotent for terrestrial movement. " Like the seal, it swims entirely under water when traveling, not rising, however, quite so frequently to breathe \ then it 'blows' not unlike a whale. On a cool, quiet May morning, I watched a herd off the east coast of the island, tracing its progress by the tiny jets of vapor thrown off as the animals rose to respire. " In landing and climbing over the low rocky shelves," he continues, u this animal is almost as clumsy and indolent as the sloth ; they crowd up from the water, one after the other, in the most ungainly manner, accompanying their movements with low grunts and bello wings ; the first one up from the sea no sooner gets composed upon the rocks for sleep than the sec- ond one comes prodding and poking with its blunt tusks, de- manding room also, and causing the first to change its position to another still farther off from the water ; and the second is in turn treated in the same way by the third, and so on, until hundreds will be packed together on the shore as thickly as they can lie, frequently pillowing their heads or posteriors upon the bodies of one another, and not at all quarrelsome j as they pass all the time when on land in sluggish basking or deep sleep, they seem to resort to a very irregular method of keep- ing guard, if I may so term it, for in this herd of three or four hundred bulls under my eye, though all were sleeping, yet the movement of one would disturb the other, which would raise its head in a stupid manner, grunt once or twice, and before lying down to sleep again, in a few moments, it would strike the slumbering form of its nearest companion with its tusks, causing that animal to rouse up for a few minutes also, grunt and pass the blow on to the next in the same manner, and so on, through the whole herd; this disturbance among themselves always kept some one or two aroused, and consequently more alert than the rest. aln moving on land they have no power in the hind limbs, which are dragged and twitched up behind; progression is slowly and tediously made by a succession of short steps for- ward on the fore feet. How long they remain out from the water at any one time I am unable to say. Unlike the seals, they breathe heavily and snore. " The natives told me the walrus of Bering Sea is nionoga- HABITS FOOD. 181 • mous, and that the difference between the sexes in size, color, and shape is inconsiderable ; that the female brings forth her young, a single calf, in June, usually on the ice-floes in the Arctic Ocean, above Bering Straits ; that the calf closely resem- bles the parent in general proportions anr. color, but that the tusks which give it its most distinguishing expression are not visible until the end of the second year of its life ; that the walrus mother is strongly attached to her offspring, and nurses it later in the season in the sea ; that the walrus sleeps pro- foundly in the water, floating almost vertically, with barely more than the nostrils above water, and can be easily approached, if care be taken, to within easy spearing distance 5 that the bulls do not fight as savagely as the fur-seal or sea-lion, the blunted tusks of the combatants seldom penetrate the thick hide ;* that they can remain under water nearly an hour, or twice as long as the seals, and that they sink like so many stones immediately after being shot." Mr. Elliott adds : " As the females never come down to the Prybilov Islands, 1 have never had an opportunity of observing them. . . . The reason why this band of males, many of them old ones, should be .here by themselves all through the year is not plain to me ; the natives assure me that the females, or their young, never have been seen around the shores of these islands. Over in Bristol Bay great numbers of walrus con- gregate on the sandy bars and flats, where they are hunted to a considerable extent for their ivory." On Walrus Island, however, they are said to be comparatively unmolested, the natives here " not making any use of their flesh, fat, or hides." They are hence shot here only by the natives of Saint Paul's Island, who visit Walrus Island for the purpose of getting eggs, in June and July, when they often shoot the Walruses wan- tonly .t Their comparative immunity here from persecution is hence apparently the reason why they select this island as one of their favorite reposing grounds. Their food is described by Mr. Elliott as consisting exclu- sively of shell-fish (principally clams), " and the bulbous roots of certain marine grasses and plants, which grow in great abun- dance in the broad, shallow lagoons and bays of the mainland * That their blows are "at times not lacking in force is sufficiently proven by the too well-known fact of their striking them through the plauking of a, ship's boat. t Condition of Affairs in Alaska, pp. 160-164. 182 ODOB^ENUS OBESUS PACIFIC WALRUS. coast. I have taken from the paunch of a walrus," he adds, " over a bushel of crushed clams, shells and all, which the animal had but recently swallowed, since digestion had scarcely com- menced. Many of the clams in the stoma.cn were not even broken $* and it is in digging these shell-fish that the service rendered by the enormous tusks becomes evident."! Mr. W. H. Ball also says, "They feed principally upon shell-fish which they swallow whole, and the shells, which remain after they have digested the contents, are found in large numbers about the localities they frequent."! Among the enemies of the Pacific Walrus are not only to be reckoned man, both savage and civilized, but also the Polar Bear and the Orca or " Killer," while, like the Atlantic species, it is said to be greatly infested with parasites. According to Captain Scammon, the Polar Bear, when meeting with a herd in its prowlings, " selects and seizes one of the smallest indi- viduals with his capacious jaws, and the resisting struggles of the poor victim to free itself are quickly suppressed by repeated blows with Bruin's paws, which cause almost instant death. The murderous beast then quickly tears the skin from the body by means of his long, sharp claws, when the remains are de- voured." That carnivorous Cetacean, the Orca, he continues, "also watches for the young cubs of the Walrus, and if there is floating ice at hand, the mother with aer charge clambers upon it to avoid the pursuer ; if this fails, however, the cub will mount the mother's back as the only place of refuge. But the Killer is rarely baffled in obtaining the object it seeks by this mode of the mother's protection, for the pursuing animal dives deeply, and then comes head up under the old Walrus, with such force as to throw the cub from the dam's back into the water, when it is instantly seized and swallowed by its adver- sary. Instances have been known, however, when the Orca has paid dearly for its murderous temerity, as the enraged Walrus, when bereft of her young, will sometimes strike her tusks into her foe with such effect as to cause a mortal wound or instant death."§ Captain Scammon says the period of gestation is "about nine * Compare on this point Malmgreu's statement that the Atlantic Walrus, rejects the shells, swallowing only the soft parts. See anted, p. 136. t Condition of Affairs in Alaska, p. 162. i Alaska and its Resources, 1870, p. 504. $ Marine Mammalia, pp. 180, 181. AFFECTION. 183 months," and that both sexes and the young are often found in company. He adds that the paring season occurs during the "last of the spring months or the first of summer." His gen- eral account of their habits is quite in harmony with the early account given by Cook. "The mother and her offspring," he says, " manifest a stronger mutual affection than we have ob- served in any other of the marine mammals ; the cub seeks her protection, clingfhg to her back whenever there is cause for alarm, and she will at all times place herself between the foe and her helpless charge ; frequently has she been known to clasp to her breast the terrified little one, embracing it with her fore flippers, while receiving mortal wounds from the whale- man's lance." Captain Scammon further states, in respect to the affection of the young for its mother, on the authority of Capt. T. W. Williams, an experienced and observing whaling master, that " a female was captured two miles from the ship and the young cub kept close to the boats that were towing its dead mother to the vessel ; and when arrived, made every effort to follow her as she was being hoisted on board. A rope with a bowline was easily thrown over it, and the bereaved creature taken on deck, when it instantly mounted its mother's back and there clung with mournful solicitude, until forced by the sailors to again return to the sea ; but even then it remained in the vicinity of the ship, bemoaning the loss of its parent by utter- ing distressful cries." "A male, and a female with her cub," continues our author, "are often seen together $ yet herds of old and young, of both sexes, are met with, both in the water and upon the ice. When undisturbed they are quite inoffensive, but if hotly pursued they make a fierce resistance ; their mode of attack is by hooking their tusks over the gunwales of the boat, which may overturn them, or they strike a blow through the planking, which has repeatedly been the means of staving and sinking them."* The commercial products of the Pacific Walrus are, as in the case of the other species, its tusks, oil, and hide. They are, fur- thermore, to the Tschuktschi what the Greenland Walrus is to the Esquimaux, their most important source of food, utensils, and means of commercial interchange. Cook, Wrangell, and numerous other explorers of the At ctic waters beyond Behring's Straits, unite in the testimony that they form the chief means of support of the coast tribes. To quote the words of a recent * Marine Mammalia, p. 178. 184 ODOB^ENUS OBESUS PACIFIC WALRUS. writer, their " flesh supplies them with food; the ivory tusks are made into implements used in the chase, and for other do- mestic purposes, as well as affording a valuable article of barter ; and the skin furnishes the material for covering their summer habitations, planking for their baidarras, harness for their dog- teams, and lines for their fishing-gear.r* According to Wrangell, "the Walrus is almost as useful to the settled as the Eeindeer is to the nomad Tschuktschi. The flesh and the blubber are both used as food, and the latter for their lamps ; the skin is made into durable thongs for harness and other purposes, and into strong soles for boots ; the intes- tines furnish a material for light water-proof upper garments for summer use; a very durable thread is prepared from the sinews ; and, lastly, the tusks, which are of the finest ivory, are sometimes formed into long narrow drinking vessels, such as takes a long time to hollow out, but are more frequently sold to the Eeindeer Tschuktschi, who dispose of them to the Rus- sians."! As already incidentally noted in the foregoing pages, their tusks have been an important article of traffic from the earliest times to which the history of this region extends, and the source of this valuable commodity was the "Eldorado" of the Russian adventurers of the middle of the seventeenth century who first explored the Arctic coast of Eastern Asia. Now, as then, the tusks have the highest commercial value of any of the products of the Walrus, and thousands of these animals have annually been sacrificed, for perhaps the greater part of the last two cen- turies, in order to meet the demand for them. Mr. Dall, writing in 1870 of the Alaskan Walrus, states that "the quantity of Walrus tusks annually obtained will average 100,000 pounds.^ Allowing the average weight of a pair of Walrus tusks to be 15 to 20 pounds (I have found the weight of large tusks to vary from 6 to 8 pounds each, the very largest 1 have seen weighing less than 9 pounds) — a very high estimate — this enormous quantity implies the destruction of more than six thousand Walruses annually in the waters bordering Behring's Straits. According to Captain Scammon, the whalers have of late been largely instrumental in the destruction of the Alaskan Walrus, they having, owing to the scarcity of Whales, become more or * Scammon, Marine Mammalia, p. 180. t Wrangell's Polar Expl., Harper's Amer. ed., p. 282. t Alaska and its Resources, p. 504. PRODUCTS. 185 less interested in Walrus-hunting. According to a quotation given by Captain Scammon from The Friend* of March 1, 1872, "the whalers first began to turn their attention to Walrus- catching about the year 1868, and the work has continued up to the present time [1874]. Usually, during the first part of every season, there has been but little opportunity to capture whales, they being within the limits of the icy barrier. Hence, much of the whalers' time during the months of July and Au- gust has been devoted to capturing the Walrus ; and it is esti- mated that at least 60,000 of these animals have been destroyed by the whale-fishers in the Arctic Ocean and Behring Sea dur- ing the last five years, which produced about 50,000 barrels of oil, with a proportionate amount of ivory." t This would make an average annual destruction of 12,000, in addition to the large number habitually destroyed by the natives. In the "Annual Beview" of the products of the North Pacific Whaling Fleet J for 1877, it is stated that the whalers arriving at the port of San Francisco during 1877 reported 74,753 pounds of Walrus teeth and 2,178 barrels of Walrus oil. The amount of Walrus ivory "received in the customs district of San Fran- cisco n for 1876 is given as 33,934 pounds. The same authority gives the following statistics for previous years, beginning with 1873: Year. Number of f vessels. Pounds of ivory. 1873 16 12, 142 1874 12 7,600 1875 11 25, 400 1876 7 7 0005 i 1877. .. 16 74 000 Total for the last five years, 153,076 pounds, with an estimated value of about $55,000. This amount implies an annual destruc- tion of at least ten to twelve thousand Walruses. It thus ap- pears that for the last ten years the number of Walruses taken * A newspaper published in Honolulu. t Marine Mammalia, p. 181. « t "Commercial Herald and Market Review," vol. xii, No. 531, San Fran- cisco, Cal., Jan. 17, 1878. § There is an unexplained discrepancy here, for another statement in the same connection gives the quantity of "Walrus teeth " for 1876 as 33,934 pounds. 186 ODOB^NUS OBESUS — PACIFIC WALRUS. by the whalers alone cannot fall far styort of one hundred and twenty thousand. It is hence little wonder that these animals are rapidly declining in number, and that the natives manifest alarm at the disappearance of their main reliance for support. The destruction of the Alaskan Walrus is now largely effected by the use of firearms, even the natives shooting them on shore with rifles and heavy muskets, although they still also practice their former method of pursuing them in the water and there dispatching them with spears and lances. FAMILY OTA.KIIDM. Eared Seals. Phoques a oreilles, BUFFON, Hist. Nat. Suppl., vi, 1782, 305. Plwcacea auriculata, PERON, Voy. Terr. Austr., ii, 1816, 37. Otaria, PERON, Voy. Terr. Austr., ii, 1816, 37 (genus). Otariina, GRAY, Ann. of Phil., 1825, 340 (subfamily). Otariadce, " BROOKES, Cat. Anat. andZool. Mus., 1828, 36."— GRAY, Ann. and Mag. Nat., Hist., 3d ser., xviii, 1866, 228.— ALLEN, Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool., ii, 1870, 19. OtariidcB, GILL, Proc. Essex Inst., v, 1866, 7. Arctoceplialina, GRAY, Charlesworth's Mag. Nat. Hist., i, 1837, 583. Otarides, GERVAIS, Hist. Nat. des Mammiferes, ii, 1855, 305. Fore limbs placed far back, and, like the hind limbs, compar- atively free and serviceable for terrestrial locomotion 5 hind feet susceptible of being turned forward. The digits of the manus successively decrease very much in size and length from the first to the fifth, without well-developed nails, and with the manus bordered with a naked cartiliginous extension. Of the pes the three middle digits are shorter and weaker than the others, with well-developed nails ; the others strong and thick, the first rather stouter than the fifth, both with only rudi- mentary nails $ all terminate in hairless, long cartilaginous flaps, which vary in length in the different genera. Soles and palms and most of the upper digital surface hairless. Scapula large, the blade very broad, the crests high, and the acromion greatly developed. Femur with a trochanter minor, which in adult males is strongly developed. Pubic bones unanchylosed, and in the females considerably separated. Ilia long and slender, not abruptly turned outward posteriorly. Acetabula opposite the posterior end of the second sacral vertebra. Skull with well- developed orbital processes, and an alisphenoid canal 5 mastoid process strong and salient, distinct from the auditory bullse, which are small and but slightly inflated. Incisors always ^, the two middle pairs of upper with the crown deeply grooved trans- versely, the outer caniniform. Dental formulae: Milk dentition, I- Sc-iEi>M-tE|; permanent dentition, I. g, C. g, M. « or £=j|, = 34 or 36. Ears with a subcylindrical external conch. Testes scrotal. 187 188 FAMILY OTARIID^E. TECHNICAL HISTORY. HIGHER GROUPS. — The Eared Seals were referred by the older writers to the Linnsean genus Phoca. Buffon, in 1782, re- cognized the Seals as consisting of two groups, characterized by the presence or absence of external ears. Peron, in 1816, first divided the Seals into two genera, he separating the Eared Seals from the earless ones under the name Otaria. Later, Brookes, in 1828, raised the group of Eared Seals to the rank of a family, under the name of Otariadce. This classification was not, however, generally adopted till 1866, when it was revived by Gill, and immediately adopted by Gray, and it has been ac- cepted by most subsequent writers. Gray, Turner, and others, had previously considered the Eared Seals as forming a sub- family of ihePhotidce, for which Gray, at different times, used the names Otariina and Arctoceplialina, which latter was also adopted for the name of the group by Turner in 1848. In 1870 I di- vided the Eared Seals into two groups, which I provisionally adopted as subfamilies, with the names Tricliipliocince and Ouli- photince, in allusion to the nature of the pelage. The charac- ters assigned, while perhaps of small importance, relating mainly to size, character of the pelage, and size and shape of the ear, and insufficient to characterize divisions of this grade, serve to mark two natural groups, the so-called Sea Lions, or Hair Seals, forming the one, and the Sea Bears, or the Fur Seals of commerce, the other. Dr. Gray, in 1869,* divided the family into five "tribes," which he termed, respectively, Otam-ina, Callorhinina, Arcto- cephalina, Zalopliina, and Eumetopiina, mainly with reference to the number of the grinders and the position of the hinder pair. These " tribes " he at the same time combined into two " sections," the one embracing the Otariina (consisting of his genus Otaria), and the other all the others, this division being based on the posterior extension of the bony palate. To his first primary division (" Section I"), consisting, as just stated, of the single genus Otaria as limited by Gray, and, as seems to me, embrac- ing only the single species 0. jubata of recent authors, he re- stricted the name " Sea Lions," applying to the other, embrac- ing all the other Eared Seals, the name " Sea Bears." This latter group, however, embraces not only the animals commonly called Sea Bears by other authors, as well as by travelers and *Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist., 4tli ser., vol. iv, pp. 264-270. HIGHER GROUPS. 189 sealers (i. e., the "Fur Seals" of commerce), but also the two Sea Lions (commonly so called) of the northern hemisphere, and all the Eared Hair Seals of the South, except Otaria jubata. This classification, with scarcely any modification, he followed also in his papers treating of this group in 1871 f but in 1872 1 he proposed a new arrangement of the " Sea Bears." The sub- division of this group into "tribes" is not here clearly indi- cated, although he arranges the genera in four unnamed sec- tions. In 1875 \ he proposed another arrangement of the "Sea Bears," in which they were placed in two primary divisions, in accordance with whether the number of molars is ^ or |=j?. His 5 — 5 5 — 5 later modifications were more formally presented in his last gen- eral account of the group published in 1874, § in which the clas- sification then presented differed very much from that adopted by him in 1868 and 1871. Although a new "tribe" ("Tribe 2, Gypsophocina") was instituted, his former "tribes," Callorhi- nina, Arctocephalina, and Eumetopiinfy were united into one, under the name Arctocephalina, thus reducing the whole num- ber of "tribes" to four, as follows: 1. Otariina; 2. Gypsopho- cina; 3. ArctocepJialina ; 4. Zalophina. As before, he recognized two primary "sections," by means of which Otaria is opposed to all the other genera as a group co-ordinate in rank with all the rest. Also the "sections," or primary divisions, are still based on the posterior prolongation of the bony palate, and the "tribes," or secondary divisions, on the number of the molars and the position of the hinder pair relative to the "front edge of the zygomatic arch." It is needless to add that a more purely artificial and valueless basis could scarcely be devised. In his later schemes, Eumetopias is placed under the division charac- terized as having the molars |^, on the wholly theoretical ground that "the fifth upper molar on each side [is] wanting," leaving "the sixth separated from the fourth by a wide space." On similar grounds his Phocarctos elongatus, — based, as I shall later give reasons for believing, in part on an adult female Eumetopias stelleri and in part on the young of the Japan species of ZalophuSj — is considered as lacking the "fifth grinder" when adult, though possessing it when young. As late as 1873, Eu- metopias is placed in a group explicitly characterized as having *Suppl. Cat. Seals and Whales, 1871, p. 11. tProc. Zool. Soc. Loud., 1872, p. 655. jProe. Zool. Soc. Lond., 1873, p. 779. . $ Hand-List of Seals. . 190 FAMILY OTARIIDJE. u thick under-fur" ! In his latest notice of the species (in 1874) his synonymy of the species shows that he still believed the skin of a young CallorMnus ursinus, referred in 1866 to his Arctoce- phalus monteriensiSj belonged to this species, although in 1871* he properly assigned it to CallorMnus ur sinus, which I had shown in 1870 was its proper allocation. Dr. Gill, in 1871,t made two primary divisions of the family, the genus Zaloplius alone constituting one division, which was thus contrasted with all the others. The characters cited as the basis of this division are the rostral profile (whether " more or less deeurved," or "straight or incurved ") and the sagittal crest. The last distinction was based wholly on a misapprehension of the facts in the case,t and the first proves to be open to very obvious exceptions. Although Dr. Gill, in his later papers on this group, retains these divisions as originally proposed by him, he has adduced no additional characters in support of them. GENERA. — The first generic division of the Eared Seals was made by F. Cuvier in 1824, § who separated them as "Arctoce"- phales" (Arctocephalus} and "Platyrhinques" (Platyrliinclms), with VPhoca ursina" (= Arctocephalus delalandi, F. Cuvier; A. antarcticuSjGrsiy)sis the type of the former and "Phoca leonina" (= Otaria jubata of recent authors) as the type of the latter. Suc- ceeding writers very generally adopted the name Arctocephalus for the greater part of the species, while Platyrhinchus was con- sidered as equivalent to Otaria of Peron, of prior date. Otaria has, by some writers, even down to the present time, been used in a generic sense for all the species of the family, sometimes with and sometimes without subgeneric divisions. In 1859, Gray separated generically the Northern Fur Seal from Arctocephalus under the name CallorMnus^ and the group has been since very generally recognized as of generic or subgeneric value. Prior to this date the only commonly recognized genera were Otaria and Arctocephalus. The next generic subdivisions of the Ota- ries were instituted by Gill in 1866, || namely, Eumetopias and Zalophus, the former having for its type and only species the Northern Sea Lion, or Leo marinus of Steller, while the latter * Suppl. Cat. Seals and Whales, p. 15. t Amer. Nat., vol. iv, Jan., 1871, p. 681. JSee Am. Nat., vol. v, March, 1871, p. 41. §Mem. duMus. d'Hist. Nat., vol. xi, 1824, 205. || Proc. Essex Institute, vol. v, pp. 1-13, March, 1866. GENERA. 191 was founded on the Otaria gillespi of M'Bain. The genera recog- nized were live in number, namely : 1. Otaria ("Peron, 1816, typePhocajubata Schreber"); 2. Arctocephalus ("F. Cuvier, 1824, , . . . type Phoca ursina Linnaeus," hence = CallorhinuSj Gray, 1859, and not Arctocephalus, F. Ouvier) ; 3. Eumetopias, Gill (nov. gen., "type Otaria californiana Lesson, = Arctoceplialus monte- riensis Gray," the intended type being Otaria stelleri of Miiller) ; 4. ZalophuSj Gill (nov. gen., "type Otaria Gilliespiij Macbain"); 5. Halarctus, Gill ("type Arctoceplialus Delalandii, Gray," hence = Arctoceplialus , F. Cuvier, 1824). Although three new names were proposed, only two new genera were added, Halarctus be- ing synonymous with Arctocephalus of F. Cuvier, and Arctoce- plialusj as here denned, with Callorhinus, Gray, as speedily and almost simultaneously pointed out by Gray* and Peters,t and as has been since freely conceded by Gill. A few months later Professor Peters t adopted, in a subgeneric sense, the genera previously recognized by Gray and Gill, and added two other subgenera, namely, Phocarctos and Arctophoca. The type of Phocarctos was Gray's Arctocephalus Jiookeri (then known to Pe- ters apparently only through Gray's description and figures), • with which, however, was associated the Otaria ulloce of von Tschudi, which latter appears to be merely Otaria jubata, fern. The type of Arctoplioca was originally Otaria philippii. Peters, sp. nov., probably = Arctocephalus falklandicus, fern. 5 at all events, a Fur Seal from the Island of Juan Fernandez. These groups were first established in May, 1866, but the following November, Phocarctos ulloce was removed by Dr. Peters to his section or subgenus Otaria, and Otaria falklandica, Shaw ( = " 0. nigrescens. Gray"), was taken as the type of Arctophoca, to which 0. philippii was now apparently referred as a subspecies or a doubtful form. Thus Arctocephalus falklandicm is here re- moved from Arctoceplialus, where he formerly placed it, to be- come a new type of Arctophoca ! In September, 1866, J Gray adopted the above-named generic and subgeneric divisions, to which he added Neoplioca as a " new genus," based on his Arctoceplialus lobatus, referred previously by Peters to Zaloplius, and Euotaria and Gypsophoca as subgeu- era of Arctocephalus. Euotaria was based on his Arctocephalus nigrescens, and Gypsophoca on his Arctocephalus cinereus. In * Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist., 3d ser., vol. xvii, pp. 444-447, June, 1866. t Monatsb. d. k. P. Akad. zu Berlin, 1860, pp. 269, 276, 670-672. I Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist., 3d ser., vol. xviii, pp. 228-237. 192 FAMILY OTARIID.E. 1868 * he raised Euotaria and Gypsophoca to the rank of generar ten genera of Eared Seals being now recognized by this author. In his formal synopsis of the family presented in 1869,t these ten genera were all retained, and are the following : 1. Otaria. 2. Callorhinus. 3. Phocarctos. 4. Arctocephalus. 5. Euotaria. 6. Gypsophoca. 7. Zalophus. 8. Neophoca. 9. Euinetopias. 10. Arctophoca. In 1871 he again treated two of them (Euotaria and Gypso- phoca) as subgenera of Arctocephalus, thereby reducing the number of genera to eight. In 1873 f eight genera of " Sea Bears'7 alone (i. e.. Eared Seals exclusive of Otaria) are enumer- ated, Euotaria being omitted. In 1874, § however, both Euota- ria and Gypsophoca are given full generic rank, but no reference is made to Arctophoca, the species (Arctophoca philippii) formerly referred to it being neither recognized nor accounted for. The number of genera is thus reduced to nine. Dr. Gill, in 1872 1| and in 1876, fl retained the five generic groups first recognized by him in 1866, with, however, the corrections in nomenclature introduced by Gray and Peters later in the same year. These five genera, namely, Otaria, Eumetopias, Zalophus, Callorhinus, and Arctocephalus, were adopted by myself in 1870, in my paper on the Eared Seals of the North Pacific.** Dr. Peters, in 1871,tt referred all the South American Fur Seals (of which he then recognized four, namely, A. falklandicus, A. nigrescens, A. argentata, A. philippii) to his subgenus ("Unter- gattung") Arctophoca. Dr. Peters's later views respecting the genera of the Otasriidce are given in his paper on the Eared Sdbls published in August, 1877,f | in which he reduces the genera to three, namely, Otaria, Eumetopias, and Arctocephalus. The Fur Seals are all united under Arctocephalus; Otaria includes only 0. jubata (to which his 0. leonina and 0. ulloce are referred as " Lo- calrassen"), Eumetopias being made to include all the other * Arm. and Mag. Nat. Hist., 4th ser., vol. i, pp. 99-110, Feb., 1868. tAnn. and Mag. Nat. Hist., 4th ser., vol. iv, pp. 264-270. tProc. Zool. Soc.Lond., 1873, p. 779. § Hand-List of Seals. || Arrangement of Families of Mammals, p. 69. If Johnson's Cyclopedia, vol. iii, p. 1018. **Bull. Mus. Gomp. Zool., vol. ii, No. 1, August, 1870. ttMonatsb. d. k. P. Akad. d. Wissensch. zu Berlin, 1871, p. 564. n Monatsb. d. k. P. Akad. d. Wissensch. zu Berlin, 1877, pp. 505-507. SPECIES. 193 Hair Seals ( = the subgenera Eumetopias, Zalophus, and Plioc- arctos of Peter s's earlier papers). SPECIES. — Prior to about the beginning of the present cen- tury, the Eared Seals then known were commonly referred to two species, one of which was termed, in common parlance, the Sea Bear, Ours marin, Meerbar, etc., and the other Sea Lion, Lion marin, Meerlowe, etc. They were hardly more definitely known in technical terminology, the "Sea Bear" being Phoca ursina, and the " Sea Lion" the Phoca jubata. The first of these names originated with Linne' in 1758,* and the other with Forster in 1775.t Phoca ursina was based originally on Stel- ler's Ursus marinus, and Phoca jubata on the Southern Sea Lion, or " Lion marin," of Pernetty, to which species these specific names have of late been properly restricted. Zimmermann, in [1782,| named the Southern Sea Bear Phoca amtralis(=" Falk- land Seal, Pennant II, p. 521," the Sea Bear of Forster), which Shaw, in 1800, renamed Phoca falklandica. Both names were based on the "Falkland Isle Seal" of Pennant, but Zimmer- mann's seems to have been entirely overlooked by subsequent writers. As it has eighteen years' priority, it must be adopted in place of falklandica. During the last half of the last century and the early part of the present, the early voyagers to the southern seas (as Anson, Per- netty, Forster, Weddel, Peron and Lesueur, Quoy and Gaimard, Lesson and Garnot, and Byron, among others) met with different species of Sea Lions and Sea Bears. They described these ani- mals very imperfectly, their accounts relating mainly to their habits and localities of occurrence, and they brought with them to Europe very few specimens.§ Desmarest in 1817, and Lesson in 1828, gave names to the species thus obscurely indicated, the latter renaming several that had already received names. To these authors, and to the often-quoted remark of P6ron that he believed there were not less than twenty species of Otaries, we are indebted for much of the confusion and obscurity that must ever be inseparable from the early history of this group. Des- marest alone, in his article on the Otaries in the " Dictionnaire d'Histoire naturelle" (vol. xxv, 1817, pp. 590-603), recognized * Syst. Nat. i, 1758, 37. tDescrip. Anim., pp. 66, 317. t Geograph. Geschichte, Theil iii, 1782, p. 276. $ G. Cuvier, according to Gray (Catalogue of Seals, 1850, p. 2), had skulls of only two species of Eared Seals when he wrote the " Ossemens Fossiles." Misc. Pub. No. 12 13 194 FAMILY OTARIID^. nine species, only two of which have any tangible basis, or can. be determined except conjecturally, and mainly on the basis of their habitat. In fact, it is almost impossible to say whether they are "hair" Seals or "fur" Seals 5 the descriptions show merely that they were some kind of Eared Seal. Desmarest's species are the following : 1. Otaria leonina (= Otaria jubata+ Eumetopias stelleri); 2. Otaria ursina (=Callorhinus ursinus); 3. Otaria peroni (n. sp., based on a vague account by M. Bailly* of an Eared Seal seen in great numbers on Eottnest Island, west coast of Australia. Desmarest doubtfully refers to it two mounted skins in the Paris Museum, both of very young animals, the larger only about two feet and a half long, brought from " Ter- res Australes ") ; 4. Otaria cinerea (Peron et Lesueur, Voy. au Terr. Austr., ii, 77 j habitat, " He Decres," coast of Australia ; an Eared Seal, with rough hair, described only in general terms, and undeterminable ; probably = Zalophus lobatus) $ 5. Otaria albicollis (Peron et Lesueur, 1. c., 118 $ habitat, " He Eugene," coast of Australia ; an Eared Seal, eight or nine feet long, char- acterized by a white spot on the middle and upper part of the neck $ perhaps the same as the last, but not certainly deter- minable) ; 6. Otaria flavescens (Shaw, Mus. Lev. ; Gen Zool., i, 260, pi. Ixxiii; habitat, Straits of Magellan ; a "Yellowish. Seal, with pointed ears " ; not determinable, but probably = 0. jubata) ; 7. Otaria falklandica (= Phoca falldandica Shaw=P7iOca aus- tralis, Zimm. ; " Cinereous Seal, with small pointed ears, and the cutting-teeth marked with furrows " ; presumably the common Fur Seal of the Falkland Islands) ; 8. Otaria porcina (= Phoca porcina, Molina ; habitat, coast of Chili ; wholly undeterminable) j 9. Otaria pusilla (= "Phoca pusilla, Linn." ; a wholly mythical " Otary " as described by Desmarest, supposed to inhabit the Medi- terranean Seat] Of these nine species, only one (Otaria ursina}, * P6ron et Lesueur's Voy. Terr. Austr., vol. i, p. 189. t In view of recent attempts to revive the name pusilla as a tenable desig- nation for some species of Eared Seal, it seems desirable to state fully the original basis and early history of this name. It was given originally by Schreber, in 1776, to "Le Petit Phoque" of Buffon, Schreber even copying Buffon's figure (Hist. Nat., xiii, 1765, pi. liii). Buffon introduces his notice of this species as follows : " He second [ espece] (planche LIII) qui est le phoque de la Me'diterrane'e & des mers du Midi, & que nous pr£sumons etre le phoca des Anciens^ parolt £tre d'une autre espece, car il differe des autres par la qualite" & la couleur du poil qui est ondoyant & presque noir, tandis que le poil des premiers est gris &, rude, il en differe encore par la forme des dents & par celle des oreillesj car il a une espece d'oreille externe tres-petite a la ve"rite" . . . ." Then follows a good description of a young Fur Seal; but in SPECIES. 195 or possibly a second (0. falMandica), is positively referable to any particular species as now known. Three years later (in 1820) Desmarest again, in his "Mainma- logie" (Encyclope'die Methodique, vol. clxxxii, pp. 248-252), re- described the Otaries, reducing the number of species to eight by uniting his Otaria pusilla to his Otaria peroni under the latter name, which now relates not only to the Fur Seals of the western coast of Australia, but also to those of the Cape of Good Hope. Lesson, eight years later, in his article on the Otaries (Dic- tionnaire classique d'Histoire Naturelle, vol. xiii, 1828, pp. 419- 426), raised the number to fifteen. One is purely mythical ; five or six can be determined as equivalent to species now commonly recognized, but the greater part are not satisfactorily identifia- ble. His species are the following : 1. Otaria fabricii (=" Phoca ursina Fabricius " ; habitat, Greenland ; wholly undeterminable ; certainly not an Eared Seal, and probably wholly mythical) 5 2. Otaria stelleri ( =Leo marinus, Steller, =Eumetopias stelleri, which here receives its first distinctive name) j 3. Otaria californiana (=" jeune Lion marin de la Californie," of Choris, and hence = Zalophus gillespii of recent authors, which here received its first specific name*) 5 4. Otaria TcraschenniniTcowii (= Ursus marinus, a long footnote to this description he gives quotations from Glaus Magnus, Zorgdrager, Charlevoix, and from collections of voyages, which relate to the Seals of both the Arctic and Antarctic regions, none of which probably re- fer to any species of Eared Seal. On the following page he says: "C'est par une convenauce qui d'abord paroit assez legere, & par quelques rapports fugitifs que nous avons jug6 que ce second phoque (pi. LIII) e~toit le phoca des anciens ; on nous a assurd que Pindividu que nous avons vu venoit des Indes, & il est au moins tres-probable qu'il venoit desmers du Levant; . . ." •—Hist. Nat., xiii, 1765, pp. 340, 341. Though assumed to be a Mediterranean species, the origin of the specimen here described and figured as "Le Petit Phoque" is avowedly unknown, and a certainly ereoneous habitat is as- signed to it. This is the sole basis, however, for the Phoca pusilla of all the earlier systematists, and of some modern ones. As already stated, Desma- rest's Otaria pusilla is purely mythical; for while he describes an Eared Seal, he claims for it a Mediterranean habitat, and deems it to be the species described by Aristotle, Pliny, and ^Elian, and figured by Belon, and even goes so far as to say, "Buffon et Erxleben parolssent avoir confondu, avec ce phoque, de jeunes individus d'autres especes particulieres aux Terres Aus- trales, et particulierement a 1'ours-marin de File de Juan-Fernandez. Quant a lui, il semble propre a la Me"diterrane"e." The Phocapmilla of Erxleben and Gmeliu is a heterogenous compound of Eared and Earless Seals from both hemispheres. * See further remarks, postea, under Eumetopias stelleri and Zalophus calif or- 196 FAMILY OTARIID.E. Stel]er=Callorhinus ursinus); 5. Otaria pernettyi( = Otaria juba- ta) ; 6. Otaria forsteri (embraces all the Fur Seals of tlie Southern Hemisphere) ; 7. Otaria mollissina (" Lesson et Garnot, Zoologie de la Coquille, pi. iii, p. 140 " ; habitat, " lies Malouines " ; the long description contains nothing in itself distinctive of any species^ but it has been determined, by Nilsson and Gray, from the skull and skin in the Paris Museum, to be a young Otaria jubata) ; 8. Otaria peroni (=u Otaria peroni, Desm., sp. 382 "; embraces " Phoca pusilla Linn.", "Petit Phoque, Buffon," "Otarie de La- lande, F. Cuvier," and " Loup inarm, Pages"; habitat, Cape of Good Hope ; formerly referred by Gray to his Arctocephalus delalandi, to which it is mainly referable) ;' 9. Otaria coronata ("Desm., spec. 383 ; Phoca coronata, Blainv.7'j undeterminable, and habitat unknown) ; 10. Otaria cinerea ("P6ron et Lesueur," as above); 11. Otaria albicollis ("Peron et Lesueur," as above); 12. Otaria flavescens (= " Phoca flavescens, Shaw," as above; not determinable) ; 13. Otaria shawi (= Phoca falklandicus, Shaw, therefore = Arctocephalus falklandicus, auct.) ; 14. Otaria hau- villii (UG. Cuvier, Oss. Foss., t. v, p. 220"; = Arctocephalus falk- landicm, auct.; habitat, "lies Malouines"); 15. "Otaria moli- naii" ( = u Phoca porcina, Molina"; no tangible description, and wholly undeterminable). Fischer, in 1829-30,* appears to have recognized fifteen (only twelve have numerals prefixed) species of Eared Seals, which are the same as those described by Lesson in 1828, with the ex- ception that Lesson's Otaria fabricii is not admitted, and Gray's Arctocephalus lobatus is added. Hamilton, in 1839,t recognized twelve species, as follows : 1. " Sea-Lion of Steller" (= Eumetopias stelleri) ; 2. " Sea-Lion of Forster" (= Otaria jubata) ; 3. " Sea-Lion of Pernetty" (= Ota- ria jubata, mainly); 4. "Pusilla, or Cape Otary" ("Otaria pusilla, Desm.," but really based on a skull from the Cape of Good Hope); 5. "Ursine Seal, or Sea Bear of Steller (= Cal- lorhinus ursinus) ; 6. " Ursine Seal, or Sea Bear of Forster " (= Arctocephalus falklandicus, auct.); 7. " Sea Bear, from speci- men in the British Museum" (=? Otaria jubata, according to Gray); 8. " Lesson's Otary, 0. mollissina, Lesson" (=Arctocepha- lus falklandicus) -, 9. and 10. "Ash-coloured and white-necked Otaries" (= Otaria cinerea and 0. albicollis, Peron) ; 12. " Com- mon Fur-Seal of Commerce" ( = Arctocephalus falJdandicus). * Synopsis Mammalium, pp. 230-234, 374 (i. e. 574). t Amphibious Camivora, etc. (Jardine's Nat. Library, Mam., vol. viii). SPECIES. 197 He very judiciously refers to Otaria porcina, 0. coronata, 0. delalandi, and 0. hauvillii as species so slightly indicated " as still to remain doubtful." Mlsson, in his celebrated paper on the Seals, published in 1837, * reduced the species to three, reuniting all the Sea Lions (except one) under the name Otaria jubata, and all the Sea Bears under the name Otaria ursina. His third species is the Otaria australis of Quoy and Gaimard, from Australia (= Arc- tocephalus lobatus, Gray, Spicel. Zool., i, 1828). Miiller, in his appendix to Mlsson's paper, t recognized five species, as repre- sented in the Berlin Museum, namely: 1. Otaria stelleri; 2. Otaria ursina; 3. Otaria platyrhinchus (= 0. jubata, auct.); 4. Otaria chilensis (described as new from a skull received from Chili, but really = 0. jubata); 5. Otaria lamari (= Arctocepha- lus lobatus Gray, as above). He recognized as " eine sechste Art" the Otaria australis, Quoy and Gaimard, and Mlsson. The next general review of the group is contained in Gray's Catalogue of the Seals of the British Museum, published in 1850, in which eight species are formally recognized. These are : 1. Arctocephalus ursinus ; 2. A. falMandicus ; 3. A. cine- reus (= uf Otaria cinerea, Peron," as noticed above) ; 4. A. loba- tus; 5. A. australis ("Quoy and Gaimard" = A. lobatus, Gray) ; 6. A. hooJceri ; 1. Otaria stelleri ; 8. Otaria leonina. All but A. australis probably represent good species. In 1866, in his " Catalogue of Seals and Whales," he raised the number to twelve by adding, 1. Arctocephalus monteriensis (first described by him in 1859 = Eumetopias stelleri, plus a skin referable to Callorhinus ursinus); 2. A. calif ornianus, n. sp. ( = A. monterien- sis, Gray, 1859, in part, really = ^Eumetopias stelleri) ; 3. A. nigres- cens, first named in Zool. Erebus and Terror ; not mentioned in Cat. Seals of 1850, but revived in 1859, when it was really first published (= A. falklandicus) ; 4. A. delalandi (= Petit Phoque, Buffon, hence Phoca pusilla, Schreber, plus Otaria dela- landi, F. Cuvier, 1828,— the Fur Seal of the Cape of Good Hope); 5. A. " Gilliespii" (= Otaria gillespi, M'Baiii, 1858, = Otaria californiana, Lesson, 1828). Of these five, two (A. mon- teriensis and A. californianus) are strictly nominal, as is prob- ably a third (A. nigrescens) ; two valid species (A. u delalandi" * K Vet. Akad. Haucll. Stockholm, 1837, pp. 235-245. Translated by Peters in Wiegmann's Arcliiv fur Katurgesch., 1841, pp. 301-333, with notes and an appendix by J. Miiller. t Wiegmann's Archiv, 1841, pp. 333, 334. 198 FAMILY OTARinXdE. and A. u gilliespii ") are added to those recognized by this author in 1850. The same year (1866), Peters* recognized fourteen species (three of them were treated as doubtful), as follows: 1. Otaria jubata; " ? 2. Otaria leonina" ( — 0. jubata) ; 3. Otaria godefroyi (n. sp. = 0. jubata) j 4. uf Otaria byronia" (^=Phoca byronia, Blain- ville, = 0. jubata) ; 5. Otaria liookerl ; 6. Otaria ullooc (= 0. ullom, vonTschudi, = 0. jubata, fern.); 7. Otaria pusilla (=Petit Phoque, Buffon, Phoca pusilla, Schreber, Otaria delalandi, F. Cu- vier, etc.); 8. Otaria cinerea (=U0. cinerea, Peron and Lesueur, Quoy and Gaiinard"; u 0. stelleri, Sch^egel," in part,etc.) ; ?9. Otaria falklandica (= Arctoceplialus falklandicus, auct.) ; 10. Otaria ursina (=Callorhinus ursinus)', 11. Otaria stelleri (Eume- topias stelleri) 5 12. Otaria gillespi (•=Zaloplius californianus) 5 13. Otaria lobata (= Arctocephalus lobatus, Gray, 1828, Otaria aus- tralis, Quoy and Gaimard, 1830, 0. stelleri, " Schlegel,'" in part, = ZalopJius lobatus) ; 14. Otaria pJiilippii (n. sp. = Arcto- cepTialusfalklandicuSj auct.). Six months later, on again review- ing the group,f the same writer reduced the number of species to ten. In this paper he referred the 0. tyronia, 0. leonina, and 0. godeffroyi of his former paper to 0. jubata, and his 0. pJiilippii to 0. falklandica. 0. ulloce is still retained as a valid species, and " Otaria stelleri, Schlegel," is determined to be the 0. gillespi, M'Bain. In 1868 f Dr. Gray described as a new species Arctocephalus nivosus (= A. antarcticus, s. pusillus) from the Cape of Good Hope, and Professor Turner added,§ as a new species, Arcto- ceplialus schisihyperoes (later corrected to schistuperus by Giin- ther), from Desolation Island, considered later by Gray,|| after an examination of the type, to be referable to his A. delalandi (therefore = A. antarcticus). M'Bain, the same year,ff described an imperfect skull of what he called " 0. ulloce f" (= Otaria jubata, fern.), adding that in case it proved to be a new species it might be called " 0. graii." In 1870 ** I was able to recognize only six species as well established, but gave two more as probably valid, the latter *Monatsb. d. k. P. Akad. Wissensch. zu Berlin, 1866, pp. 261-281. tlbid., 1866, pp. 665-672. t Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist., 4th ser., vol. i, p. 219. § Journ. Anat. and Phys., vol. iii, pp. 113-117. || Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist., 4th ser., vol. iv, p. 264. Ulbid., pp. 109-112. **Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool., vol. ii, pp. 44, 45. SPECIES. 199 being Arctocephalus cinereus, Gray (Australia and New Zealand), and A. antarcticus. Gray (Cape of Good Hope). The others are : 1. Otaria jubata (under which was wrongly included 0. liookeri, Gray) 5 2. JEumetopias* stelleri; 3. ZalopJms gillespi ; 4. Zaloplms lobatus ; 5. Callorhinus ur sinus ; 6. Arctoceplialus falldandicus. In 1871, Philippi and Peters* added Arctoceplialus (Arcto- plioea) argentata, a Fur Seal from the island of Juan Fernandez ( = Arctoceplialus australis, fern.). The latter here divided the Fur Seals of South America into four species, two of which (A. falklandica and A. nigrescens) are from the Atlantic Ocean and two ( A. argentata and A. pliilippii) from the Pacific. The same year (1871) Grayt recognized thirteen species of Eared Seals, as follows : 1. Otaria jubata (embracing 0. leonina of Gray and Peters, and 0. godeffroyi, Q. bironia, 0. ulloce of Peters). 2. Callorhinus ur sinus. 3. Pliocarctos hoolceri. 4. Arcto- cephalus antarcticus (Cape of Good Hope = Phoca antarctica, Thunberg, 1811, and Phoca [s. Otaria] pusilla and delalandi, auct.). ^.Arctocephalus nigrescens (=A. australis). 6. Arcto- ceplialus cinereus. 7. Arctocephalus forsteri ("New Zealand, "= uPhoca ursina, Forster," = Otaria forsteri, Lesson, formerly re- ferred by him to his A. falklandicus /). 8. Arctoceplialus falk- landicus. 9. " Arctoceplialus ? nivosus n (=A. antarcticus). 10. Zaloplms gillespi. 11. Neophoca lobata. 12. Eumetopias stelleri (embracing his Arctocephalus monteriensis and A. calif or nianus). 13. Arctophoca pliilippii (•=. Arctoceplialus australis). A. forsteri is the only species added, while no less than six species, recognized by either himself or Peters in 1866, are reduced to synonyms. Gray, in 1872,J added Gypsophoca tropicalis, based on a young skull from Auckland Island, to which specimens from North Australia are also referred. This Clark§ believes to be in part based on the young of Otaria hookeri, and in part referable to Arctocephalus cinereus. Scott, in 1873, in his account of the Otariidce,\\ described (p. 19) what he regarded as two new species of Arctocephalus, namely, "Arctocephalus Qrayii" and " Arctoceplialus eulophus." The first is equivalent to Gray's A. falldandicus of his Cata- * Monatsb. d. k. P. Akad.Wissensch. zu Berlin, 1871, pp. 558-566. t Suppl. Cat. Seals and Whales. tProc. Zool. Soc. Loud., 1872, pp. 659, 743. § Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., 1873, p. 759. || Mammalia, Recent and Extinct, an elementary treatise for the use of the public schools of New South Wales. By A.W. Scott, M. A. Sidney, 1873. Sec- tion B, Piunata, Seals, Dugongs, Whales, &c. &c. &c.— Otariidse, pp. 7-25. 200 FAMILY OTARIID.E. logue of Seals and Whales (186G, p.55),aiid the "Supplement" to the same (1871, p. 25), which Mr. Scott gives as a synonym. After quoting Gray's description of A. fallclandicus, he says : " This is clearly a species distinct from the common Southern Fur Seal. . . . The specific name Falklandicns having been appropriated almost by general consent for another ani- mal, I beg to substitute that of Grayii? The Arctoceplialus eulophus is based on verbal information from Mr. Morris, an experienced sealer, who informed him " that during his sealing voyages he occasionally met with a fur-seal, which he and those connected with him in the trade readily recognized as a distinct kind — by the diminutive size of the adult animal ; by a top-knot of hair on the crown of the head ; and by the soft, beautiful under-fur, unlike in colour to, and much more valua- ble for articles of ladies' wear than that of any other fur-seal they were in the habit of capturing." " This seal," continues Mr. Scott, " appears to be rare, only a few specimens having been taken ; some were seen on the south-east coast of New Zealand, evidently stragglers driven far away from home. Mr. Morris has been told that they were formerly common on the shores of Patagonia and the Island of Juan Fernandez." With all due deference to the opinions of Mr. Morris and Mr. Scott, this information hardly forms a satisfactory basis for the erec- tion of a new species in this obscure group, where external characters, when well known, are of slight distinctive value. The Arctoceplialus euloplius can only be assigned to the category of vaguely described and indeterminable species, of which the writings of Peron, Desmarest, and Lesson were so prolific half a century ago. Only six other species were recognized by Mr. Scott, namely: 1. Arctocephalm ur sinus (= Callorhimts ur si- nus). 2. Arctoceplialus falklandicus (embracing all the Southern Fur Seals, with the exception of his two "new species," already noticed). 3. ZalopJius gillespi. 4. Z.lobatus, 5. Otaria stelleri. C. O.jubata (= 0. jiibata and Phocarctos hookcri Gray). In 1873, Dr. Gray described* a Eumetopias elongatus, based in part on a skull from Japan he had the previous yeart referred to E. stelleri, and in part on a young skull, also from Japan, which, doubtless, is the same as the Otaria stelleri of Temminck (Fauna Japonica). *Proc. Zodl. Soc., 1873, p. 776. t Ibid., 1872, p. 738. SPECIES. 201 In 1874, the same author* added two more " new species" of Otaria , this time wholly from old material, from unknown locali- ties, which he had had before him in the British Museum for nearly twenty years, and which he had hitherto uniformly referred to Otaria jubata ! Having, however, found that the lower jaws differed from those of the other specimens in being " straight, not bowed on the side, and elongate," and that " the scar of the temporal muscle is elongate, narrow in front," instead of being " broad, rounded in front." One of the species, based on the " skull of an adult male 11 J inches long, and 6J wide at the v •condyles," etc., he calls "Otaria minor, the Smaller Sea Lion." j. The other, based on " the skull of an adult (female) 9 J inches long, I and 5J broad at the condyles," he calls u Otaria pygmcea, the Pigmy Sea Lion." The last-mentioned skull is " partly broken behind, and wants all the grinders and the greater part of the cutting teeth." They are unquestionably referable to the re- stricted genus Otaria, and there is nothing in the descriptions indicating that Dr. Gray's reference of them for twenty years to 0. jubata was erroneous. The skull of Otaria minor is later figured in the "Hand-List of Seals" (pi. xvi), and is evidently that of a young male Otaria jubata. In this year (1874) also appeared the lastt of Gray's long series of publications relating to the Eared Seals, in which we have his latest views respecting the species of this group. In this work two other " new species " are added, making in all eighteen species of Otariidw now recognized by Dr. Gray! These are: 1. Otaria jubata. 2. Otaria minor (see above, last paragraph). 3. Otaria ulloce (=0. ullow, von Tschudi and Peters, and 0. pygmwa, Gray, both formerly, and, I believe, cor- rectly, referred by him to 0. jubata). 4. Gypsophoca tropicalis { = Arctoeephalus cinerem). 5. Phocarctos hookeri. 6. Phocarc- tos elongatus ( — Eumetopias stelleri, in part, and Otaria stelteri, Temminck, in part). 7. Callorhinus ursmus. 8. Arctoeephalus antarcticus. 9. Euotaria cinerea (includes Arctoeephalus forste'ri of Gray's Suppl. Cat. Seals and Whales [see above, p. 199]). 10. Euotaria nigrescens ( = Arctoeephalus australis). 11. Uuota- ria latirostris (n. sp., based on a skull supposed to have come from the Falkland Islands, formerly referred to his A. nigres- cens. He now says, " The skull may belong to the Aretocepha- lus falklandicus, of which [i. 74_m Breadth 66-100 3 Length 88-100 >=85_m Breadth 83-100 > Length 77-100 ?=76_m Breadth 75-100 5 Eumetopias stelleri Do Zalophus californianus Do Arctoceplialus australis Do C^loThiirns Tirsiivns - - - Do HABITS. 227 times that of the adult females of the same species. There are also very great differences in the form of the skull, espe- cially in respect to the development of crests and protuberances for muscular attachment, these being only slightly developed in females and enormously so in the males. With such remark- able variations in color and cranial characters, dependent upon age and sex, it is not a matter of surprise that many nominal species have arisen through a niisappreciation of the real signifi- cance of these differences.* HABITS. The Eared Seals show also a remarkable resemblance in their gregarious and polygamous habits. All the species, wherever occurring, like the Walruses and Sea Elephants, resort in great numbers to particular breeding stations, which, in seal- ers' parlance, have acquired the strangely inappropriate name of " rookeries." The older males arrive first at the breeding- grounds, where they immediately select their stations and await the arrival of the females. They keep up a perpetual warfare for their favorite sites, and afterward in defense of their harems. The number of females acquired by the successful males varies from a dozen to fifteen or more, which they guard with the utmost jealousy, — might being with them the law of right. The strong- est males are naturally the most successful in gathering about them large harems. The males, during the breeding season, remain wholly on land, and they will suffer death rather than leave their chosen spot. They thus sustain, for a period of sev- eral wee*ks, an uninterrupted fast. They arrive at the breeding stations fat and vigorous, and leave them weak and emaciated, having been nourished through their long period of fasting wholly by the fat of their own bodies. The females remain uninterruptedly on land for a much shorter period, but for a con- siderable time after their arrival do not leave the harems. The detailed account given a century ago by Steller, and recently con- firmed by Bryant and Elliott, of the habits of the northern Fur and Hair Seals during the breeding season, is well known to apply, in greater or less detail, to nearly all the species of the family, and presumably to all. As the observations by Messrs. Elliott and Bryant are presented later in this work at length, it is unnecessary to give further.details in the present connection. *Of about fifty synonyms pertaining to the Eared Seals, probably two-thirds have been based, directly or indirectly, upon differences dependent on sex and age, and the rest upon the defective descriptions of these animals by travellers. 228 FAMILY OTARIIDJE. PRODUCTS. The products of the Eared Seals vary in importance with the species, the Hair Seals yielding only oil, their skins being almost valueless except to the natives of the countries these animals frequent. The products of the Eared Hair Seals are, consequently, not different from those of the common Earless Seals, and at present are of far less commercial importance, in consequence of the more limited source oS supply. The Fur Seals, on the other hand, are hunted almost exclusively for their fur, which forms the well-known and highly- valued "Seal fur " of furriers. The fur differs in quality with season and the sex and age of the animals, the most valuable being^ obtained from the females and rather young males. In the young of the second year taken "in season, "the skin "un- plucked" forms a rich and soft fur, the very thick, silky red- dish-brown underfur being slightly overtopped by short, very soft, fine, gray overhair. Later in the season, and especially in the old animals, the overhair is coarser and longer, and even somewhat harsh, beneath which, however, is still the heavy soft underfur. Dealers sort the skins into grades, in accord- ance with the size of the skins and the quality of the fur, these features depending upon the age and sex of the animal, rather than upon the species. Dr. Gray refers to what he calls Arcto- cephalus falMandicus as being "easily known from all other Fur Seals in the British Museum by the evenness, shortness, closeness, and elasticity of the fur, and the length of the under- fur. The fur is soft enough to wear as a rich fur, without the removal of the longer hairs, which are always removed in other Fur Seals."* This, however, is not a peculiarity of the Falk- land Island Fur Seal, the overhair in prime young skins of the Alaskan Fur Seal being equally rich and soft. They are also often made up and worn " without the removal of the longer hairs," and are by some preferred to the prepared or "dressed" furs of the furrier. The Australian Fur Seal appears to differ little in the quality or color of its pelage from the Alaskan and Falkland Island species. The Fur Seal of the Cape of Good Hope, although one of the Fur Seals of commerce, appears to have, according to Gray's account of the few examples he has examined, a shorter coat of underfur. I have, however, met with no statement respecting the Cape Fur Seal peltries that indicates that they are inferior in quality to those of other local- * Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist., 4th ser., i, 1868, p. 103. DESTRUCTION OF FUR SEALS. 229 ities. As regards color and the variations of color with age, the Cape of Good Hope species appears not to differ apprecia- bly from the others.* DESTRUCTION OF THE FUR SEALS FOR THEIR PELTRIES. The value of the peltries of the Fur Seal has led to whole- sale destruction, amounting at some localities almost to exter- mination. The traffic in their skins appears to have begun toward the end of the last century. Captain Fanning, of the ship " Betsey," of New York, obtained a full cargo of choice Fur Seal skins at the island of Masafuera, on the coast of Chili, in 1798, which he took to the Canton market. Captain Fanning states that on leaving the island, after procuring his cargo, he estimated there were still left on the island between 500,000 and 700,000 Fur Seals, and adds that subsequently little less than a million of Fur Seal skins were taken at the island of Masafuera alone,t a small islet of not over twenty-five miles in circumference, and shipped to Canton.J Captain Scammon states that the sealing fleet off the coast of Chili, in 1801, amounted to thirty vessels, many of which were ships of the larger class, and nearly all carried the American flag. Not- withstanding this great slaughter, it appears that Fur Seals continued to exist there as late as 1815, when Captain Fanning again obtained them at this island.§ In the year 1800, the Fur Seal business appears to have been at its height at the Georgian Islands, where, in the single season, 112,000 Fur Seals are reported to have been taken, of which 57,000 were secured by a single American vessel (the "Aspasia," under Captain Fanning). Vancouver, at about this date, re- ported the existence of large numbers of Fur Seals on the south- west coast of New Holland. Attention was at once turned to this new field, and in 1804 the brig " Union," of New York, Capt. Isaac Pendleton, visited this part of the Australian coast, but not finding these animals there in satisfactory numbers, repaired to Border's Island, where he secured only part of a cargo (14,000 skins), owing to the lateness of the season. Later 60,000 were obtained at Antipodes Island. About 1806, the American ship *See Gray, Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist., 4thser.,i, 1868, pp. 218, 219 ; Scott, Mam. Recent and Extinct, 1873, pp. 14, 15 ; also Pages, in Buffon's Hist. Nat., * Suppl., vi,p. 357. t Tanning's Voyages to the South Sea, etc., pp. 117, 118. t Ib., p. 364. $Ib.,p.299. 230 FAMILY OTARIID^E. " Catharine," of New York (Capt. H. Fanning), visited the Cro- zette Islands, where they landed, and found vast numbers of Fur Seals, but obtained their cargo from Prince Edward's Islands, situated a few hundred miles southeast of the Cape of Good Hope, where other vessels the same year obtained full cargoes. In 1830, the supply of Fur Seals in the southern seas had so greatly decreased that the vessels engaged in this enterprise "generally made losing voyages, from the fact that those places which were the resort of Seals," says Captain Benjamin Pendleton, "had been abandoned by them, or cut off from them," so that the discovery of new sealing grounds was needed. Undiscovered resorts were believed to exist, from the fact that large numbers of Fur Seals were seen while cruising far out at sea, which must repair once a year to some favorite breeding station.* Captain Weddell states that during the years 1820 and 1821 over 300,000 Fur Seals were taken at the South Shetland Isl- ands alone, and that at the end of the second year the species had there become almost exterminated. In addition to the number killed for their furs, he estimates that not less than 100,000 newly -born young died in consequence of the destruc- tion of their mothers. So indiscriminate was the slaugh- ter, that whenever a Seal reached the beach, of whatever de- nomination, it was immediately killed. Mr. Scott states, on the authority of Mr. Morris, an experienced sealer, that a like indiscriminate killing was carried on at Antipodes Island, off the coast of New South Wales, from which island alone not less than 400,000 skins were obtained during the years 1814 and 1815. A single ship is said to have taken home 100,000 in bulk, which, through lack of care in curing, spoiled on the way, and on the arrival of the ship in London the skins were dug out of the hold and sold as manure! At about the same time there was a similar wasteful and indiscriminate slaughter of Fur Seals at Jbhe Aleutian Islands, where for some years they were killed at the rate of 200,000 a year, glutting the mar- ket to such an extent that the skins did not bring enough to defray the expenses of transportation. Later the destruction of Fur Seals at these islands was placed under rigid restric- tions (see infra the general history of the Northern Fur Seal)', in consequence of which undue decrease has been wisely pre- * Farming's Voyages, p. 487. GENUS F.UiME TOP1AS. 231 vented. But nowhere else has there been systematic protection of the Fur Seals, or any measures taken to prevent wasteful or undue destruction. GENUS EUMETOPIAS, Gill. Otaria, in part of various authors. Arctoceplialus (in part), GRAY, Cat. Seals and Whales, 1866, 51. Eumetopias, GILL, Proc. Essex Institute, v. 7, 11, July, 1866. Type " Otaria californianus, Lesson, = Arctocephalus monteriensis, Gray." Molars 5^5=1^7 tne upper, hinder pair separated from the others by a considerable interval; the last only double-rooted. Postorbital processes quadrate. Palatine surface of the inter- maxillaries flat, only slightly depressed, and greatly contracted posteriorly ; the palatals moderately produced, extending about three-fourths of the distance from the anterior end of the zygo- matic arch to the pterygoid process; their posterior margin straight, or slightly or deeply emarginate ; rarely deeply so in old age. Eumetoplas differs from Otaria, as restricted by Gill, in hav- ing one pair less of upper molars, a much less posterior exten- sion of the palatine bones, and in having the posterior portion of the palatal surface less than one-third, instead of more than one-half, the width of the anterior portion, and but slightly in- stead of deeply depressed; also in the greater depth of the skull anteriorly, and in the less development of the occipital and sagittal crests. In Uumetopias the depth of the skull at the anterior border of the orbits is nearly as great as in the plane of the occiput, while in Otaria these proportions are as 13 to 18, there being in the latter a marked declination anteri- orly in the superior outline of the skull. The breadth of the skull at the temporal foss»3 is also much greater than in Otaria; that is, the skull is much less constricted behind the orbits. The postorbital processes also differ considerably in form in the two genera, while another Noteworthy difference is the un- usually great development in Otaria of the pterygoid hainuli. * *A comparison of adult male skulls of Eumetopias and Otaria, of strictly corresponding ages, shows the following differences : Eumetopias steUeri (No. 1765) : height of skull in occipital plane 155 mm.; height of skull at anterior edge of orbits 152 mm. Otaria jubata (No. 1095) : height of skull in occipital plane 180 mm.; height of skull at anterior edge of orbits 130 mm. Comparing the same skulls in respect to the development of the pterygoid hamuli it is found that when placed on a plane surface the skull of E. stel- 232 EUMETOPIAS STELLERI STELLER's SEA LION. Eumetopias diifers from Zalophus through, the presence of a wide space between the fourth and fifth pairs of upper molars, the less emarginatiou of the posterior border of the palatine bones, the quadrate instead of the triangular and posteriorly pointed form of the postorbital processes, the less relative breadth of the posterior nares, and the larger size of the facial angle; also through its much broader muzzle, the less degree of the postorbital constriction of the skull, and its much less developed sagittal crest. Eumetopias differs too widely from CaUorMnus and Arctoce- phalus, in dentition and cranial characters as well as in size and pelage, to render comparison necessary. The genus is at once distinguishable from all the others of the family by the wide space between the fourth and fifth upper molars. In distribu- tion it is restricted to the shores and islands of the ^orth Pa- cific Ocean, ranging from Southern California northward to Behring's Straits. Its geographical representative is the Otaria jubata of the Southern Seas, which ranges from the equatorial regions (Galapagos Islands) southward. EUMETOPIAS STELLEEI, (Lesson) Peters. Steller's Sea Lion. Leo marinus, STELLER, Nov. Comin. Petrop., xi, 1751, 360. Phoca julata, SCHREBER, Saugeth., iii, 1778, 300, pi. Ixxxiii B (in part only; not P. julata, Forster, with which, however, it is in part con- founded).— GMELIN, Syst. Nat., i, 1788, 63 (in part ; = P. julata, Schreber). — PANDER &. D' ALTON, Skelete der Robben uud Laman- tine, 1826, pi. iii, figs, d, e, /.—HAMILTON, Marine Amphib. , 1839, 232 (in part — not the figure of the skull). Phoca (Otaria) julata, RICHARDSON, Zool. Beechey's Voy., 1839, 6. Otaria julata, PERON, Voyage Terr. Austr., ii, 1816, 40. — NILSSON, Arch. f. Naturgesch., 1841, 329 (in part only ; includes also the true Otaria ju- lata).— ? VEATCH, J. R. Browne's Resources of the Pacific Slope, [app.], 150 (probably only in part, if at all). Otaria stelleri, LESSON, Diet. Class. Hist. Nat., xiii, 1828, 420.— J. MULLER, Ar- chiv f. Naturgesch., 1841, 330, 333.— SCHINZ, Synop. Mam., i, 1844, 473.— GRAY, Cat. Seals in Brit. Mus., 1850, 47 ; Cat. Seals and Whales in Brit. Mus., 1866, 60.— SCLATER, Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., 1868, 190.— SCOTT, Mam. Recent and Extinct, 1873, 22. Phoca stelleri, FISCHER, Synop. Mam., 1829, 231. leri rests anteriorly on the mastoid processes and the points of the canines, the points of the pterygoid hainuli being several millimetres above the plane of rest, while in 0. jubata the skull in the same position rests posteriorly on the pterygoid hamuli, which project 5mra below a plane connecting the mas- toid processes and the points of the canines. EXTERNAL CHARACTERS. 233 Otaria (Evmefopw*) »tellcn, PETERS, Monatsb. Akad. Berlin, 1866, 274,671. Eumetopias steUeri, GRAY, Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist., 3d ser.,xviii, 1868,233; Suppl. Cat. Seals and Whales in Brit. Mus., 1871, 30*; Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., 1872, 737 (in part), figs. 4, 5 (the young skull on which Arctocephalus montcriensis, Gray, was in part based); Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., 1873, 77G (its occurrence in Japan stated to be doubtful) ; Hand-List of Seals, etc., 1874, 40. — ALLEN, Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool., ii, 1870, 46, pll. i, iii, figg. 9-15, and tigg. 1-5 in text. — SCAMMOX, Marine Mam., 1874, 124, four woodcuts of animal pp. 126, 127. — ELLIOTT, Report on the Prybilov or Seal Islands of Alaska, 1873 (text not paged, live plates) ; Condition of Aifairs in Alaska, 1875, 152 ; Scrib- ner's Monthly, xvi, Oct., 1878, 879 (popular account, with figures). Stemmatopias stelleri, VAX BEXEDEX, Ann. du Mus. Roy. d'Hist. Nat. du Bel- gique, pt. i, 1877, 15 (in text), — lapsus pennas for Eumctopias stelleri ? Phoca leonina, PALLAS, Zoog. Rosso- Asiat., i, 1831, 104 (=F.jubata, Gmeliu). Arctoceplialm monteriensis, GRAY, Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., 1859, 358, 360, pi. Ixxii, skull (in part only ; the skin referable to Callorhiuus ursinus) ; Cat. Seals and Whales, 1866, 49. ArctocepJialus calif ornianus, GRAY, Cat. Seals and Whales, 1866, 51 (= A. monte- riensis, Gray, 1859, in part ; not = Otaria californiana, Lesson). JZumetopias californianus, GILL, Proc. Essex Inst., v, 1866, 13 (= Arctoceplialm monteriensis, GRAY, 1859, " and possibly also [identical] with Otaria stelleri, Miiller"; hence not = 0. californiana, Lesson). f Eume topias clongatus, GRAY, Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., 1873, 776, figs. 1, 2 (= E. stelleri, Gray, ib., 1872, 737, figs. 1-3, Japan ? ). f Phocarctos clongatus, GRAY, Hand-List Seals, etc., 1874, 30, pi. xxi, xxii. Meerlowen, STELLER, Beschreib. von sonderbarer Meerthiere, 1753, 152. Le Lion marin, BUFFOX, Hist. Nat., Suppl., vi, 1782, 337 (in part only). Leonine Seal, PENNANT, Arctic Zool., i, , 200 (in part only). Lion Marin, CHORIS, Voyage Pittoresque, lies Aleoutieime, 1822, 12 (not = Lion marin cle la Calif ornie, pi. xi, "Port San-Francisco et ses Habitants"). Leo marimis, the Sea King, ELLIOTT, Scribuer's Monthly, xvi, 879, Oct., 1878. "See-Vitchie," Russian; Lion marin, French; Seelowe, German; Sea Lion, Hair Seal, English. HABITAT. — Shores of the North Pacific, from BehriDg's Straits southward to California and Japan. EXTERNAL CHARACTERS. — Length of full-grown male eleven to twelve and a half or thirteen feet, of which the tail forms three or four inches ; girth about eight to ten feet ; weight vari- ously estimated at from one thousand to twelve hundred or thirteen hundred pounds.* The weight of the full-grown female * A skull of this species in the National Museum (No. 4702), collected at Fort Point, Bay of San Francisco, July, 1854, bears a label with the follow- ing legend : "Length 13 ft. 8 in. ; weight, by estimate, one ton." Captain Bryant, in some MSS. notes on this species recently received, states that the full-grown male measures 13^- to 14 feet from the tip of the nose to the end of the outstretched hind-feet, and from 7| to 9 feet in girth 234 EUMETOPIAS 8TELLERI STELLER^S SEA LION. is said to range from four hundred to five hundred pounds, with a length of eight to nine feet. The color varies with age and season. The young are "of a rich dark chestnut-brown." The adults, on their first arrival at their breeding-grounds in spring, present no sexual dissimilarity of color, which is then light brownish-rufous, darker behind the fore limbs and on the abdomen. Later the color changes to " bright golden-rufous or ocher." The pelage is moulted in August,«and the new coat, when fully grown in November, is "light sepia or vandyke- brown, with deeper shades, almost dark upon the belly." At this season the females are somewhat lighter-colored than the males, and occasionally specimens of both sexes are seen with patches of dark brown on a yellowish-rufous ground (Elliott)* In two adult males in the Museum of Comparative Zoology, and another adult male in the National Museum, the general color of the upper side of the body varies from pale yellowish- brown to reddish-brown, becoming much darker toward the tail. The sides below the median line are reddish, shading above into the lighter color of the back, and below passing into the dusky reddish-brown of the lower surface, which latter be- comes darker posteriorly. The limbs are dark reddish-brown, approaching black, especially externally. The hairs are indi- vidually variable in color, some being entirely pale yellowish,, others yellowish only at the tips and dark below, while others are wholly dark reddish-brown or nearly black throughout. The relative proportion of the light and dark hairs determines the general color of the body. The pelage consists of two kinds- of hair, the one abundant, straight, stiff, coarse and flattened, and constituting the outer coat j the other very short, exceed- ingly sparse and finer, and in such small quantity as to be detected only on close inspection. The hair is longest on the anterior upper portion of the body, where on the neck and shoulders it attains a length of 40 mm.; it decreases in length pos- teriorly, and toward the tail has a length of only 15 mm. It is still shorter on the abdomen, becomes still more reduced on the limbs, and disappears entirely toward the ends of the digits. The end of the nose, the soles and palms, the anal region, and the extra-digital cartilaginous flaps are naked and black (in around the chest, and that the average weight is over one thousand pounds.. He gives the length of the full-grown female as BJ to 9 feet, and the circum- ference at the shoulders as 4, the females being relatively much slenderer than the males. The weight of the female he states to be one-third that of the male. EXTERNAL CHARACTERS. 235 life " dull blue-black "). The whiskers are long, slender, and cylindrical, white or brownish- white, and set in four or five rather indistinct rows. Some of the longest have sometimes a length of 500 mm., or about twenty inches, with a maximum thick- ness of 2 mm. They are set in several rows, and number between thirty and forty, increasing in length from the inner ones to the outer, which are longest. The ears are short and pointed, broader, but only half the length of those of the Northern Fur Seal (CallorMnus ursinus). The fore feet are large, triangular, situated a little in front of the middle of the body. They terminate in a thick, hard, mem- branous flap, which is slightly and somewhat irregularly in- dented on the inner side. The terminations of the digits are indicated by small circular horny disks or rudimentary nails* The hind feet are broad, and gradually widen from the tarsus, reaching their greatest breadth at the end of the toes. Their length is short as compared to their breadth, the distance be- tween the ends of the outer toes when spread exceeding half of the length of the foot, measured from the tarsal joint. The toes terminate in strong cartilaginous flaps, covered with a thick leathery naked membrane, which is deeply indented oppo- site the intervals between the toes, and serves to connect the diverging digits. The three middle toes are provided with long, well-developed nails ; the outer toes are without true nails, but in place of them are thickened, horny disks. The outer toes are slightly longer than the three middle ones, which are sub- equal. The nails on all the feet are bluish horn-color. The following table of external measurements of two males, one very aged and the other adult, both from St. PauFs Island,. Alaska, indicates the general proportions of the body. A part were taken from a moist flat skin before stuffing, and the others, from mounted skins. 236 EUMETOPIAS STELLERI STELLER7S SEA LION. Measurements from Two SMns of EUMETOPIAS STELLERI. No. 2920, Coll. Mus. Comp. Zool., cf , about 10 years old. No. 2921, Coll. Mus. Comp. Zool., d", about 15 years old. Unmounted. { Mounted. i Mounted. 2,750 100 2,362 575 337 559 216 483 200 179 152 164 164 215 368 190 372 37 342 800 2,79* 100 560 335 540 210 445 200 156 147 150 150 190 365 195 370 35 342 800 2,250 1,000 1,000 3, 450 3,010 110 6M 360 610 230 440 220 210 190 190 165 170 380 210 420 35 2,600 1,020 980 3,790 Extent of outstretched fore limbs Breadth of hand Length of foot Breadth of foot at tarsus Breadth of foot at ends of the toe-flaps. Length of flap of outer toe Iien s 7 4 19 L'G 7 17 11 5 39 12 5 22 12.5 9 30 10 5 15 10. 5 8. 5 26 5 4 1C 6 u " nect* - -- -• " " roott Aiitero-posterior diameter J Lateral diameter J SKELETON. — Vertebral formula : Cervical vertebrae, 7: dorsal,. 15 5 lumbar, 5; caudal (including the four sacral), variable -7 probable average, 16. Ten of the fifteen ribs articulate with the sternum 5 their sternal portions are entirely cartilaginous. Their osseous por- tions evidently increase much in length after middle age. The apophyses of the vertebrae are well developed. Of the neural spines of the dorsal vertebra?, the first, second, and third are sub-equal, 130 mm. long; they gradually shorten posteriorly, the last having a length of only 75 mm. The sternum is normally composed of nine thick and broad osseous segments, the first and last very long, the eighth short- est. Between the eighth and ninth a shorter cartilaginous one is sometimes intercalated (as in specimen No. 2920). The pelvis is well developed. The ilia are very long and nar- row antero-posteriorly. The pubic bones are unauchylosed, they being merely approximate at their posterior extremities. Probably in the females (as in Callorhinus ursinus), they are widely separated, and the whole pelvis is much smaller than in the males and differently shaped. The humerus, as in the other Pinnipeds, is short and thick, with the greater tuberosity enormously developed. The bones of the forearm are also very large and strong, with all their pro- cesses greatly developed ; in length they but slightly exceed the humerus. The length of neither of the segments of the arm quite equals the length of the bones of the first digit (including its metacarpal bone) of the hand. The first digit of the hand is the longest, twice as long as the fifth, and very thick and strong. * The distance from the crown to the alveolus. t The portion inserted in the jaw. t At the base of the crown. SKELETON. 241 The bones of the hinder limbs are also short and thick, espe- cially the femur, which is scarcely more than one-third as long as the tibia. The latter in length about equals the foot. The relative length of the digits is as follows, the longest being mentioned first: 5th, 1st, 2d, 3d, and 4th. The third and fourth are of equal length, and but little shorter than the sec- ond. In respect to size, the metatarsal and phalangeal bones of the fifth digit are nearly twice as large as those of the first, while those of the first are about twice the size of those of either of the other three. As previously noticed, the three middle digits of the foot are supplied with long narrow nails ; the first and fifth with rudimentary ones. Measurements of the Bones of the Hand (Metacarpal and Phalangeal). Middle-aged specimen. Very old specimen. 1st digit. .d s 'O s 310 110 95 80 25 jd w> '<& 3 1 200 80 55 45 20 5th digit. 1st digit. *3 ;SD fS T3 T3 8 ;1 •& — $ 305 110 90 80 25 37 5th digit. i '"3 ~oo 320 145 130 45 1 317 110 100 80 27 50 •4 1 S i 5th digit. Length of metatarsal and phalan- £68 310 120 140 50 290 95 90 75 30 40 290 95 90 75 30 40 328 130 93 70 35 327 110 105 85 27 55 350 120 105 95 30 50 350 130 110 75 35 Length of metatarsal hone Length of 1st phalanx Len^h of 2d phalanx Length of 3d phalanx ... Length of nail The hyoid bone is greatly developed. Each ramus consists of five segments, its two rami being connected together by a transverse segment articulating with the juncture of the fourth and fifth segments. All the parts of the hyoid bone are very thick, especially the transverse and anterior segments 5 rela- tively much more so than in Callorhinus. In the common Phoca, Misc. Pub. No. 12 16 242 EUMETOPIAS STELLERI — STELLER's SEA LION. the hyoid bone is reduced almost to a bony filament. The length of the hyoid bone in the present species is 270 mm. ; of the trans- verse segment, 65 mm. ; circumference of the transverse segment, 45 mm. 5 of this segment at the thickest part, 95 mm. The os penis is 170 mm. long, slightly arched, somewhat flat- tened above, especially posteriorly, sharply convex below, and abruptly expanded and squarely truncate at the end. Its cir- cumference at the base is 72 mm. ; just behind the terminal ex- pansion, 32 mm. ; of the terminal expansion itself, 65mm. Measurements of the Skeleton. No. 2920, rf.lOy old. No. 2921, cf,15y'rs old. Whole length of skeleton (including skull) 2,750 Length of skull 374 Length of cervical vertebrae 500 Length of dorsal vertebrae 1,050 Length of lumbar vertebrae 340 Length of caudal vertebrae 440 Length of first rib 260 Length of firstrib, osseous portion 130 Length of firstrib, cartilaginous portion 130 Length of second rib 345 Length of second rib, osseous portion 175 Length of second rib, cartilaginous portion '- 170 Length of third rib 410 Length of third rib, osseous portion 230 Length of third rib, cartilaginous portion 180 Length of fourth rib 470 Length of fourth rib, osseous portion 280 Length of fourth rib, cartilaginous portion 190 Length of fifth rib .• 535 Length of fifth rib, osseous portion 320 Length of fifth rib, cartilaginous portion 215 Length of sixth rib , 580 Length of sixth rib, osseous portion 360 Length of sixthrib, cartilaginous portion 220 Length of seventh rib 640 Length of seventh rib, osseous portion 400 Length of seventh rib, cartilaginous portion 240 Length of eighthrib 670 Length of eighthrib, osseous portion 420 Length of eighthrib, cartilaginous portion 250 Length of ninth rib 710 Length of ninth rib, osseous portion 420 Length of ninth rib, cartilaginous portion 290 Length of tenth rib 750 Length of tenth rib, osseous portion 420 Length of tenth rib, cartilaginous portion 330 Length of eleventh rib, osseous portion only 430 SKELETON. 243 Measurements of the Skeleton— Continued. Length of twelfth rib, osseous portion only 490 Length of thirteenth rib, osseous portion only 450 I Length of fourteenth rib, osseous portion only 410 Length of fifteenth rib, osseous portion only 340 Length of sternum (ossified portion) •„ 700 Length of sternum, 1st segment 130 Length of sternum, 2d segment 70 1 Length of sternum, 3d segment * 70 '• Length of sternum, 4th segment 65 Length of sternum, 5th segment 63 Length of sternum, Oth segment ^... 60 Length of sternum, 7th segment 60 ! Length of sternum, 8th segment 55 , Length of sternum, 9th segment 70 Length of supernumery cartilage (between 8th and 9th) 30 Length of scapula 830 Breadth of scapula 350 j Greatest height of its spine 45 i Length of humerus 300 Circumference of its head 300 Least circumference of the humerus 170 Length of radius 260 Length of ulna 310 Longest diameter of upper end of ulna 100 Length of carpus 80 Length of metacarpus and 1st digit 350 Length of metacarpus and 2d digit 310 Length of metacarpus and 3d digit 240 Length of metacarpus and 4th digit 200 Length of metacarpus and 5th digit 170 Length of femur 170 Circumference of neck - 125 . Length of tibia 320 Length of fibula 310 Length of tarsus 140 I Length of metatarsus and 1st digit 310 Length of metatarsus and 2d digit 290 Length of metatarsus and 3d digit 290 Length of metatarsrw and 4th digit 305 Length of metatarsus and 5th digit 227 i Length of innominate bone 320 Greatest width of the pelvis anteriorly 140 Length of ilium 140 Length of ischio-pubic bones 140 j Length of thyroid foramen ! Length of os penis 170 ' Width of hand at base of digits 160 Width of foot at base of digits 130 No. 2920, rf , 10 y'rs old. No. 2921, d, 15 y'rs old. 244 EUMETOPIAS STELLERI STELLER's SEA LION. The above table gives the principal measurements of the bone& of the skeleton. Measurements of two specimens are given, as in previous tables, for the purpose of illustrating the variations that occur in the relative size of different parts after maturity is attained, and also for the purpose of illustrating individual variation, which in some particulars these specimens exhibit in a marked degree. The ribs, it will be observed, differ but slightly in total length in the two 5 not nearly so much as- would be expected from the much greater bulk of the bod5~ of the older specimen. It will be noticed that the principal differ- ences in the ribs consist in the relative length of the bony to the cartilaginous portions, in the older the ossified portion be- ing much longer and the cartilaginous much shorter than in the younger. An irregularity will be also observed in respect to the sternum, the younger specimen having a supernumerary car- tilaginous segment between the eighth and ninth normal ones. SEXUAL, ADOLESCENT, AND INDIVIDUAL VARIATION. — In respect to external characters, my material, consisting merely of three adult males, does not furnish many facts touching these points. These specimens, however, differ considerably from each other, not only in color, but in size and proportions. Some of these differences are clearly due to age (one of the specimens being much younger than the others), but others equally great cannot be thus explained. The body increases greatly in bulkr and the bones in size and density, after the animal has reached its adult length. The crests of the skull are almost wholly developed after this period, and in great measure also the spines or ridges of the scapula. The tuberosities for the attachment of muscles also increase in size, as do the vertebral or osseous por- tions of the ribs, as shown by the measurements already given. The teeth also change much in size and form after maturity is- attained, and in old age often become much worn and broken by long use. The general form of the skull in the males differs considerably in different individuals of the same age, and also undergoes great modification with age.* As already stated, this consists mainly in the development of the crests and processes for the attachment of muscles, and in the size and form of the teeth. Mr. Elliott states that the young, when first born, have a weight of about twenty to twenty-five pounds, and a length of * See Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool., vol. ii, pp. 56-60. COMPARISON WITH ALLIED SPECIES. 245 about two feet, and describes their color at this age as being "dark chocolate-brown.'7 When they are a year old he says they have the same color as the adults. On their arrival at the Prybilov Islands in spring, Mr. Elliott states that he was un- able to discern any marked dissimilarity of coloring between the males and females, and adds that the "young males and yearlings" have the same color as the adults, with here and there an animal marked with irregularly disposed patches of -dark brown. After their arrival, the general color gradually becomes somewhat lighter or more golden, and darker again after the moult. As already noted, the sexual differences in the skull are strongly marked. They are, however, only parallel with those seen in the other species of Otaries. The skeleton of the female is still unknown to me, but may be presumed to differ from that of the male very much, as is found to be the case in the Fur Seal, as described further on. GEOGRAPHICAL VARIATION. — The material at hand seems to indicate that there is no marked variation in size with locality. A considerable series of skulls from the California coast indi- cates that the species attains fully as large a size there as at the Prybilov Islands. One of the largest skulls I have seen came from the Farallone Islands, the extreme southern limit repre- sented by the specimens before me. COMPARISON WITH ALLIED SPECIES. — Eumetopias stelleri is the largest of the Eared Seals, very much exceeding in size any of the other species of the family except Otaria jubata, which alone it sufficiently resembles in external features to render com- parison necessary. While widely distinct from the latter in cranial characters, it seems to quite closely resemble it in exter- nal features, so far as may be judged from descriptions. The character of the pelage, the color, and the conformation of the limbs are much the same in both. In neither is there a distinct "mane," so often attributed to them, and especially to the Southern Sea Lion, although the hair on the neck and shoul- ders is longer than elsewhere, the resemblance to the mane of the Lion being due to the heavy folds of skin over the shoul- ders when the head is raised, more than to the existence of an abundance of lengthened hair that can in any true sense be considered as forming a mane such as is seen in Leo.* The skins * According to Captain Bryant, "At the fourth year of age the neck and shoulders thicken, from having a thick layer of fat under the skin, the skin 246 EUMETOPIAS STELLERI STELLER7S SEA LION. of these two species at my command are in the one case those- of very young animals, and in the other of very old males. A fine series of the skulls of each enables me, however, to speak with confidence in respect to the matter of comparative size. The largest old male skull of Eumetopias stelleri has a length of 400 mm., while none fall below 375 mm., the average being about 390 mm. In Otaria jubata, the largest old male skull in a series of a dozen barely reaches 372 mm., and several fall below 340 mm.; the average being about 355 mm., or about 50 mm. shorter than the average of a similar series of Eumetopias stelleri. Adult female skulls of the last-named species reach 290 to 300 mm., while old female skulls of Otaria jubata about 265 mm. Accord- ingly it seems fair to conclude that the linear measurements of Otaria jubata are about one-eighth less than those of Eumetopias stelleri, with a corresponding difference in the bulk and weight of the entire animal in the two species. As very few measure- ments of the skulls of Otaria jubata have been as yet published, I append the following for comparison with those of Eumeto- pias stelleri already given (antea, p. 238). The wide differences in. dentition and cranial structure have already been sufficiently indicated. itself being loose and flabby. When the animal is at rest on a rock with its hind flippers folded under its body, its head erect and the shoulders thrown back, the loose skin and fat lies in folds, looking like the mane of a Lion; hence its name Sea Lion. This thickening of the neck is peculiar to the adult male." — MSS. notes. COMPARISON WITH ALLIED SPECIES. 247 2322§S§s2 ocoo^oSSS §ooooooooomt-coo r-lrHi-HOiHCSOSOtfiiOia •ssaoojcd ptoua^S o^ B9tiBi ii jo £ £ 8 8 jo jopjoq m 'S9uoq p3SBj£ !8 IS 5! ^* CQ 'S9uoq IBSTSR •e^tqio uo9M.^9q QOUB^STQ; 8 $ S •89S890Ojd ptO^SBTU ^ q^pt^. S S 'S "S 'S i 5 -2 -2 a Paraca Bay, Paraca Bay, Paraca Bay, Straits of M : I 1 ^ X * uoqurau onSop^BO 248 EUMETOPIAS STELLERI— STELLER'S SEA LION. GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION. — The known range of this species extends along the west coast of North America from the Farallone Islands, in latitude 37° 40' N., to the Prybilov Islands. Its northern limit of distribution is not definitely known, but it does not appear to have been met with north of about the latitude of St. Matthew's Island (about latitude 61°). Neither Mr. W. H.« Dall nor Mr. H. W. Elliott has met with it above this point, and they have both informed me that they have no reason to suppose it extends any further northward or beyond the southern limit of floating ice. According to Steller, it existed in his time along the whole eastern coast of Kamtehatka and southward to the Kurile Islands. He found it abundant on Behring's and Copper Islands, where it is still well known to exist. If Dr. Gray's Eumetopias elongatus, as originally described in 1873 (the same specimen was referred by him in 1872 to E. stelleri], be referable, as I believe (see infra, p. 252) to the female of E. stelleri, the range of this species ap- pears to extend southward on the Asiatic coast as far as Japan. Although the Sea Lions of the California coast that have of late years attracted so much attention appear to be the smaller species (Zaloplms calif ornianus), the occurrence of' the present species there is also fully established, where it is resident the whole year, and where it brings forth its young, as proven by specimens transmitted some years since by Dr. Ayres to the Smithsonian Institution. GENERAL HISTORY. — The Northern Sea Lion was first de- scribed in 1751 by Steller, who, under the name of Leo marinus, gave a somewhat detailed account of its habits and its geograph- ical range, so far as known to him. His description of the an- imal, however, is quite unsatisfactory. S teller's Leo marinus, in size, general form, and color, closely resembles the Southern Sea Lion ((Maria jubata), with which S teller's animal was con- founded by Pennant, Buffon, and by nearly all subsequent writers for almost a century. Pe"ron, in 1816, first distinctly affirmed the Northern and Southern Sea Lions to be specifically distinct, without, as Temminck says, a avoir vu ni 1'une ni 1'autre, et sans e"tablir leurs caracteres distinctifs."* Lesson, in 1828, gave it the specific name it now bears, in honor of Steller, its first describer. The following year Fischer, on the authority of * Faun. Jap., Mam. Marins, 1842, p. 7. GENERAL HISTOKY. 249 Lesson, also recognized its distinctness from tbe southern spe- cies. Nilsson, in 1840, in his celebrated monograph of the Seals, reunited them. Miiller, however, in an appendix to Dr. W. Peters's translation of Nilsson's essay, published in the Archiv fiir 3sTaturgeschichte for 1841, separated it again, and pointed out some of the differences in the skulls that serve to distin- guish the two species. Gray, in his Catalogue of the Seals, published in 1850, also regarded it as distinct. But one is led to infer that he had not then seen specimens of it, and that he rested his belief in the existence of such a species mainly on Steller's account of it, as he himself expressly states in his later papers. The skull received subsequently at the British Museum from Monterey, California, and figured and described by Gray, in 1859, as a new species, under the name Arctocephalus monteriensis, proved, however, to be of this species, as first affirmed by Dr. Gill, and later by Professor Peters and by Gray himself. With the exception of the figures of an imperfect skull of Steller's Sea Lion from Karntchatka, given by Pander and D'Alton in 1826, Dr. Gray's excellent figure* (a view in profile) is the only one of its skull published prior to 1876. The only specimens of the animal extant, up to about ten years since, in tke European museums, seem to have consisted of the two skulls and a stuffed skin in the Berlin Museum mentioned by Peters, and the skull in the British Museum figured and described by Gray. With the Monterey skull above mentioned, Dr. Gray received another very young skull, and the skin of a Fur Seal, both of which were said to have belonged to one animal, and which he hesitatingly referred to his Arcioceplialui* monteriensisj Later, however, he regarded them as representing a new species,t which he called Arctoccphahix calif ornianus. Still later he refer red his A. California nua to Eumetopias stelleri § (=Arctocephah;x moiiterietisiSi Gray, of earlier date), and in 1872 1| published figures of this young California skull. Concerning the skin above re- ferred to he remarked at one time as follows: " If the skin sent last year by Mr. Taylor to Mr. Gurney, and by that gentleman presented to the Museum, is the young of this species [A. mon- ~ I'roc. Zool. Soc. Loiid., 1859, pi. Ixii. tProc. Zool. Soc. Loud., 1859, p. 358. t Cat. Seals and Whales, 1866, p. 49. $Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist., 3d series, 1866, vol. xviii, p. "233; Hand- List of Seals, etc., 1874, 40. ||Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., 187^, pp. 740,741. 250 EUMETOPIAS STELLERI STELLER*S SEA LION. teriensis], the young animal is blackish, silvered by the short white tips to the short black hairs ; those on the nape and hinder parts of the body with longer white tips, making those parts whiter and more silvery. The under-fur is very abund- ant, reaching nearly to the end of the hair. The end of the nose and sides of the face are whitish. The whiskers are elon- gated, rigid, smooth, and white. The hind feet are elongate, with rather long flaps to the toes. The skull is small for the size of the skin, and I should have doubted its belonging to the skin if it were not accompanied by the following label: i Skull of the Fur Seal I sent last year. It is very imperfect, from my forgetting where I had put it ; but it must do until acci- dent throws another in the way; the other bones were lost. — A. S. T.'"* Dr. Gray, in his "Hand-List," published in 1874, refers the skulls of both A. monteriensis and A. californiamat to Eumetopias stelleri, but makes no reference to the skin. As he seems, however, to have become settled in his opinion that this skin is identical with his A. monteriensis, this may ac- count for the statement made by him in 1866, t and subse- quently reiterated, f that the Eumetopias stelleri is a species in which "the fur is very dense, standing nearly erect from the skin, forming a very soft, elastic coat, as in 0. falMandica and 0. stelleri, which ," he erroneously says, "are the only Seals that have a close, soft, elastic fur." § Lesson gave the name Otaria calif orniana to a supposed species of Eared Seal based solely on a figure entitled " Jeune lion marin de la California," published by Choris.|| The following is the only allusion Choris makes to this animal, in this connection, in his text: "Les rochers dans le voisinage de la baie San- Francisco sont ordinairement converts de lions marius. PI. XI." In his chapter on the "lies Ale"outiennes," in describing the " Lions niarins," he says: "Cesanimaux sont aussi tres-com- muns au port de San-Francisco, sur la c6te de Californie, ou *Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., 1850, p. 358. t Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist., 4th series, 1866, vol. i, p. 101. tlbid., p. 215.- § Dr. Gray's mistake seems to have misled others in respect to the real characters of Eumetopias stelleri, which Dr. Veatch, on the authority of Gray, refers to as the "fur-coated Eumatopias," which he supposed to be the proper name of the Fur Seal of the North. (See "Report of Dr. John A. Veatch on Cerros or Cedros Island," in J. Ross Browne's "Resources of the Pacific Slope," [appendix], p. 150, 1869.) || Voyage Pitt oresque, pi. xi, of the chapter entitled "Port San-Francisco et ses habitants." The date of this work is 1822. GENERAL HISTORY. 251 on les voit en nombre prodigieux sur les rochers de la bale. Oette espece m'a paru se distinguier de ceux qui fre'quentent les iles Aleoutiennes ; elle a la corps plus fluet et plus allonge", et la tete plus fine : quant a la couleur, elle passe fortement au brun, tandis que ceux des iles Aleoutiennes sont d'une couleur plus grise, ont le corps plus rond, les mouvements plus difficiles, la tete plus grosse et plus e"paisse; la couleur du poll des moustaches plus noiratre que celui des iles Aleoutiennes."* It thus appears that Choris clearly recognized the larger and the smaller Sea Lions of the west coast of North America, and correctly pointed out their more obvious points of external difference. Hence Lesson's name Otaria californiana^ founded on Choris's "Lion marin de la Calif brnie," must be considered as applying exclusively to what has till now been commonly known as Zalophus gillespii. Dr. Gill, however, in his "Prodrome," adopted provisionally Lesson's name (californiana) for the present species, but at the same time asserted its identity with the Arctocephalus monte- riensis of Gray (1859), and also suggested its probable identity with the so-called Otaria stelleri of Miiller. Peters, a few months later, came to the conclusion that Gill's suggestion was correct, since which time the name stelleri has been universally accepted for the larger northern Hair Seal. The Otaria, stelleri of Tem- mirick, t formerly supposed by Grayf and also by Peters § to include both the Australian Eared Seals (viz, Arctocephalus cinereus and Zalophus lobatus), has finally been referred by the latter, after an examination of the original specimens in the Ley den Museum, to the so-called Zalophus gillespii. \\ I be- lieve, however, that the skull of the young female figured in Fauna Japonica (pi. xxii, figg. 5 and 6) belongs to some other species. It certainly differs greatly in proportions, as well as in dentition, from the other skulls figured in that work (same plate), and called 0. stelleri. The northern Sea Lion having become generally recognized as specifically distinct from the Sea Lion of the southern seas, Dr. Gill, in 1866, separated the two generically. This had indeed already been done practically by Dr. Gray, inasmuch as * Voy. Pittor. aut. du Monde, Iles A16outienues, p. 13. tFauiia Japonica, Mam. marins, p. 10. I Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist., 3d series, 1866, vol. xviii, p. 229. $ Monatsberichte Akad. Berlin, 1866, pp. 272, 276. || Ibid., p. 669. See further on this point posted, under Zalophus calif or- 252 EUMETOPIAS STELLERI— KTKLLER'S SEA LION lie placed his A. monteriensis (=0. stelleri, auct.) in the genus Araoceplialus, and the southern Sea Lion in Otaria, with which he associated the 0. stelleri. He failed, however, to recognize the identity of his A. monteriensis with his 0. stelleri, and hence the entire generic diversity of the northern and southern Sea Lions seems to have escaped his observation. The latter fact was first pointed out by Dr. Gill in his "Prodrome," as above stated. Dr. Gray has recently described and figured the skull of what he at first regarded as a second species of Eumetopias from Japan, and which he called Eumetopias elongatus,* but he sub- sequently transferred it to his " genus" Phocarctos.} In his first mention of it, however, he referred it to Eumetopias stelleri.^ The "Phocarctos elongatus" was first described from a "nearly adult" skull (pi. xxi, Hand-List), eleven inches long and seven and a half broad at the condyles, and placed uin the genus Eumetopias, because it had a space in the place of the fifth upper grinder." Judging from the figures § and Dr. Gray's de- scription, it seems to differ in no important point from the skull of an adult female, E. stelleri. Later he received from Japan a younger skull (pi. xxii, Hand-List), " seven and a half inches long and four and a half inches broad," which agrees in general form with the other, but has a " shorter palate," six upper molars (instead of five), and differs uin the form of the internal nostrils." He considered the two as both belonging to the same species, and, from the presence of six upper molars in the young skull, transferred the species to " Phocarctos." Judging from Dr. Gray's figure of this skull (Hand-List of Seals, pi. xxii), it seems to be referable to Zalophus (the Japan species, probably Z. lobatus), the last pair of upper molars being in all probability supernumerary, as they are smaller than the others and differ from those preceding them just as do the supernumerary molars in skulls of Zalophus calif or nianus. Dr. Gray seems to have believed that Eumetopias has in early life six upper molars on each side, and that the fifth, or last but one, is deciduous, thus leaving a vacuity between the last two molars on either side. Of this I have seen no evidence ; on the con- trary, I have found in a very young skull the same number of molars as in the adult. Thus skull No. 4703 (National Museum), *Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., 1873,776, figg. 1, 2. t Hand-List Seals, etc., 1874, 30, pU. xxi, xxii. iProc.Zool. Soc. Lond., 1872, 737, figg. I (head), 2, and 3 (skull). §Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., 1872, pp. 738,739; Hand-List of Seals, pi. xxi. GENERAL HISTORY. 253 from San Francisco, Cal., labelled by the collector, Dr. Ayres, as "3 or 4 days old," shows distinctly the alveoli of the milk dentition, with the permanent molars, five in number, just cutting the gum. The last (fifth) upper molar is placed but little further from the fourth than the fourth is from the third. The broader space between the fourth and fifth molars is al- ready indicated, but is, even relatively, much less than in the adults. The last molar stands close to the end of the maxilla, and hence has the same relative position at this early period that it has in old age. As the size of the skull increases, how- ever, the space between the fourth and fifth molars becomes en- larged. Dr. Gray says that in a " foetal skull " of this species " from California the hind upper grinder is at a considerable distance from the others, as in the very old skull in the [British] Museum and the two adult skulls figured by Mr. Allen ; but there is to be observed on each side a concavity in the place of the fifth grinder — on the right side it is a shallow, small cavity which has enclosed a rudimentary tooth ;* on the other sid^ the concavity is larger, but not so evidently the cavity for atoothit" As is well known, the Otaria stelleri of Temminck's " Fauna Japonica" is a Zaloplms (at least in part).f Since the publication of my paper on the Eared Seals, in 1870, our knowledge of this species has greatly increased, mainly through the published observations of Captain Scammon and Mr. H. W. Elliott. Captain Scammon, however, seems to have not distinguished the two species occurring in California, since he gives no distinct account of the smaller Calif ornian species, although he appears to have given measurements of a female of the latter, and evidently blends, in a general way, the history of the two. Mr. Elliott has not only published a very full account of its habits, a;s observed by him during several years' residence at Saint Paul's Island, but also a most admirable series of sketches of the animals, drawn from life. In the fol- * As already stated, Dr. Gray appears to have believed that the last or fifth grinder is homologically the sixth, because it has two roots, and that the fifth is deciduous, a theory I believe unsupported. Was not the small cav- ity he here refers to as having enclosed a tooth merely the alveolus of the last inilk molar, which I have found to occupy just this position ? Dr. Gray himself, in previously referring to the same skull, alludes to " a small pit" '" at the back edge of the fourth grinder," "from which no doubt a small rudimentary tooth has fallen out."—Suppl. Cat. Seals and Whales, pp. 29, 30. t Hand-List of Seals, p. 41. t For further remarks on " Otaria stelleri" Temminck see infra, under Za- Io2ihns California HUH. 254 EUMETOPIAS STELLERI — STELLER*S SEA LION. lowing pages I shall borrow largely from his excellent account of its habits.* HABITS. — Aside from Steller's early account of the northern Sea Lion, little had been published relating to the habits of this species prior to 1870. Now, however, with possibly one excep- tion, none of our Pinnipeds is better known. Steller gave a very full description of the habits of the Sea Bear (Gallorhinus ur 'sinus) , and remarked that, with some few exceptions (which he specifies), those of the Sea Lion closely resemble those of that animal. Choris states: "On y [Pile Saint-Georges] tue une grand quantity de Lions Marins ; mais seulement des males, a cause de leur grandeur ; on se sert de leur peau pour recouvrir les canots, et des intestins pour faire le kamleyki, especes de blouses que Ton endosse par-dessus les autres vetements lorsqu'il pluet pour ne pas se mouiller. La chair, que Ton fait se'cher, est dure ; c'est une bonne nourriture pour Phiver Les jeunes sont tres-tendres et ont le gout de poisson." " Le rivage 6tait convert de troupes innombrables de lions marins. L'odeur qu'ils re"pandent est insupportable. Ces ani- maux etaient alors dans le temps du rut. L'on voyait de tous *Mr. Elliott's account was first printed in his " Report on the Prybilov Group, or Seal Islands, of Alaska," in 1873. The work is an oblong quarto of about 130 pages, interleaved with about 40 photographic plates. The text, however, is unpaged, and the plates are not numbered, so that it is almost impossible to cite it definitely. As the edition was limited to one hundred and twenty-five copies, and was privately distributed, it is almost inaccessible, and can hardly be said to have been published. [*] The text, however, was reprinted, in substance, in 1875, in octavo form, as one of the Reports of the Treasury Department (of which Mr. Elliott was Assistant Special Agent at the Fur Seal Islands), under the title ( 'A. Report upon the Condition of Affairs in the Territory of Alaska." This edition is the one quoted in the present work. The quarto report contains five plates devoted to the Sea Lion. The first gives a nearly front view of an adult male. The second shows several natives creeping along the shore in order to get be- tween a herd of Sea Lions and the water to intercept their retreat. A third is entitled " Capturing the Sea Lion — Springing the Alarm," and indicates the stage of the hunt when the hunters expose themselves to view and rush upon the herd to drive them inland. A part are retreating land-ward, while others are plunging precipitately into the sea. The fourth, " Shooting Sea Lion Bulls," represents the killing of the old males with firearms. The fifth and last depicts the slaughter of the females, and is entitled, "Spear- ing Sea Lion Cows, 'The Death Whirl. ;" (*It is well known that opinions of ' ' what constitutes publication ? " differ. I have the author's permission to record here my own view, which is, that a printed work is "pub- lished" if a single copy is placed in a public library.— ELLIOTT COUES.] HABITS. 255 •cotes les males se battre entre eux pour s'enlever les uns aux iiutres les femelles. Chaque male en rassemble de dix a vingt, se montre jaloux, ne souffre aucun autre male, et attaque ceux qui tentent de s'approcher; il les tue par ses morsures on s'en fait tuer. Dans le premier cas, il s'empare des femelles du vaincu. Nous avons trouv6 plusieurs males e*tendus morts sur la plage, des seules blessures qu'ils avaient re9ues dans les com- bats. Quelques femelles avaient deja des petits. Les Ale*outes -en prirent plusieurs douzaines pour nous. L'animal n'est pas dangereux; il fuit a Papproche de 1'homme, excepte* depuis la mi-mai jusqu'a la mi-juin, qui est le plus fort temps du rut, et ou les femelles mettent bas leurs petits ; alors il ne se laisse pas approcher et il attaque meine."* Choris's plates (Kos, XIY and XY of the chapter on the Aleutian Islands, the work is not regularly paged) doubtless give a very good idea of the appearance of these animals and the Sea Bears when assem- bled on the land. Plate XIY, entitled u Lions Marins dans File de St.-Georges," gives a view of a large assemblage of these animals, in which the various attitudes are duly represented^ the animals in the foreground being depicted with considerable accuracy of detail. In 1870 I was able to add the following remarks by Captain Bryant: "The Sea Lion visits St. Paul's Island in considerable numbers to rear its young. It is one of the largest of the Seal family, the male frequently measuring thirteen feet in length, and weighing from fifteen to eighteen hundred pounds.ft] Its habits are the same as those of the Fur Seal. When roused to anger it has a very marked resemblance, through the form of its head and neck, to the animal from which it is named, and its voice, when roaring, can be heard to a great distance. Its body is thickly covered with fine, short, dark ["?] brown hair, without any fur. Its skin is of considerable value as an article of commerce in the Territory, it being used in making all kinds of boats, from a one-man canoe to a lighter of twenty tons' bur- den. The natives of all the Aleutian Islands and of the coast as far east as Sitka, besides those of many ports on the mainland to the north, rely on this island for a supply of the skins of this animal. The rookery is on the northeast end of the island, and the animals have to be driven ten or eleven miles to the village * Voy. Pittorcsquo autour du Monde, lies A16outiennes, pp. 12, 13. t See anted,, p. 233, second paragraph of footnote, for Captain Bryant's later statements respecting size and weight. 256 EUMETOPIAS STELLERI — STELLER's SEA LION to bring their skins to the drying-frames. It sometimes requires five days to make the journey, as at frequent intervals they have to be allowed to rest. It is a somewhat dangerous animal, and the men frequently get seriously hurt by it in driv- ing and killing it. They are driven together in the same man- ner as the Fur Seals are; and while confining each other by treading upon each others' flippers the small ones are killed with lances, but the larger ones have to be shot. " This animal is the most completely consumed of any on tin- island. Their flesh is preferred to that of the Seal for drying for winter use. After the skins are taken off (two thousand of which are required annually to supply the trading-posts of the Territory), they are spread in piles of twenty-five each, with the flesh side down, and left to heat until the hair is loosened ; it is then scraped off, and the skins are stretched on frames to dry. The blubber is removed from the carcass for fuel or oil, and the flesh is cut in strips and dried for winter use. The lin- ings of their throats are saved and tanned for making the legs, of boots and shoes, and the skin of the flippers is used for the soles. Their stomachs are turned, cleaned, and dried, and are used to put the oil in when boiled out. The intestines are dressed and sewed together into water-proof frocks, which are worn while hunting and fishing in the boats. The sinews of the back are dried and stripped to make the thread with which to sew together the intestines, and to fasten the skins to the canoe - frames. The natives receive thirty-five cents apiece for the skins when ready for shipment. But these skins are not so much valued by the trader for the profit he makes on their sale, as for. the advantage it gives him in bargaining with the hunters, since by buying these they are able to secure a right to the purchase of* the hunter's furs on his return, the natives always considering such contracts binding."* The following careful description of their movements on laud was also communicated to me by Mr. Theodore Lyrnan in 1870, who had recently observed the Sea Lions on the " Seal Bocks" near San Francisco. His remarks may, however, relate in part to the smaller species. " These rocks," he says, " are beset with hundreds of these animals, — some still, some moving, some on the land, and some in the water. As they approach to effect a landing, the head only appears decidedly above water. This is their familiar *Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool., ii, pp. 64, 65. HABITS 257 element, and they swim with great speed and ease, quite un- mindful of the heavy surf and of the breakers on the ledges. In landing, they are apt to take advantage of a heavy wave, which helps them to get the forward flippers on terra ftrma. As the wave retreats, they begin to struggle up the steep rocks, twisting the body from side to side, with a clumsy worm-like motion, and thus alternately work their flippers into positions where they may force the body a little onward. At such times they have a general appearance of sprawling over the ground. It is quite astonishing to see how they will go up surfaces having even a greater inclination than 45°, and where a man would have to creep with much exertion. When the surface is nearly horizontal, they go faster, and often proceed by gathering their hind-quarters under them, raising themselves on the edges of their fore-limbs and then giving a push, whereby they make a sort of tumble forwards. In their onward path they are accompanied by the loud barking of all the Seals they pass ; and these cries may be heard a great distance. Having arrived at a good basking-place, they stretch themselves out in various attitudes, — often on the side, sometimes nearly on the back, but commonly on the belly, with the flippers somewhat extended. They seem much oppressed with their own weight (which is usually supported by the water), and it seemed an exertion for them even to raise the head, though it is often kept up for a long time. They play among themselves continually by rolling on each other and feigning to bite. Often, too, they will amuse themselves by pushing off those that are trying to land. All this is done in a very cumbrous manner, and is accompanied by incessant barking. As the^ issue from the water, their fur is dark and shining; but, as it dries, it becomes of a yellowish brown. Then they appear to feel either too dry or too hot, for they move to the nearest point from which they may tumble into the sea. I saw many roll off a ledge at least twenty feet high, and fall, like so many huge brown sacks, into the water, dashing up showers of spray."* From the accounts given by various observers, the Sea Lions evidently move with much less facili ty on land than do the Fur Seals, doubtless mainly from their much greater size. The young and the females of several of the different species of these animals are described as walking with much greater ease and rapidity than the half- grown and the more unwieldy old males. *-Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool., ii, pp. 66, 67. Misc. Pub. No. 12 — -17 258 EUMETOPIAS STELLERI STELLER*S SEA LION. Captain Bryant states that the Fur Seal may be driven at the rate of a mile and a half per hour, while, according to the same authority, the Sea Lions can be driven with safety but about two miles a day. Captain Scammon, in 1874, published a very interesting account of the Sea Lions of the Aleutian Islands, particularly as respects the methods employed in their capture, portions of which will be quoted later. His account is devoted largely, however, to the Sea Lions of the California coast, and certainly includes the history of the smaller species, if in fact this part does not relate mainly to the latter. At about the same time appeared Mr. H. W. Elliott's more detailed history of the north- ern species, which is so full and explicit that I transcribe it almost entire. The Sea Lion, he says, " has a really leonine appearance and bearing, greatly enhanced by the rich, golden-rufous of its coat, ferocity of expression, and bull-dog-like muzzle and cast of eye, not round and full, but showing the white, or sclerotic coat, with a light, bright-brown iris. " Although provided with flippers to all external view as the fur-seal, he cannot, however, make use of them in the same free manner. While the fur-seal can be driven five or six miles in twenty-four hours, the sea-lion can barely go two, the conditions of weather and roadway being the same. The sea-lions balance and swing their long, heavy necks to and fro, with every hitch up behind of their posteriors, which they seldom raise from the ground, drawing them up after the fore feet with a slide over the grass or sand, rocks, &c., as the case may be, and pausing frequently to take a sullen and ferocious survey of the field and the drivers." " The sea-lion is polygamous, but does not maintain any such regular system and method in preparing for and attention to its harem like that so finely illustrated on the breeding-grounds of the fur-seal. It is not numerous, comparatively speaking, and does not l haul ' more than a few rods back from the sea. It cannot be visited and inspected by man, being so shy and wary that on the slightest approach a stampede into the water is the certain result. The males come out and locate on the narrow belts of rookery-ground, preferred and selected by them; the cows make their appearance three or four weeks after them, (1st to 6th June,) and are not subjected to that intense jealous supervision so characteristic of the fur-seal HABITS. 259 FIG. 37. — Eumetopias stelleri. Adult male, females, and young. 260 EUMETOPIAS STELLERI— STELLER'S SEA LION. harem. The bulls fight savagely among themselves, and turn off from the breeding-ground all the younger and weak males. "The cow sea-lion is not quite half the size of the male, and will measure from 8 to 9 feet in length, with a weight of four and five hundred pounds. She has the same general cast of countenance and build of the bull, but as she does not sustain any fasting period of over a week or ten days, she never comes out so grossly fat as the male or t see-catch.' " The sea-lion rookery will be found to consist of about ten to fifteen cows to the bull. The cow seems at all times to have the utmost freedom in moving from place to place, and to start with its young, picked up sometimes by the nape, into the water, and play together for spells in the suif-wash, a move- ment on the part of the mother never made by the fur-seal, and showing, in this respect, much more attention to its off- spring. " They are divided up into classes, which sustain, in a geu- eral manner, but very imperfectly, nearly the same relation one to the other as do those of the fur-seal, of which I have already spoken at length and in detail 5 but they cannot be approached, inspected, and managed like the other, by reason of their wild and timid nature. They visit the islands in numbers compara- tively small, (I can only estimate,) not over twenty or twenty- five thousand on Saint Paul's and contiguous islets, and not more than seven or eight thousand at Saint George. On Saint' Paul's Island they occupy a small portion of the breeding- ground at Northeast Point, in common with the CallorhimiSj always close to the water, and taking to it at the slightest dis- turbance or alarm. " The sea-lion rookery on Saint George's Island is the best place upon the Seal Islands for close observation of these ani- mals, and the following note was made upon the occasion of one of my visits, (June 15, 1873 :) " i At the base of cliffs, over 400 feet in height, on the east shore of the island, on a beach 50 or 60 feet in width at low water, and not over 30 or 40 at flood-tide, lies the only sea-lion rookery on Saint George's Island — some three or four thousand cows and bulls. The entire circuit of this rookery-belt was, passed over by us, the big, timorous bulls rushing off into the water as quickly as the cows, all leaving their young. Many of the females, perhaps half of them, had only just given birth to their young. These pups will weigh at least twenty to HABITS. 261 twenty-five pounds on an average when born, are of a dark, chocolate-brown, with the eye as large as the adult, only being a suffused, watery, gray-blue, where the sclerotic coat is well and sharply defined in its maturity. They are about 2 feet in length, some longer and some smaller. As all the pups seen to-day were very young, some at this instant only born, they were dull and apathetic, not seeming to notice us much. There are, I should say, about one-sixth of the sea-lions in number on this island, when compared with Saint Paul's. As these ani- mals lie here under the cliffs, they cannot be approached and driven ; but should they haul a few hundred rods up to the south, then they can be easily captured. They have hauled in this manner always until disturbed in 1868, and will undoubt- edly do so again if not molested. " i These sea-lions, when they took to the water, swam out to a distance of fifty yards or so, and huddled all up together in two or three packs or squads of about five hundred each, hold- ing their heads and necks up high out of water, all roaring in concert and incessantly, making such a deafening noise that we could scarcely hear ourselves in conversation at a distance from them of over a hundred yards. This roaring of sea-lions, thus disturbed, can only be compared to the hoarse sound of a tempest as it howls through the rigging of a ship, or the play- ing of a living gale upon the bare branches, limbs, and trunks of a forest grove.7 They commenced to return as soon as we left the ground. "The voice of the sea-lion is a deep, grand roar, and does not have the flexibility of the CallorMnns, being confined to a low, muttering growl or this bass roar. The pups are very playful, but are almost always silent. When they do utter sound, it is a sharp, short, querulous growling." " The natives have a very high appreciation of the sea-lion, or see-vitchie, as they call it, and base this regard upon the supe- rior quality of the flesh, fat, and hide, (for making covers for their skin boats, MdarTcies and bidarrahs,) sinews, intestines, &c. "As I have before said, the sea-lion seldom hauls back far from the water, generally very close to the surf-margin, and in this position it becomes quite a difficult task for the natives to approach and get in between it and the sea unobserved, for, unless this silent approach is made, the beast will at once take the alarm and bolt into the water. " By reference to my map of Saint PauFs [not here repro- 262 EUMETOPIAS STELLERI STELLER7S SEA LION. duced] a small point, near the head of the northeast neck of the island, will be seen, upon which quite a large number of sea-lions are always to be found, as it is never disturbed except on the occasion of this annual driving. The natives step down on to the beach, in the little bight just above it, and begin to crawl on all fours flat on the sand down to the end of the neck and in between the dozing sea-lion herd and the water, always selecting a semi-bright moonlight night. If the wind is favor- able, and none of the men meet with an accident, the natives will almost always succeed in reaching the point unobserved, when, at a given signal, they all jump up on their feet at once, yell, brandish their arms, and give a sudden start, or alarm, to the herd above them, for, just as the sea-lions move, upon the first impulse of surprise, so they keep on. For instance, if the animals on starting up are sleeping with their heads pointed in the direction of the water, they keep straight on toward it ; but if they jump up looking over the land, they follow that course just as desperately, and nothing turns them, at first, either one way or the other. Those that go for the water are, of course, lost, but the natives follow the land-leaders and keep urging them on, and soon have them in their control, driving them back into a small pen, which they extemporize by means of little stakes, with flags, set around a circuit of a few hundred square feet, and where they keep them until three or four hun- dred, at least, are captured, before they commence their drive of ten miles overland down south to the village. "The natives, latterly, in getting this annual herd of sea- lions, have postponed it until late in the fall, and when the ani- mals are scant in number and the old bulls poor. This they were obliged to do, on account of the pressure of their sealing- business in the spring, and the warmth of the season in August and September, which makes the driving very tedious. In this way I have not been permitted to behold the best-conditioned drives, i. e., those in which a majority of the herd is made up of fine, enormously fat, and heavy bulls, some four or five hun- dred in number. "The natives are compelled to go to the northeast point of the island for these animals, inasmuch as it is the only place with natural advantages where they can be approached for the purpose of capturing alive. Here they congregate in greatest number, although they can be found, two or three thousand of them, on the southwest point, and as many more on ' See- vitchie Cammin > and Otter Island. HABITS. 263 " Capturing the sea-lion drive is really the only serious busi- ness these people on the islands have, and when they set out for the task the picked men only leave the village. At North- east Point they have a barrabkie, in which they sleep and eat while gathering the drove, the time of getting which depends upon the weather, wind, &c. As the squads are captured, night after night, they are driven up close by the barrabkie, where the natives mount constant guard over them, until several hun- dred animals shall have been secured, and all is ready for the drive down overland to the village. "The drove is started and conducted in the same general manner as that which I have detailed in speaking of the fur- seal, only the sea-lion soon becomes very sullen and unwilling to move, requiring spells of frequent rest. It canjjpt pick itself up from the ground and shamble off on a loping gallop for a few hundred yards, like the Callorhinus, and is not near so free and agile in its movements on land, or in the water for that mat- ter, for I have never seen the Eumetopias leap from the water like a dolphin, or indulge in the thousand and one submarine acrobatic displays made constantly by the fur-seal. " This ground, over which the sea-lions, are driven, is mostly a rolling level, thickly grassed and mossed over, with here and there a fresh-water pond into which the animals plunge with great apparent satisfaction, seeming to cool themselves, and out of which the natives have no trouble in driving them. The distance between the sea-lion pen at Northeast Point and the village is about ten miles, as the sea-lions are driven, and occu- pies over five or six days under the most favorable circum- stances, such as wet, cold weather ; and when a little warmer, or as in July or August, a few seasons ago, they were some three weeks coming down with a drove, and even then left a hundred or sx> along on the road. "After the drove has been brought into the village on the killing-grounds, the natives shoot down the bulls and then sur- round and huddle up the cows, spearing them just behind the fore-flippers. The killing of the sea-lions is quite an exciting spectacle, a strange and unparalleled exhibition of its kind. . . . . The bodies are at once stripped of their hides and much of the flesh, sinews, intestines, (with which the native water-proof coats, &c., are made,) in conjunction with the throat- linings, (oesophagus,) and the skin of the flippers, which is ex- ceedingly tough and elastic, and used for soles to their boots or * tarbosars.' 264 EUMETOPIAS STELLERI STELLER's SEA LION. "As the sea-lion is without fur, the skin has little or no com- mercial value $ the hair is short, and longest over the nape of the neck, straight, and somewhat coarse, varying in color greatly as the seasons come and go. For instance, when the Eumetopias makes his first appearance in the spring, and dries out upon the land, he has a light-brownish, rufous tint, darker shades back and under the fore nippers and on the abdomen ; by the expiration of a month or six weeks, 15th June, he will be a bright golden-rufous or ocher, and this is just before shedding, which sets in by the middle of August, or a little earlier. After the new coat has fairly grown, and just before he leaves the island for the season, in November, it will be a light sepia, or vandyke- brown, with deeper shades, almost dark upon the belly ; the cows, after shedding, do not color up so dark as the bulls, but when they come back to the land next year they are identically the same in color, so that the eye in glancing over a sea-lion rookery in June and July cannot discern any noted dissimilar- ity of coloring between the bulls and the cows ; and also the young males and yearlings appear in the same golden-brown and ocher, with here and there an animal spotted somewhat like a leopard, the yellow, rufous ground predominating, with patches of dark-brown irregularly interspersed. I have never seen any of the old bulls or cows thus mottled, and think very likely it is due to some irregularity in the younger animals during the season of shedding, for I have not noticed it early in the season, and failed to observe it at the close. Many of the old bulls have a grizzled or slightly brindled look during the shedding-period, or, that is, from the 10th August up to the 10th or 20th of November ; the pups, when born, are of a rich, dark chestnut-brown 5 this coat they shed in October, . and take one much lighter, but still darker than their parents', but not a great deal. "Although, as I have already indicated, the sea-lion, in its habit and disposition, approximates the fur-seal, yet in no respect does it maintain and enforce the system and regularity found on the breeding-grounds of the CallorMnus. The time of arrival at, stay on, and departure from the island is about the same ; but if the winter is an open, mild one, the sea-lion will be seen frequently all through it, and the natives occasion- ally shoot them around the island long after the fur-seals have entirely disappeared for the year. It also does not confine its landing to these Prybilov Islands alone, as the fur-seal unques- HABITS. 265 tionably does, with reference to our continent ; for it has been and is often shot upon the Aleutian Islands and many rocky islets of the northwest coast. " The sea-lion in no respect whatever manifests the intelligence and sagacity exhibited by the fur-seal, and must be rated far below, although next, in natural order. I have no hesitation in putting this Eumetopias of the Prybilov Islands, apart from the sea-lion common at San Francisco and Santa Barbara, as a distinct animal ; and I call attention to the excellent descrip- tion of the California sea-lion, made public in the April num- ber for 1872 of the Overland Monthly, by Capt. C. M. Scammon, in which the distinguishing characters, externally, of this animal are well denned, and by which the difference between the Eumetopias of Bering Sea and that of the coast of California can at once be seen 5 and also I notice one more point in which the dissimilarity is marked — the northern sea-lion never barks or howls like the animal at the Farralones [sic] or Santa Bar- bara. Young and old, both sexes, from one year and upward, have only a deep bass growl, and prolonged, steady roar ; while at San Francisco sea-lions break out incessantly with a i honk- ing' bark or howl, and never roar. " I am not to be understood as saying that all the sea-lions met with on the California!! coast are different from E. stelleri of Bering Sea. I am well satisfied that stragglers from the north are down on the Farralones, but they are not migrating back and forth every season ; and I am furthermore certain that not a single animal of the species most common at San Francisco was present among those breeding on the Prybilov Islands in 1872->73. "According to the natives of Saint George, some fifty or sixty years ago the Eumetopias held almost exclusive possession of .the island, being there in great numbers, some two or three hundred thousand ; and that, as the fur-seals were barely per- mitted to land by these animals, and in no great number, the Russians directed them (the natives) to hunt and worry the sea-lions off from the island, and the result was that as the sea- lions left, the fur-seals came, so that to-day they occupy nearly the same ground covered by the Eumetopias alone sixty years ago. This statement is, or seems to be, corroborated by Choris, in his description of the lies S.-George's et S.-PauFs [sic], visited by him fifty years ago ; * but the account given by Bishop Ven- "* Voyage Pittoresque autour du Monde." 266 EUMETOPIAS STELLERI — STELLER*S SEA LION. iaminov,* differs entirely from the above, for by it almost as many fur-seals were taken on Saint George, during the first years of occupation, as on Saint Paul, and never have been less than one-sixth of the number on the larger island. .... I am strongly inclined to believe that the island of Saint George never was resorted to in any great numbers by the fur- seal, and that the sea-lion was the dominant animal there until disturbed and driven from its breeding- grounds by the* people, who sought to encourage the coming of its more valuable rela- tive by so doing, and making room in this way for it. "The sea-lion has but little value save to the natives, and is more prized on account of its flesh and skin, by the people liv- ing upon the islands and similar positions, than it would be elsewhere. The matter of its preservation and perpetuation should be left entirely to them, and it will be well looked after. It is singular that the fat of the sea-lion should be so different in characters of taste and smell from that of the fur-seal, being free from any taint of disagreeable flavor or odor, while the blubber of the latter, although so closely related, is most repug- nant. The flesh of the sea-lion cub is tender, juicy, light-col- ored, and slightly like veal ; in my opinion, quite good. As the animal grows older, the meat is dry, tough, and without flavor." t Captain Scammon gives a few particulars respecting the "drive," not especially referred to by Mr. Elliott. "This 6 drive,'" he says, "to the good-natured Aleuts, is what the buffalo hunt has been to the red-skins on the plains of the Platte, or matanza-time with the old Californians, for the party starts out as on a sporting foray, and at night they stealthily get between the herd of Sea Lions and the water ; then, with professional strategy, they manage to 4 cut out ? six or eight of the largest at a time, and drive them a short distance inland, where they are guarded until a band of two or three hundred , are assembled. Formerly the implement used in driving was a pole with a small flag at the end $ but, since our adopted coun- try-folk have become Americanized, that Yankee production, a cotton umbrella, has been substituted, and it is said that any refractory siutchm the < drive7 is instantly subdued by the sud- den expansion and contraction of an umbrella in the hands of a pursuing native. " To collect the desired number for the yearly supply involves "*Zapeeskie ob Ostrovah Oonahlashkenskaho Otdayla, St. Petersburg, 1840." t Report upon Condition of Affairs in Alaska, pp. 152-159. HABITS. 267 several days ; therefore a throng of villagers, it is said, sets out prepared "with everything needful for the campaign. As the work of driving goes on only at night, the day is passed in sleeping and cooking their food by smoldering tires of drift- wood and seal-fat, sheltered by their umbrellas, or a sort of tent contrived by spreading blankets and garments over whales7 ribs in lieu of tent-poles — never forgetting in their repast the fragrant chi, which is quaffed in numberless cups from the steaming sam-o-var. At length, the whole troop of animals being assembled, a flash of umbrellas here and there, with the •call of the herdsmen, brings all into a moving phalanx. But the time for driving must be either at night, after the dew is fallen, or upon a dark, misty, or rainy day ; as the thick mat of grass that covers the land must be wet, in order that the ani- mals may easily slip along in their vaulting gait over the green road to their place of execution. Under the most favorable circumstances, the march does not exceed six miles in the twenty-four hours ; and it being a distance of four leagues or more to the village, three days and nights, or more, are spent before they arrive at the slaughtering-place. There they are allowed to remain quiet for a day or two, to cool their blood, which becomes much heated by the tedious journey; after which they are killed by shooting. The dead animals are then skinned, and their hides packed in tiers until fermented suf- ficiently to start the hair, when they are stretched on frames to dry, and eventually become the covering or planking for the Aleutian baidarlcas and baidarras. The fat is taken off and used for fuel, or the oil is rendered to burn in their lamps. The flesh is cut in thin pieces from the carcass, laid in the open air to dry, and becomes a choice article of food. The sinews are extracted, and afterward twisted into thread. The lining of the animaFs throat is put through a course of tanning, and then made into boots, the soles of which are the under covering of the Sea Lion's fin-like feet. The intestines are carefully taken out, cleaned, blown up, stretched to dry, then tanned, and worked into water-proof clothing. The stomach is emptied of its contents, turned inside out, then inflated and dried for oil- bottles, or is used as a receptacle for the preserved meat ,• and what remains of the once formidable and curious animal is only a mutilated skeleton." Captain Scarnmon adds the following respecting their cap- ture on the Asiatic coast : "Crossing Behring and the Okhotsk 268 EUMETOPIAS STELLERI —STELLER'S SEA LION. Seas, to the coast of Siberia, including the peninsula ot Kam- schatka and the island of Saghalien, the mode of capture by the natives changes from that of the eastern continental shores.* The inlets and rivers of these Asiatic regions swarm with sal- mon from June to September, and at this season the Seals fol- low and prey upon them as they ascend the streams. The natives then select such places as will be left nearly bare at low tide, and then set their nets — which are made of seal- thongs — to strong stakes, so placed as to form a curve open to the confluence of the stream. These nets are similar to gill- nets, the meshes being of a size to admit a SeaPs head, — which gives free passage to the shoals of fish — and the pursuing ani- mal, as soon as entangled in the net, struggles forward in his efforts to escape, but is held firmly in the meshes, where it re- mains till low water, when the natives, in their flat-bottomed skin-boats, approach and dispatch the victim with their rude bone implements. As the season becomes warm, tne animals of both sexes congregate in their favorite rookeries, and the females climb to the most inaccessible places among the rocks and crags to bring forth and nurture their offspring. But here they are hunted by the natives accustomed to the use of fire- arms, who shoot them for the skins of the young ones, which are used for clothing. aln this region also, during the spring and fall, after the ' net-sealing7 is over, great numbers of Sea Lions are captured upon the floating ice, with gun or spear ; and during the rigor- ous months, the seal-hunters cut through the congealed mass what they term i breathing-holes ?. Through these the Seals emerge, to the frosted surface, and, if the sun peers through the wintry clouds, the creatures, warmed into new life, may stroll hundreds of yards away 5 the watchful hunter, secreted behind a cake of ice or a bank of snow, rushes out from his covert, and places a covering over the hole, effectually preventing the an- imal's escape, and then dispatches it with knife and spear. Its skin is stripped off, scraped clean, closely rolled, and laid away * Although Captain Scammon purports to be speaking of "Sea Lions," I have recently become convinced (since the copy of tliis article was sent to the printer) that very little, if anything, in this paragraph and the next relates to any species of Eared Seal. In the first place, the locality is one not known to be frequented, except casually, by Otaries, while the account of the capture in nets and in the ice, and especially the reference to "breathing holes," renders it almost certain that the animals referred to are Phocids. HABITS. 269 until the hair starts — this process is called 'scouring'; then the hair is scoured off and the bare hide is stretched to season — a process usually requiring about ten days — when it is taken down and rubbed between the hands to make it pliable; this completes the whole course of dressing it. The prepared skins are then converted into harness for the sledge-dogs and rein- deer, and water-proof bags ; if wanted for the soles of mocca- sins, or to cover their skin-boats, they are dried with the hair on, and become nearly as stiff as plates of iron. The blubber of the animals, if killed in the fall or winter, is preserved by freezing, and is used for food, fuel, and lights, as desired ; while the same part of those taken in the spring and summer is put in the skins of young Seals, and placed in earthen vaults, where it keeps fresh until required for consumption. The residue of the animal is tumbled into a reservoir, sunk below the surface of the ground, where it is kept for the winter's supply of food for the dogs, which live upon the frozen flesh and entrails of the Seals, whose skin furnishes the tackle by which they trans- port the primitive sledge over the snow-clad wastes of Siberia and Kamschatka."* Since the foregoing was transmitted for publication I have received from Captain Charles Bryant a very full account of this species, based on his many years' observations as United States Treasury Agent at the Fur Seal Islands, and kindly pre- pared by my request for use in the present connection. Although so much space has already been devoted to the history of this species, it seems desirable to give Captain Bryant's report nearly in full, although repeating in substance some of the details which have. already been presented, since it contains some new points, and is at least based on long experience. Some portions, relating especially to the products of the Sea Lion and their uses, are omitted, since they are fully anticipated by what has already been given. " From fifteen to twenty thousand Sea Lions," says Captain Bryant, " breed annually on the Prybilov or Fur Seal Islands. They do not leave the islands in winter, as do the Fur Seals, to return in spring, but remain during the whole year. They bring, forth their young a month earlier than the Fur Seals, landing during the months of May and June. They advance but little above high tide-mark, and those of all ages land together. The strongest males drive out the weaker and mono- * Marine Mammalia, pp. 136-138. 270 EUMETOPIAS STELLERI STELLER7S SEA LION. polize the females and continue with them till September. They go with them into the water whenever they are disturbed, and also watch over the young. When in the water they swim about the young and keep them together until they have an opportunity to land again. The females also keep near, rushing hither and thither, appearing first on one side and then on the other of the groups of young, constantly uttering a deep hoarse growl at the intruder whenever they come to the surface. When left undisturbed they all soon land again, preferring to spend the greater portion of their time at this season on the shore. During the breeding season they visit the same parts of the shore as the Fur Seals, but the Sea Lions, by their supe- rior size and strength, crowd out the Seals, the latter passively yielding their places without presuming to offer battle to their formidable visitors. After having been disturbed the Sea Lions continue for some time in a state of unrest, occasionally uttering a low moaning sound, as though greatly distressed. Even after the breeding season they keep close to the shore near the breed- ing station until the severe weather of January. After this time they are seen only in small groups till the shores are free from snow and ice in the spring. "The capture of these animals is laborious and hazardous, and must be managed by the most skilful and experienced of the natives. They are so sensitive to danger and so keenly on the alert that even the screaming of a startled bird will cause the whole herd to take to the water. "The only place frequented by the Sea Lions that, by the nature of the ground, is practicable for their capture, is ten or twelve miles from the village where all the natives reside. They keep so near the shore that the favorable time to get between them and the water is when the tide is lowest ; and they are so quick of scent that the wind must blow from them toward the sea, so they may not smell the hunters as they at- tempt to approach them. The chiefs select a party of fifteen or twenty of the best men, who leave the village prepared for an absence of a week or ten days, for the place selected for the hunt. Near this they have a lodging-house, where they wait for favoring conditions of wind and tide. Under cover of the darkness of night, the chief takes the lead and the men follow, keeping a little distance apart, creeping noiselessly along the shore at the edge of the receding tide until they get between the Sea Lions and the water. At a given signal the men start HABITS. 271 up suddenly, fire pistols, and make all the noise possible. The animals thus suddenly alarmed immediately start in whatever direction they chance to be headed 5 those facing the water rush precipitately into it. These the hunters avoid, letting them pass them, and start at once after those heading inland, shout- ing at them to keep them moving until some distance from the shore. The Sea Lions, when once fairly in motion, are easily controlled and made to move in the desired direction till they reach some convenient hollow, where they are guarded by one or two men stationed to watch their movements and prevent their escape until enough have been obtained to make a herd for driving, numbering usually two or three hundred individ- uals. They sometimes capture in this way forty or fifty in a single night, but oftener ten or twenty, and many times none at all. As at this season Sea Lions of all ages and sizes con- gregate together, it often happens that females are caught while their cubs escape, or the reverse, but as the capture is con- tinued for several successive nights at the same place, and the new captives are driven to the herd already caught, the mothers and their young are again brought together. They recognize each other by their cries long before they meet, and it makes lively work for the herders to prevent the herd from rushing to meet the new comers. When the recruits join the herd the mothers and cubs rush together with evident pleasure, the mothers fondling their young, and the latter, hungered by sepa- ration, struggle to nurse them. After a sufficient number have been thus obtained they are driven to the village for slaughter, in order that all parts of the animal may be utilized. " The distance to the village is, as already stated, about ten or twelve miles, and the route lies near the shore. Along the way are several small ponds through which they pass and which serve to refresh them on their slow toiJsome journey. The journey is necessarily slow and tedious, for the Sea Lions are less well fitted for traveling on land than the Fur Seals, which are able to raise their bodies from the ground and gallop off like a land animal. The Sea Lions travel by bending the pos- terior part of the body to the right or left, extending their long flexible necks in an opposite direction to balance themselves, and then slowly raising their bodies by their fore limbs and plunging forward, by which movement they thus gain an ad- vance of only half a length at a time. When they arrive in sight of the ponds they make a hurried scramble for them, and, 272 EUMETOPIAS STELLERI — STELLER'S SEA LION. rushing in pell-mell, roll and tumble in the water as though it afforded immense relief to their heated and wearied bodies. When it is convenient to do so they are allowed to rest over night in the water, by which they acquire fresh vigor for the completion of the journey. This severe and unnatural exertion overheats and exhausts these poor beasts and necessitates long halts to enable them to rest and cool. It usually requires five days to make the journey, averaging two miles per day. Three men conduct the herd, and camp at night with their charge. On starting they kill a young cub for their subsistence, using the flesh for food and the blubber for fuel in cooking it and making their tea. "After two days' travel the animals become very tired, and as soon as they are permitted to halt they drop at full length with their limbs extended. But their rest is not peaceful, for some restless one soon starts up and flounders over the others as if seeking a better place. This disturbs the whole herd, which constantly keeps up a low moaning apparently expressive of sore distress. A most apt description of such a scene was once given by a military officer who was seated with me on the edge of a sand-dune watching a herd resting in this condition. After a long silence he observed, i This is the first thing I have ever seen or heard that realizes my youthful conception of the tor- ment of the condemned in purgatory.'" " When the herd is once fairly halted and at rest it requires from half an hour to an hour to get it moving again in march- ing order. The process is quite novel and worth describing. The Sea Lions have now become so accustomed to their captors that they will sooner fight than run from them, and they are too much deafened by their own noise to hear or fear any other sound. As they lie on the ground in a compact mass, one of the men takes an umbrella (before the introduction of umbrellas a flag was used) and goes twenty to thirty yards to the rear of the herd and approaching stealthily until he is quite near sud- denly expands the umbrella and runs with it along the edge of the herd ; then closing it he retires to repeat the maneuver. This has the effect to rouse the rear rank, which thus suddenly alarmed plunges forward and arouses those in front, which immediately begin struggling and biting. The return of the man with the umbrella communicates another shock and adds another wave to the sluggish mass. This is repeated at intervals of four or five minutes till the successive shocks have aroused HABITS. 273 the whole herd, when, with much roaring and bellowing, the whole mass begins to move, gradually extending itself in a long irregular line in open order, each animal lumbering along as best it can. By shouting and waving flags at the rear and on the flanks of the herd, they are kept moving until it is neces- sary to halt them again for rest. Seen when thus moving in a long irregular line, the slow heaving motion of their bodies and the swaying of their long flexible necks give a grotesque appearance to the scene and suggest anything but a herd of Lions. The island, being composed of volcanic rock, is full of subterranean fissures covered thinly with soil and vegetation, and the earth so resounds with the noise of the tread of the Sea Lions that the sound may be heard to the distance of two miles. The approach of a herd to the village is always an occa- sion of interest and excitement to all of the inhabitants, who go out en masse to meet them and escort them to the slaughter- ing ground, where they are allowed to rest and cool before they are killed. "The Sea Lions are too formidable to be killed with clubs like the Fur Seals. When all is ready for the slaughter the herd is started up a sloping hillside ; the hunters follow, armed with rifles, and shoot the full-grown males from behind, the back of the skull being the only part a ball can penetrate. After all of these have been killed, the head of the column is checked and turned back so that the animals become massed together, and piled on each other five or six deep. In this way those below are held by those above while the hunters, armed with short lances, watch their opportunity to rush up to the struggling mass and thrust their lances into some vital part of the doomed beasts. This is attended with some danger to the hunters, who sometimes receive serious wounds from being hit with the lances that the Sea Lions, in their death agonies, seize in their mouths and wrench from the hands of the hunters. u Nearly every part of these animals is valuable to the natives, but they have no commercial value outside of Alaska. Their skins are indispensable to the Sea Otter hunters of the Aleutian Islands, for the covering of their canoes in which they hunt these animals. The natives also use them for covering their large boats used in loading and unloading vessels. . . . Its flesh is preferred for food to that of the Fur Seal, that of the full-grown animal being finer in texture, lighter in color, and of a sweeter Misc. Pub. No. 12 18 274 EUMETOPIAS STELLERI STELLER7S SEA LION. flavor, and it dries more readily in preserving it for winter use; the flesh of the young at the age of four months is esteemed a great luxury by the natives and is not easily distinguished from veal by educated palates. . . . Only the skeleton is left to waste. " The stomachs of the full-grown Sea Lions are found to always contain from six to ten pounds of stones, varying in size from that of a hen's egg to a large apple. These stones are the same as those found on the beaches, worn round and smooth by the surf. The natives say they take these stones into the stomach for ballast when they leave the breeding-grounds, and cast them out again when they land in the spring. I have, however, had no means of verifying this, as the only season when they are taken is during the winter. u As soon as the animals have all been killed the men proceed to remove the skins and blubber, and the other useful parts, which the chiefs divide and distribute among the several fami- lies. . . . Only a few of the skins are required for use on the island, the remainder being shipped to Ounalashka and other points where they are sold to the Sea Otter hunters. The value of the skins at the island is sixty cents each. About eight hun- dred are annually taken at St. Paul's Island, without appar- ently any decrease in the stock. " There are 'many other places in the Territory where these animals bring forth their young, but as they resort mostly to outlying rocks and ledges they cannot be captured in any con- siderable numbers. "The Sea Lion of Alaska, so far as my opportunities of observation have enabled me to judge, is a much larger species than that of California, the largest males I have ever seen at San Francisco and vicinity being not much larger than the full- grown female at the Fur Seal Islands, while I have seen at San Francisco females with young that were not much larger than a yearling of the species found at St. Paul's." The food of the Sea Lion is well known to consist, like that of the other species of Eared Seals, of fish, mollusks, and crus- taceans, and occasionally birds. As shown by animals kept in confinement, they require an enormous quantity. Captain Scammon states that the daily allowance of a pair kept in Woodward's Gardens, San Francisco, amounted to forty or fifty pounds of fresh fish. GENUS ZALOPHUS. 275 GENUS ZALOPHUS, Gill Arctoceplialus (in part), GRAY, Cat. Seals and Whales, 1866, 55. Zalophus, GILL, Proc. Essex Institute, July, 1866, v, 7, 11. Type Otaria gillespil, McBain. NeopJioca, GRAY, Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist., 3d series, 1866, xviii, 231 Type Arctocephalus lobatus, Gray. Molars -§E| ? large, closely approximated, the last under the hinder edge of the zygomatic process of the maxillary. Muz- zle narrow. Superior profile, from the postorbital process ante- riorly, gently declined. Bony palate moderately contracted posteriorly, and but slightly depressed. Hinder edge of the palatals deeply concave. Pterygoid hooks slender. Posterior nares broader than high 5 anterior higher than broad. Post- orbital cylinder narrow and elongate. The postorbital con- striction of the skull is deep and abrupt, giving a quadrate or subquadrate form to the brain-box, which varies to triangular through the varying degree of prominence of its latero-anterior angles. The postorbital processes are triangular, developed latero-posteriorly into a rather slender point. The sagittal crest, in very old males, forms a remarkably high, thin, bony plate, unparalleled in its great development in any other genus of the family. The general form of the skull is rather narrow, much more so than in Eumetopias, and nearly as much so as in Arctoceplialus, the breadth to length being as 60 to 100. Zalophus, so far as the skull is concerned, is the most distinct generic form of the family, it being thoroughly unlike all the others. In general form, as in size, it more nearly resembles Arctoceplialus than any other genus, but differs from it in the dental formula, as well as in its enormously produced crests. It differs from Otaria in having one pair less of upper molars, in the slight depression of the bony palate, the less extension posteriorly of the palatines, the much narrower muzzle, the much less abrupt declination of the facial profile, its much higher sagittal and occipital crest, and in its narrower and more elongated form. It differs from Eumetopias, as already pointed out, in having all the upper molars closely approximated, in the greatly con- cave outline of the posterior border of the palatines, and other- wise much as it differs from Otaria. Zaloplms differs from Callorliinus in its smaller number of upper molars, its high crests, narrower and more elongated muzzle, and in the more declined profile of the face. In the 276 ZALOPHUS CALIFORNIANUS CALIFORNIAN SEA LION. nature of its pelage, and in other external features, it is radi- cally distinct from the whole group of Fur Seals, as it is also in its high sagittal crest. In size it is nearest Arctocephalus. The body is rather slender, and the head is narrow, long, and pointed, and with this slenderness of form is coordinated a corresponding litheness of movement. The genus is restricted, so far as known, to the shores of the North Pacific and the Australian Seas, and is apparently repre- sented by two species, the one confined mainly, if not wholly, to the western coast of the United States, and the other to tem- perate (and tropical?) portions of the eastern coast of Asia, from Japan southward, and the northern shores of Australia. The genus is thus southern or subtropical in its distribution, occurring on both sides of the equator, but not in the colder waters of either hemisphere. ZALOPHUS GALIFOENIANUS (Lesson) Allen. Californian Sea Lion. Otaria californiana, LESSON, Diet. Class. d'Hist. Nat., xiii, 1828, 420 (based on "Le jeuneLion marin de la Californie," Choris, pi. xi). — SCHINZ, Synop. Mam., i, 1844, 473 (from Lesson). Phoca californiana, FISCHER, Syn. Mam., 1829, 231 ( — Otaria californiana, Les- son). Otaria gillespii, M'BAIN, Proc. Edinb. Roy. Soc., i, 1858, 422. Arctocephalm gilliespii* GRAY, Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., 1859, 110, 360, pi. Ixx (from cast of the skull described by M'Bain) ; Cat. Seals and Whales, 1866, 55. Zaloplius gillespii, GILL, Proc. Essex Inst., v, 1866, 13. — GRAY, Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist., 3d ser., xviii, 1866, 231; Suppl. Cat. Seals and Whales, 1871,28; Hand-List Seals, etc., 1874, 41.— SCOTT, Mam. Eec. and Extinct, 1873, 20. — THOMPSON, Forest and Stream (newspaper), xii, 1879, 66 (habits and breeding in confinement). Otaria (Zaloplius} gillespii, PETERS, Monatsb. Akad. Berlin, 1866, 275, 671. f Otaria jubata, VEATCH, J. E. Browne's Resources of the Pacific Slope, [app.], 1869, p. 150 (mainly, if not wholly; Cerros Island, L. Cal.). Lion Marin de la Californie, CHORIS, Voy. Pittoresque. Sea Lion [o/ California'], SCAMMON, Overland Monthly, viii, 1872, 266 (in part).— GURNEY, Zoologist, 1871, 2762 (Southern California).— STEARNS, Amer. Nat., x, 1876, 177 (in part). Lobo marino, Spanish ; Sea Lion and California Sea Lion, English. . HABITAT. — Coast of California. EXTERNAL CHARACTERS. — Color dark chestnut -brown, darker (blackish-brown) on the limbs, ventral surface, and the * Spelled "gilliespii" by Gray and most other writers, but "gillespii" by M'Bain, who named it for his friend Dr. Gillespie. EXTERNAL CHARACTERS. 277 extreme posterior part of the body, but varying greatly in differ- ent individuals and at different seasons. Whiskers whitish or yellowish-white, a few of them usually dusky at base. Length of adult male 7 to 8 feet 5 of adult female about 5.75 feet. Pelage short, harsh, and stiff. A series of a dozen specimens varies greatly in color — from yellow through various shades of brownish-yellow to dark red- dish-brown and even blackish-brown. At the season of moult they change from reddish-brown to yellowish or golden-brown. An adult female (M. C. Z. Coll., No. 5787) taken about Septem- ber 1, 1877, is golden brownish-yellow, passing into dark brown on the limbs and ventral surface. Top of the nose, between and around the eyes, anterior edge of hand, and outer edge of foot, pale yellowish-white. Said by the collector (Mr. Paul Schumacher) to have just shed its coat. A nearly adult male (M. C. Z. Coll., "No. 5785), taken at the same date, is dull dark yellowish-brown, passing into blackish-brown on the limbs and ventral surface $ around base of hind limbs and tail and behind the axilla nearly black. A third (M. C. Z. Coll., No. 5788) is dingy yellowish-brown, lighter on top of head, hind neck, and over the shoulders, and darker posteriorly, beneath, and on the limbs, where the color becomes very dark chestnut-brown, and blackish around the eyes and nostrils. A fourth, a very old male (M. C. Z. Coll., No. 5786), is dark yellowish-brown above, varied with dusky, and with small dots and narrow streaks of white, the white streaks and spots indicating the position of wounds received in fighting. A large whitish spot on the back of the neck.* Lower surface pale yellowish posteriorly, passing into darker anteriorly. A sixth (M. C. Z. Coll., No. 5677), an adult female, has the body everywhere dark yellowish -brown, passing into darker on the limbs and ventral surface. Still another ^M. C. Z. Coll., No. 5785), a nearly full-grown male, differs from the foregoing in being light yellowish on the chin and about the mouth, very dark or blackish on the throat and sides of neck ; breast yellowish- white ; sides of body and ventral sur- face very pale yellowish-white, as is also the central portion of upper surface of both fore and hind limbs ; top of head and greater part of dorsal surface very dark brown or blackish, slightly varied with white ; shoulders and breast washed with gray ; edges of the flippers very dark brown. * In this specimen the atlas is firmly anchylosed with the skull, the result, doubtless, of injury in early life, to which, perhaps, this whitish spot is due. 278 ZALOPHUS CALIFORNIANUS CALIFORNIAN SEA LION. Three specimens observed alive in Central Park, New York City, in April, 1878, differed very much in color. One (a male) was quite pure gray along the back, rather darker on the sides,, and yellowish-gray on sides of belly j throat and breast pale yellowish-brown 5 ventral surface and limbs dark brown ; sides of nose pale yellowish-white. Another (male) was dark brown varied with black. The third (female) was deep brownish-yel- low on the throat and breast, blackish over the ventral surface and limbs ; general color above, deep brownish-black. Captain Scammon says:* "The color of the adult male is much diversified ; individuals of the same rookery being quite black, with scattering hairs tipped with dull white, while others are of a reddish-brown, dull gray, or of light gray above, darker below. The adult female is not half the bulk of the male, and its color is light brown." He refers particularly to one speci- men as being " black above, a little lighter below, with scatter- ing hairs of light brown or dull white." YOUNG. — Captain Scammon says: "The young pups, or whelps, are of a slate or black color, and the yearlings of a chestnut-brown." In the Museum of Comparative Zoology are several young specimens taken at the Santa Barbara Islands by Mr. Paul Schumacher (M. C. Z. Coll., Nos. 5678 and 5679) that are everywhere nearly uniform dark reddish-brown. The skulls show that they were quite young, the milk canines and last milk superior molars on each side being still in place ; they were probably not more than two or three months old. The Museum also has a foetal specimen, received from the pame lo- cality and collector. In this (M. 0. Z. Coll., No. 5839) the body is nearly uniform dark gray, with the top and sides of the head and the nape darker. Nose and face, to and around the eyes, black. Limbs brownish-black. The whiskers are mostly gray- ish-white, dusky at the base ; some of the shorter ones entirely blackish. PELAGE. — In the adult animal the pelage is short, stiff', and harsh, especially the new hair about the time of the moult. * Under the head of "Eumetopias stelleri" (Marine Mam., p. 128), but, judg- ing from the context, I think his remarks are based on the Sea Lions of the Santa Barbara Islands, and really refer to the present species. The speci- mens sent by him to the National Museum under this name from these islands are really Zalophm californianus. He spent much time at these islands, and his only detailed reference to the animals as seen by him in life relates to- these islands and unquestionably to this species. SIZE. 279 In the foetal specimen the pelage is longer, and very soft to the touch, feeling like fur, but is simply soft straight hair, not at all like the underfur of the Fur Seals, or even the first coat of Callorliinus ursinus, under the long soft hair of which is an abundance of soft silky underfur. In the foetal Zalophus a very slight admixture of fine curly underfur can be detected on close inspection ; but in no sense is the first coat in this species comparable, in respect to underfur, with the first coat in the Fur Seals. In the older specimens of Zaloplius, above described, which have already acquired their second coat, the pelage is still longer and softer than in the adults. SIZE. — I am unable to give the dimensions of very old males* A male (M. 0. Z. Coll., No. 5786), in which the crests of the skull are well developed, and the teeth slightly worn, but which is evidently only middle-aged, gives the following measure- ments : Total length from nose to end of tail* 2160 mm. ; to end of outstretched hind-flippers, 2542 mm. (collector's measurement from fresh specimen, U8 ft. 4 in."); hind foot (from body), 380 mm.; fore foot (from axilla), 360mm.; tail, 110mm; ear, 35 mm. ; longest whisker, 225 mm. The collector gives the girth behind the axilla as 1337 mm. (U4 ft. 5 in."). Another speci- men (M. C. Z. Coll., No. 5789, young male), with the crests of the skull wholly undeveloped, gives a length from nose to end of tail of 2140 mm. ; to end of outstretched hind limbs, 2480 mm. (col- lector's measurement from fresh specimen, " 8 ft. 2 in.") ; hind- flipper, 340 mm. ; fore-flipper (from axilla), 370 mm. ; tail, 80 mm. ; ear, 3.3 mm. ; longest whisker, 190 mm. The collector gives the girth behind the axillae as 1220 mm. (" 4 ft."). A fully-adult female (M. C. Z. Coll., No. 5787) gives a length (from tip of nose to end of tail) of 1800 mm.; to end of out- stretched hind-flippers, 2054 mm. (collector's measurement from fresh specimen, U6 ft. 9 in."); girth behind axillae, 1247mm. (col- lector's measurement, "3 ft. 9 in."); hind-flipper, 270mm.; fore- flipper, 310 mm.; tail, 70mm.; ear, 30 mm.; longest whisker, 110 mm. Another adult female (M. C. Z. Coll., No. 5788) gives the fol- lowing : Nose to end of tail, 1570 mm. ; nose to end of outstretched * This measurement is by estimate based on the collector's measurement of the total length to end of outstretched hind-flipper, taken from the fresh specimen, the calculation being based on a study of the skeleton. The total length of head and body, as taken from the mounted specimen, is obviously much too short. 280 ZALOPHUS CALIFORNIANUS — CALIFORNIAN SEA LION. hind-flippers, 1996 mm. (collector's measurement from fresh speci- men, "6 ft. 7 in.") 5 girth behind axillse, 1068 mm. (collector's measurement, "3 ft. 6 in.") ; tail 80 mm.; ear, 34 mm.; longest whisker, 100 mm. The skeleton of an adult female (M. C. Z. Coll., No. 6) has a total length to end of tail of 1706 mm. ; to end of phalanges of hind flipper, 1908 mm. The collector's measurements of the young (two or three months' old) specimens are : Male, nose to end of outstretched hind-flippers, "4 ft." (1220 mm.); girth, "2 ft." (610 mm.). Female, nose to end of outstretched hind-flippers, "3 ft. 8 in." (1120 mm.); girth, "1 ft. 11 in." (583 mm.). The foetal specimen (M. 0. Z. Coll., IsTo. 5839, stuffed), already described, measures from nose to end of tail 850 mm.; from nose to end of out- stretched hind-flippers, 970 mm.; hind-flippers (from heel), 115 mm.; fore-flipper (from axilla), 200 mm.; tail, 45 mm.; ear, 25 mm.; longest whisker, 55 mm. Captain Scammon gives the following measurements of "Sea Lions," taken at Santa Barbara Island in April and May, 1871-73. They include an " adult female" (column 1); a male1 (column 2), " about ten months old," taken April 4, 1872 ; a female (column 3), "supposed to be a yearling"; and "a new- born female Sea Lion pup " (column 4), taken May 3, 1873. 1* 2t 3: 4§ Length, from tip of nose to end of hind-flippers ft. in. 6 4 ft. in. 4 10 ft. in. 4 10 ft. in. 2 4 Length, from tip of nose to base of tail 3 101 3 101 1 11 I I 0 11J 0 n 0 51 Length of fore-flippers 1 4 1 3 1 2i 0 7 Girth behind axillae 3 3 2 8 2 7 1 3 Girth at base of hind-flippers 1 6 0 n£ 1 i 0 A3. From tip of nose to eye 0 3J 0 3A- 0 3 0 1} From tip of nose to ear 0 g 0 7 0 6 0 4 Length of ear 0-11 0 1 0 14- Length of tail 0 2 0 21 0 21 0 11 Length of longest whiskers 0 6 0 51 From base of tail to posterior teats 1 2 From base of tail to anterior teats -i in 1 Distance between posterior teats 0 5 Distance between anterior teats 0 8 Thickness of blubber Of U* * Adult female. t Male, ten months old. t Female, about one year old. § Female, newly born. SIZE. 281 Measurements of the Skeleton of an Adult Female.* mm. Whole length of skeleton (including skull) 1706 Length of skull 236 Length of cervical vertebrae 320 Length of dorsal vertebrae 640 Length of lumbar vertebrae 230 Length of caudal vertebrae (-{- sacral) '- 280 Length of first rib, total „ 140 Length of first rib, osseous portion 75 Length of first rib, cartilaginous portion 65 Length of second rib, total 173 Length of second rib, osseous portion 100 Length of second rib, cartil aginous portion 73 Length of third rib, total 240 Length of third rib, osseous portion .- 158 Length of third rib, cartilaginous portion 82 Length of fourth rib, total 280 Length of fourth rib, osseous portion 185 Length of fourth rib, cartilaginous portion 95 Length of fifth rib, total 335 Length of fifth rib, osseous portion 220 Length of fifth rib, cartilaginous portion 115 Length of sixth rib, total 370 Length of sixth rib, osseous portion 250 Length of sixth rib, cartilaginous portion 120 Length of seventh rib, total 395 Length of seventh rib, osseous portion 270 Length of seventh rib, cartilaginous portion 125 Length of eighth rib, total 445 Length of eighth rib, osseous portion 295 Length of eighth rib, cartilaginous portion 150 Length of ninth rib, total 445 Length of ninth rib, osseous portion 290 Length of ninth rib, cartilaginous portion 155 Length of tenth rib, total 430 Length of tenth rib, osseous portion 280 Length of tenth rib, cartilaginous portion 150 Length of eleventh rib, total 413 Length of eleventh rib, osseous portion 280 Length of eleventh rib, cartilaginous portion 133 Length of twelfth rib, total 395 Length of twelfth rib, osseous portion 260 Length of twelfth rib, cartilaginous portion 135 Length of thirteenth rib, total 362 Length of thirteenth rib, osseous portion 247 Length of thirteenth rib, cartilaginous portion 115 Length of fourteenth rib, total 310 Length of fourteenth rib, osseous portion 215 * No. 6159, Collection of Museum of Comparative Zoology. 282 ZALOPHUS CALIFORNIANUS — CALIFOKNIAN SEA LION. mm. Length of fourteenth rib, cartilaginous portion 95 Length of fifteenth rib, total 220 Length of fifteenth rib, osseous portion 180 Length of fifteenth rib, cartilaginous portion 40 Length of sternum, ossified portion 550 Length of sternum, 1st segment 110 Length of sternum, 2d segment 50 Length of sternum, 3d segment 53 Length of sternum, 4th segment 50 Length of sternum, 5th segment 48 Length of sternum, 6th segment 47 Length of sternum, 7th segment 46 Length of sternum, 8th segment 38 Length of sternum, 9th segment 55 Length of scapula 180 Greatest breadth of scapula 250 Greatest height of its spine 18 Length of humerus 155 Antero-posterior diameter of proximal end of humerus 63 Transverse diameter of proximal end of humerus 65 Transverse diameter of distal end of humerus 57 Length of radius 155 Length of ulna .' 194 Longest diameter of upper end of ulna 67 Length of carpus , .' 40 Length of 1 st metacarpus and its digit 218 Length of 2d metacarpus and its digit 188 Length of 3d metacarpus and its digit 150 Length of 4th metacarpus and its digit 120 Length of 5th metacarpus and its digit 90 Width of manus at base of metacarpals 80 Total length of fore limb (excluding scapula) 568 Length of femur 90 Longest diameter of proximal end of femur 46 Longest diameter of distal end of femur 48 Least antero-posterior diameter of shaft of femur 13 Length of tibia 185 Length of tarsus 40 Length of 1st metatarsus and its digit , 222 Length of 2d metatarsus and its digit 187 Length of 3d metatarsus and its digit 180 Length of 4th metatarsus and its digit 180 Length of 5th metatarsus and its digit - 18& Width of pes at base of metatarsals 57 Total length of hind limb 537 Length of innominate bone 176 Greatest width of pelvis anteriorly * 100 Length of ilium 70 Length of ischio-pubic bones 100 SKULL. 28B Measurements of the Metacarpal and Phalangeal Bones of an Adult Female.* 1st digit. 2d digit. 3d digit. 4th digit. 5th digit. Length of manus to end of ..... 258 226 187 147 112 Length of metacarpal of - .. .... 90 58 55 48 42 Length, of 1st phalanx of....... 78 66 55 35 31 Length of 2d phalanx of 50 47 36 23 15 Length of 3d phalanx of 20 15 12 10 Measurements of the Metatarsal and Phalangeal Bones of an Adult Female.* 1st digit. 2d digit. 3d digit. 4th digit. 5th digit Length of pes (posterior end of os 280 260 255 250 250 Len^li of metacarpal of 79 61 60 60 65 75 60 57 54 58 40 46 48 48 37 Length of 3d phalanx. of 16 16 16 22 Length of nail of 16 18 15 SKULL. — The skull in Zaloplius calif or manus , as compared with the skull in allied genera, is remarkable for the narrow- ness and great elongation of the facial portion, which is even much more elongated and slenderer than in Arctocephalus. In its general configuration (excepting, of course, the great devel- opment of the sagittal and occipital crests in the very old males) it more resembles the Arctocephaline type than any other. The maximum breadth (i. e., at the zygomata) in the females barely equals or falls a little short of half the length, while in the old males it rather exceeds this proportion. In very old males the crests of the skull are enormously developed, and, con- trary to what usually obtains in the other genera of this family, are considerably developed in very old females. The superior outline (in old males) slopes rapidly from the high sagittal crest to the end of the nasals. The postorbital processes are long and rather narrow, and are directed backward in old age; the nasals are long and narrow, decreasing in width posteriorly. The superior edge of the intermaxillse is very narrow, and is prolonged backward nearly to the middle of the nasals. The postorbital cylinder is long and narrow, and often abruptly contracted posteriorly. The bony palate is nearly flat, but little depressed, and is rather deeply emarginate posteriorly. The * Specimen No. 6159, Coll. Mus. Comp. Zoology. 284 ZALOPHUS CALIFORNIANUS — CALIFORNIAN SEA LION. palato-maxillary suture is about opposite the hinder edge of the last molar. The pterygoid hamuli are small. The posterior narial opening is wider than deep ; the anterior has these two dimensions about equal. In Zalophus the superior aspect of the skull, before the devel- opment of the crest, is strikingly like that of Arctocephalus, as indeed is also the inferior aspect, aside from the dental for- mula. In Zalophus the auditory bulla3 are rather less swollen than in Arctocephalus, but in all other respects there is a strik- ing resemblance. The anteorbital portion of the skull, how- ever, is more attenuated, and relatively much longer. With this exception there is little difference in the general confor- mation of the skull in middle-aged females of these two genera, while both differ widely from Otaria, Eumetopias, and Callorhi- nus. The great development of the crests of the skull late in life in Zalophus gives it at that time a highly peculiar confor- mation. SKULL. 285 ck sea-lions (Zalophus gillespiei) which had arrived there from the southern coast of California. On my arrival I found that the female had calved on the previous night, therefore thought it best to lie over for a day in order that the young might acquire a little extra strength to bear the fatigue of the rail way journey to Cincinnati. They all arrived in the garden in fine condition, but had to be kept in their shipping crates for the first few days, until an old beaver pond could be arranged as temporary quar- ters for them, while the large basin intended for their perma- nent home could be built. During this time, on account of a heavy freshet in the Ohio Eiver, the water in the pond became quite muddy, which affected them so much that they were un- able to retain their food, invariably vomiting up their fish some one or two hours after feeding. By giving small doses of Eo- chelle salts for a few days, all recovered, but the calf died from a violent attack of cholera infantum, caused no doubt by its mother's milk being affected by the muddy water. "A short time before the calf was taken sick my attention was attracted to the peculiar appearance of the mother on emerging from the water after taking her customary bath. She was completely covered with a whitish oleaginous sub- stance, about the consistency of semi-fluid lard, which seemed * Land and Water, Feb. 5, 1876, p. 104. t Forest and Stream (newspaper), vol. xii, p. 66, Feb. 23, 1879. 308 ZALOPHUS CALIFORNIANUS CALIFORNIAN SEA LION. to ooze out all over her. As soon as she got into the crate with the young one, she commenced rolling, so that in a short time the young one and the inside of the crate were completely covered with it. The calf seemed to enjoy it hugely, and rolled about until his coat glistened as if he had just left the hands of a first-class tonsorial artist. It instantly struck me that his mother had been preparing him for the water, and I immedi- ately tested the matter by taking him out and placing him on the edge of the pond, when in a few moments he began to pad- dle about in the water, something he had never before attempted although he had been almost daily placed in the same posi- tion. "As soon as the large basin was completed, and they were transferred to it, I had a fine opportunity of observing the tyrannical attentions of the male toward the female during rut- ting season. He constantly swam back and forth along the partition, which separated him from another male, frequently endeavoring to get through, splintering and tearing the rails with his powerful canine teeth. If the female attempted to approach the division she was immediately forcibly driven back, when he would redouble his efforts to get through, barking and roaring as if beside himself with rage. This would be kept up until late at night, when the female was allowed to go into the house situated in the centre of the basin, when he would follow and place himself immediately in the doorway so as to prevent her egress. He never seemed to sleep soundly, as he invaria- bly kept up a series of grunts and muffled roars, as if he were fighting his battles over again in his sleep. I would frequently annoy him by stealing up softly and then suddenly scraping the gravel with my foot, when he would instantly start up, plunge into the basin, swim rapidly back and forth, barking with all his might, until he was satisfied there was no interloper about, when he would sullenly return to his post and gradu- ally drop off again into his troubled sleep. Frequently at night the two males would climb to the roof of the house, and in their efforts to get at each other through the partition, would raise such a din that persons living at quite a distance from the garden would frequently ask me the cause of the uproar. "At the end of some two months there was a change, when the female commenced playing and coquetting with the male, frequently pinching him so sharply as to make him snarl with HABITS. 309 pain, and if he seemed to be much out of humor she would soothe him by swimming up and giving him a good old-fash- ioned conjugal kiss. Finally they quieted down to the hum- drum of regular wedded life, and early in October I noticed that the female was suffering from a violent catarrh, which gradually disappeared, followed by a dry cough, particularly at night. It was in March when I first thought she showed signs of pregnancy, and in May, from her appearance when out of the water, I became convinced of it. On June 25 the young one was born, making the period of gestation as nearly as I could judge about ten months, and it was some days before the mother would allow me to handle it, and when I did succeed in so doing it was always at the risk of getting a nip, as he was certainly the most ill-tempered, snarling little brute with which a dry nurse could be vexed. I soon found out that there was but one way of handling him with impunity, and that was by suddenly catching him just back of the flippers and quickly lifting him clear of the floor, when he would snap and struggle for a few moments and then quietly give up. I frequently took him out of the house for the purpose of showing him to friends, and for the first three or four weeks he never made the slight- est attempt to get into the water, although I invariably placed him on the lip outside of the door and loosed my hold in order that he could be fully seen. During this period the mother was let out for a bath twice daily, and after she had played about as long as she wished she would swim up to the closed door, rear up on the sill and bellow until she was allowed to get in to her calf. Invariably in the morning, so soon as I would start across the bridge in order to turn her out, the male would swim up to the door and await her appearance, always exacting his morning kiss before he would allow her to plunge into the water. After playing with her for a few minutes he would commence sentry duty, back and forth along the parti- tion, occasionally making fierce rushes if the other approached too near to it. " In the meanwhile, as the young one never showed the slightest inclination to go into the water, in spite of frequent opportunities to do so, I began to watch for a second appear- ance of the oleaginous matter. During the fifth week after birth, on going into the house one morning, I found marks of grease in every direction, and the youngster shone as if he had just emerged from an oil tank. Taking a bucket, I filled it with 310 ZALOPHUS CALIFORNIANUS CALIFORNIA^ SEA LION. water, placed it in his way, and he immediately stuck his head to the bottom of it. Fearing an accident, as the water in the basin only reached within about a foot of the top of the lip sur- rounding the house, I had the carpenter construct a small, shallow, wooden tank inside the larger one, with a sloping plat- form leading into it. So soon as the door was opened connect- ing with it he followed his mother, and in a short time was having high jinks swimming and diving to his full bent. When he tired he would quietly rest in the water with his head lying across his mother's neck, or he would scramble up on the plat- form, stretch himself, have a short nap, and then commence his play again. So soon as I thought he had gained sufficient strength the small tank was removed, and he was allowed the run of the larger one, when his wonderful swimming powers came into full play. I have frequently seen him dash off with such velocity that the water would part and fly from each side of his neck with a fairly hissing sound. Again he would dive, and then suddenly make a succession of salmon-like leaps with such rapidity that I could easily imagine with what little dif- ficulty he would be able to capture the swiftest of fish. One of the favorite ways of amusing himself was by taking a chip — several of which were always kept in the basin — out on the lip, lying on his back, and playing with it with front flippers and mouth, almost precisely as an infant would act with a common rattle. At first he was rather shy of the old male, but gradu- ally took the greatest delight in swimming about with, and trying to induce him to join in a game of romps $ but the old fellow was proof against all his wiles, and always good-na- turedly endeavored to get rid of him. u I noticed that the female's cough disappeared immediately after the birth of the young one; but about the middle of August both her appetite and actions became variable, some days feeding and seeming lively as usual, on others she would either take but little or entirely refuse her food. She gradu- ally grew worse until September 8, when, on going to the basin in the morning, I missed her, and found the male busily engaged in diving just at one particular spot. He finally succeeded in bringing the body to the surface, and when the keepers attempted to remove it he repeatedly charged, and it was only by great care and watchfulness that they avoided being bitten. On dissection it was found that tuberculosis, that scourge of all zoological collections, was the cause of her death. HABITS. 311 "The young one did not seem to notice the loss of his mother until about twenty-four hours after her death, when he com- menced to sulk, and obstinately refused to eat, in spite of every effort and strategem to induce him to do so. He gradually wasted away, and finally died of starvation on October 16, having viciously attempted to bite me a few hours before his death. " The old male grieved so over the loss of his mate that for some time I was afraid we would lose him also, and at the end of about six weeks he became so thin that I thought it best to remove him to a small tank in-doors. Since, he has been improv- ing slowly up to within ten days, since when he shows a marked improvement." The Otaries, wherever occurring, appear to closely agree in their habits, especially during the breeding season. As an interesting supplement to the history of the two Northern spe- cies of Sea Lions already given I transcribe the following concise account of the great Southern Sea Lion (Otaria ju- bata), based on recent observations made at the Falkland Islands, without, however, endorsing the author's " ballasting n theory : "The Sea Lion attains its full growth at nine years, and annually comes back to the place it was born to breed and shed its hair. The former operation occurs between the 25th of Decem- ber and the 15th of January, the latter in April and May. The Lions commence to arrive at their i rookery7 in November to wait for the females, who do not haul up until within two or three days of pupping. They are fatter at this time than at any other, and have to take in a quantity of ballast to keep them down, without which they could not dive to catch fish. I have opened them at this time, and found, in a pouch they have in- side, upwards of twenty -five pounds of stones, some as large as a goose-egg. As they get thin they have the power of throwing these stones up, retaining only a sufficient quantity to keep them from coming up too freely to the surface. "They are very savage in the breeding-season, and are con- tinually fighting, biting large pieces out of each other's hide, and sometimes killing the females. At this time they become an easy prey to man, as they will stand and be killed without trying to get away. " The Lioness has her first pup at three years of age, never more than one at a time, and comes up to have intercourse with 312 GENUS CALLORHINUS. the Lion at two, and as soon as the pup is born They suckle their young five months before they are taken to the sea, by which time the pup has shed its first hair. Before the mother takes her pup to fish she has to ballast it, and I have seen a Lioness trying for hours to make her pup swallow small stones at the water's edge. "The female keeps her pup with her until two or three weeks before the next breeding-season, when she drives it from her. About this time the yearlings will be found some few miles from the old rookery. . . . " The Lions stay as long as two months on shore, during the breeding-season, without going into the water. During that time their fat gives them sufficient nourishment. After the season is over some; of them are so thin and weak that they are but just able to crawl into the water. I have killed them in this state, and not one particle of stone have I found in them."* GENUS CALLOEHINUS, Gray. Callorhinus, GRAY, Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond.,1859, 359. Type "Arctocephalus ur sinus, Gray," = Phoca ursina, Linne". Arctocephalus, GILL, Proc. Essex Institute, v, 1866, 7, 11. Type "Phoca ursina, Linnseus." Not Arctocephalus, F. Cuvier, 1824. Molars |=|, small. Facial portion of skull short, broad, con- vex, and but slightly depressed ; nasals short, rapidly narrow- ing posteriorly. Palatal surface short, narrowed behind, with the hinder border rather deeply concave. Toe-flaps very long, — nearly as long as the rest of the foot. Callorhinus, in coloration, character of the pelage, size, gen- eral form, and dental formula, is rather closely allied to Arcto- cephalus, from which, however, it is readily distinguished by the form of the facial portion of the skull, which in Arctocephalus is narrower, longer, and much less convex, with much longer na- sals. From the other genera of the Otaries it is distinguish- able not only by coloration and the character of the pelage, but by its weaker dentition, and the strongly marked cranial differ- ences, which are too numerous and obvious to require detailed enumeration. It is the only ^"orth American genus which has the upper molars 6 — 6. Very young skulls and skulls of females of the different spe- cies of Otaries differ from each other very little in general form, and in some cases are not readily distinguishable, especially in * Letter from Captain Henry Pain, of the S. S. " Scanderia v to Mr. F. Cole- man of the Falkland Islands Company, Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., 1872, pp. 681,682. CALLORHINUS URSINUS NORTHERN FUR SEAL. 313 figures. In all, the interorbital region is relatively broad and short, and becomes relatively more and more narrowed and lengthened in the adult. In young specimens, and always in the females, except in Arctocephalus, the mastoid processes re- main almost wholly undeveloped. Among the North American species, Eumetopias is easily recognized at any age by its dental formula and large size. The young and females of Callorhinus and Zaloplius are easily separated, aside from differences of den- tition, by the shape of the muzzle, but especially by the ascend- ing limb of the intermaxillary. In Zalophus it gradually nar- rows posteriorly and ends in a slender point near the middle of the nasals. In Callorhinus it widens posteriorly and ends ab- ruptly quite near the anterior border of the nasals. The distribution of the genus is almost exactly the same as that of Eumetopias, — namely, the shores of the North Pacific, — and, like that genus, is represented by only a single species, the well-known Alaskan " Fur Seal." OALLOEHINUS URSINUS, (Linne) Gray. Northern Fur Seal; Sea-Bear. Ursus marinus, STELLER, Nov. Comm. Acad. Petrop.,ii, 1751, 331, pi. xv. Phocaursina, LINNE, Syst.Nat., i,1758, 37 (from Steller). — SCHREBER, Siiugth., iii, 1758, 289.— SHAW, Gen. Zool., i, 1800, 265, pi. Ixii.— GODMAN, Amer. Nat. Hist., i, 1826, 346 (in part). — FISCHER, Synop. Mam., 1829, 231.— PALLAS, Zoog. Rosso- Asiat., i, 1831, 102. Otaria ursina, PERON, Voy. Terr. Austr., ii, 1816, 39, 41.— DESMAREST, Nouv. Diet. Hist. Nat., xxv, 1817, 595 ; Mam., i, 1820, 249.— HARLAN, Faun. Amer., 1825, 112.— GRAY, Griffith's Cuvier's An. Kingd., v, 1829, 182. — HAMILTON, Marine Amphib., 1839, 253, pi. xxi. — NILSSON, Arch. f. Naturg., 1841, 331 (in part only).— MULLER, Arch. f. Naturg., 1841, 333.— WAGNER, Schreber's Saugt., vii, 1846, 65 (in part only) ; Arch. f. Naturg., 1849, 39. — VON SCHRENCK, Amur-Lande, i, 1859, 189. Phoca (Otaria) ursina, RICHARDSON, Zool. Beechey's Voy., 1839, 6. Otaria (Callorhinus) ursinus, PETERS, Monatsb. Akad. Berlin, 1866, 373, 672. Arctocephalus ursinus, LESSON, Man. de Mam., 1827, 203. — GRAY, Cat. Seals, 1850, 41 (not of F. Cuvier, or only ill part) ; Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., 1859, 103, 107, pi. Ixxiii (skull).— GILL, Proc. Essex Institute, v, 1866, 13.— SCOTT, Mam. Recent and Extinct, 1873, 8.— CLARK, Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., 1878, 271, pi. xx (colored figures of male, female, and young). Callvrhinus ursinus, GRAY, Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., 1859, 359, pi. Iviii (skull) ; Cat. Seals and Whales, 1866, 44, fig. 16 (skull) ; Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist., 3d ser., xviii, 1866, 234 ; Suppl. Cat. Seals and Whales, 1871, 15 ; Hand-List Seals, etc., 1874, 32, pi. xix (skull).— ALLEN, Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool., ii, 73, pll. ii, iii (skull,. etc.). — SCAMMON, Marine Mamm., 1874, 141, pi. xxi, figg. 1, 2, and tigg. 1-6 in text (animal).— ELLIOTT, Cond. Affairs in Alaska, 1874, 123. 314 CALLORHINUS URSINUS NORTHERN FUR SEAL. Phocanigra, PALLAS, Zoog. Rosso- Asiat.,i, 1831, 107 (young). Otaria krachenninikowi, LESSON, Diet. Class. d'Hist. Nat., xiii, 1828, 420 (= Ursus marinus, Steller. f Otaria fabricii, LESSON, Diet. Class. d'Hist. Nat., xiii, 1828, 419 (=Phooa ursina, Fabricius, F. Grcenl. 6— " Greenland"). Arctocephalm monteriensis, GRAY, Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., 1857, 360 (in part only). Arctocephalm californianus, GRAY, Cat. Seals and Whales, 1866, 51 (in part only = A. monteriensis). MeerMr, STELLER, Beschreib. von sonderbaren Meerthieren, 1753, 107. Le Chatmarin, KRASCHENNINIKOW, Hist. Kamtsch., i, 1764, 316. Ours marin, BUFFON, Hist. Nat., Suppl., vi, 1782, 336, pi. xlvii (in part). Ursine Seal, PENNANT, Synop. Quad., 1771, 344 (based mainly on Steller) ; Hist. Quad., ii, 1793, 281 (in part). Fur Seal, SCAMMON, Overland Monthly, iii, 1869, 393 (habits). DESCRIPTION.* COLOR.— (Male.) — The general color above, except over the shoulders, is nearly black, varying in different individuals of equal age from nearly pure black to rufo-grayish black. Over the shoulders the color is quite gray. The sides of the nose and the lips are brownish, as is a considerable space behind the angle of the mouth, and a small spot behind the ear. The neck in front is more or less gray. The breast and the axillae are brownish- orange. The limbs are reddish-brown, especially near their junction with the body, as is also the abdomen. The hairs in- dividually vary considerably in color, some being entirely black nearly to their base, and others entirely light yellowish-brown; others are dark in the middle and lighter at each end. The naked skin of the hind limbs, the nose, and the anal region is black. (Female.) — The general color of the female is much lighter than that of the male. Above it is nearly uniformly gray, varying to darker or lighter in different individuals and with age. The color about the mouth is brownish, varying to rufous, of which color are the axillae, the breast, and the abdomen. The sides are brownish-gray. At the base all the hairs are usually brown- ish, like the under-fur, with a broad subterminal bar of black, and tipped for a greater or less distance with gray. The vari- ation in different individuals in the general color results from the varying extent of the gray at the ends of the hairs. * The technical matter here following includes that previously given in my former paper on the Otariidce, with here and there slight verbal changes, and the addition at a few points of considerable new matter, especially in the tables of measurements, which are based almost wholly on an examination of new material. The remarks on individual variation might be amplified by reference to many other specimens, but this has not been thought nec- essary. PELAGE. 315 (Young.) — The general color of the upper surface of the body in the young, previous to the first moult, is uniformly glossy black. The region around the mouth is yellowish-brown. The neck in front is grayish-black. The axillae are pale yellowish-brown ; a somewhat darker shade of the same color extends posteriorly and inward toward the median line of the belly, uniting on the anterior portion of the abdomen. The greater part of the lower surface, -however, is dusky brownish-gray, the rest being black, but less intensely so than the back. Specimens of equal age vary much in color, some specimens corresponding nearly with the above description, while others are much darker. On the head and sides of the neck a portion of the hairs are found on close inspection to be obscurely tipped with gray. After the first moult the pelage becomes gradually lighter, through the extension of the gray at the tips of the hairs, especially in the females, the two sexes being at first alike. Contrary to what has been asserted, the young are provided from birth with a long coat of silky under-fur, of a lighter color and sparser than the under-fur of the adults. PELAGE. — The pelage in this species consists of an outer cov- ering of long, flattened, moderately coarse hair, beneath which is a dense coat of long fine silky fur, which reaches on most parts of the body nearly to the ends of the hairs. The hairs are thicker toward the end than at the base, but their clavate form is most distinctly seen in the first pelage of the young. In length the hair varies greatly on the different parts of the body. It is longest on the top of the head, especially in the males, which have a well-marked crest. The hair is much longer on the anterior half of the body than on the posterior half, it being longest on the hinder part of the neck, where in the males it is very coarse. On the crown the hair has a length of 42 mm. ; on the hinder part of the neck it reaches a length of 50 to 60 mm. From this point posteriorly it gradually shortens, and near the tail has a length of only 20 mm. It is still shorter on the limbs, the upper side of the digits of the hind limbs being but slightly covered, while the anterior limbs are quite naked as far as the carpus. The males have much longer hair than the females, in which it is much longer than in Eumetopias stelleri.* * From the accounts given by most writers it would seem that Otaria jubato is provided with a conspicuous mane, but in the few accurate descriptions in which the length of the longest hairs is stated, the so-called "flowing mane " — which refers only to the greater length of the hair on the neck and shoulders as compared with the other regions of the body — does not appear 316 CALLORHINUS URSINUS NORTHERN FUR SEAL. The whiskers are cylindrical, long, slender, and tapering, and vary with age in length and color. In the young they are black ; later they are light colored at the base, and dusky at the ends. In mature specimens they are either entirely white, or white at the base and brownish- white toward the tips. SIZE. — Mr. Elliott has given a table showing the weight, size, and rate of growth of the Fur Seal, from the age of one week to six years, based on actual weight and measurement, with an esti- mate of the size and weight of specimens from eight to twenty years of age. From this table it appears that the pups when a week old have a length of from twelve to fourteen inches, and a weight of six to seven and a half pounds. At six months old the length is two feet and the weight about thirty pounds. At one year the average length of six examples was found to be thirty -eight inches, and the weight thirty-nine pounds, the males and females at this time being alike in size. The average weight of thirty males at the age of two years is given as fifty-eight pounds, and the length as forty-five inches. Thirty-two males at the age of three years were found to give an average weight of eighty-seven pounds, and an average length of fifty -two inches. Ten males at the age of four averaged one hundred and thirty-five pounds in weight, and fifty-eight inches in length. A mean of five examples five years old is : weight, two hundred pounds ; length, sixty-five inches. Three males at six years gave an average weight of two hundred and eighty pounds, and a length of six feet. The estimated average weight of males from eight years and upward, when fat, is given as four hun- dred to five hundred pounds, and the average length as six feet three inches to six feet eight inches. Mr. Elliott further adds that the average weight of the females is from eighty to eighty - to be any more truly a mane than in Eumetopias stelleri, Callorhinus ursimia, Zalophus calif ornianus, Arctocephalm "falklandicus", or in any of the Arctoce- phali. All the Sea Bears and Sea Lions, according to authors, have the hair much longer on the anterior than on the posterior half of the body ; and in the Hair Seals it is not longer than in the Fur Seals. The resemblance to the mane of the Lion, with which in several species this long hair has been compared, is doubtless partly imaginary and partly due to the loose skin on the neck and shoulders being thrown into thick folds when these animals erect the head. I have not, however, seen the distinct crest formed by the long hairs on the crown of the males of C. ursinus mentioned as occurring in the other species, unless it is alluded to in the specific name coronata, given by Blaiuville to a South American specimen of Fur Seal, and in the name eulophus of Scott. It is certainly not possessed by the E. stelleri. SIZE. 317. ili'lllilfilii. .*!',..; ., 318 CALLORHINUS URSINUS NORTHERN FUR SEAL. five pounds, but that they range in weight from seventy-five to one hundred and twenty pounds, and that the five and six year old males, on their first appearance in May and June, when fat and fresh, may weigh a third more than in July, or at the time those mentioned in the table were weighed, which would thus indicate an average maximum weight of about 375 pounds for the six-year-old males. According, however, to my own meas- urements of old males, from mounted and unmounted specimens, the length is between seven and eight feet ; and of a full-grown female, about four feet. Captain Bryant states* that the males attain mature size at about the sixth year, when their total length is from seven to eight feet, their girth six to seven feet, and their weight, when in full flesh, from five to seven hundred pounds. The females, he says, are full grown at four years old, when they measure four feet in length, two and a half in girth, and weigh eighty to one hundred pounds. The yearlings, he says, weigh from thirty to forty pounds. The relative size of the adults of both sexes and the young is well shown in the accompanying cut (see p. 317), drawn by Mr. Elliott. The subjoined table of external measurements may be taken as indicating the general size of the adult males and females, and the young at thirty-five days old. In some respects the dimensions are only approximately correct, being taken from mounted specimens ; in the main, however, they are sufficiently accurate. A few measurements taken from the soft skin are also given $ I accidentally omitted to make a complete series of measurements of the skins before they were mounted. In addi- tion to the six specimens of Captain Bryant's collection, I am indebted to Mr. W. H. Dall for measurements of a male and a female, taken by himt from the animals immediately after they were killed. The female (said by Mr. Dall to be six years old) is evidently adult, but the male, being but little larger, seems not to have been fully grown. In the last column of the table a few measurements are given of a male specimen of the Arcto- cephalus " falklandicm? taken by Dr. G. A. Maack from a fresh specimen collected by him at Cabo Corrientes, Buenos Ayres. This specimen appears also to have not been fully grown. * Bull. Mus. Comp. ZooL, vol. ii, p. 95. t At Saint George's Island, Alaska, August, 18G8. SIZE, 319 O fl & 8 8 S o o JS S3 la § g 8-8 s ! ! co o o iO ^ t> l> -* cf .s .a aj i-lj nnn o 'o £•2 I !!J O ® ® 4) D O O | | 1 I 320 CALLORHINUS URSINUS NORTHERN FUR SEAL. EARS. — The ears are long, narrow, and pointed, being abso- lutely longer than those of the E. stelleri, though the latter animal is two or three times the larger. FORE LIMBS. — The hands are very long and narrow, with a broad cartilaginous flap extending beyond the digits, which has a nearly even border. Both surfaces are naked the whole length ; not covered above with short hair, as in Eumetopias and Otaria. The nails are rudimentary, their position being indi- cated by small circular horny disks, as in all the other Eared Seals. HIND LIMBS. — The feet are very long, nearly half their length being formed by the cartilaginous flaps that project beyond the ends of the toes. They widen much less from the tarsus to the ends of the toes than these parts do in E. stelleri, and the length of the toe-flaps is relatively many times greater than in the latter species. The toes of the posterior extremities are of nearly equal length. The outer are slightly shorter than the three middle ones. The nails of the outer toes are rudiment- ary and scarcely visible ; those of the middle toes are strong and well developed. SKULL. — In adult specimens the breadth of the skull is a little more than half its length, the point of greatest breadth being at the posterior end of the zy gomatic arch. The muzzle or facial por- tion is broad and high, or greatly produced, much more so even than in Eumetopias.* The postorbital processes vary from sub- quadrate to sub-triangular, sometimes produced posteriorly into a latero-posteriorly diverging point, as in Zalophus. The post- orbital cylinder is broad and moderately elongated. The post- orbital constriction is well marked, giving a prominently quad- rate form to the brain-case, the latero-anterior angles of which vary somewhat in their sharpness in different specimens. The sagittal and occipital crests are well developed in the old males, nearly as much as in Eumetopias, as are also the mastoid pro- cesses. The palatine bones terminate midway between the last molar teeth and the pterygoid hamuli ; their posterior outline is either slightly concave, or deeply and abruptly so. The pala- tal surface is flat, but slightly depressed posteriorly, and but moderately so anteriorly. The zy gomatic foramens are broad, nearly triangular, and truncate posteriorly. The posterior and anterior nares are of nearly equal size in the males, with their * See figs. 39-41, female, rather young, about £ natural size. Specimen No. 6537, National Museum. SKULL. 321 FIG. 39. — CallorJmms ursinus. Female. FIG. 40. — Callorhinus ursinus. Female. Misc. Pub. No. 12 21 322 CALLORHINUS URSINUS NORTHERN FUR SEAL. transverse and vertical diameters equal ; in the females the posterior nares are depressed, their transverse diameter being greater than the vertical. The nasal bones are much broader in front than behind. The lower jaw is strongly developed, but relatively less mass- ive than in Eumetopias. The coronoid processes are high and pointed, but much more developed in the males than in the females. The ramial tuberosities are greatly produced, espe- cially the hinder one. 41. — Callorhinus wsinus. Female, FIG. 42. — Callorhinus u rsinus. Fein ale . SKULL. 323 o in the spring, the pre- vailing color of the bulls, after they dry off and have been ex- posed to the weather, is a dark, dull brown, with a sprinkling of lighter brown-black, and a number of hoary or frosted-gray coats ; on the shoulders the over-hair is either a gray or rufous- bcher, called the 'wig;7 these colors are most intense upon the back of the head, neck, and spine, being lighter underneath. The skin of the muzzle and flippers, a dark bluish black, fading to a reddish and purplish tint in some. The ears and tail are also similar in tint to the body, being in the case of the former a trifle lighter; the ears on a bull fur-seal are from an inch to an inch and a half in length ; the pavilions tightly rolled up on themselves so that they are similar in shape and size to the lit- tle finger on the human hand, cut off at the second (phalangeal) joint, a shade more cone-shaped, for they are greater in diame- ter at the base than at the tip. " I think it probable that the animal has and exerts the power of compressing or dilating this scroll-like pavilion to its ear, accordingly as it dives deep or rises in the water ; and also, I am quite sure that the hair-seal has this control over the meatus externus, from what I have seen of it; but I have not been able to verify it in either case by observation ; but such opportunity as I have had, gives me undoubted proof of the greatest keen- ness in hearing ; for it is impossible to approach one, even when sound asleep ; if you make any noise, frequently no matter how slight, the alarm will be given instantly by the insignificant- looking auditors, and the animal, rising up with a single motion erect, gives you a stare of astonishment, and at this season of defiance, together with incessant surly roaring, growling, and ' spitting.' " This spitting, as I call it, is by no means a fair or full expres- sion of the most characteristic sound and action, peculiar, so far as I have observed, to the fur-seals, the bulls in particular. HABITS. 351 It is the usual prelude to their combats, and follows somewhat in this way : when the two disputants are nearly within reach- ing or striking distance, they make a number of feints or false passes at one another, with the mouth wide open and lifting the lips or snarling, so as to exhibit the glistening teeth, and with each pass they expel the air so violently through the larynx as to make a rapid choo-choo-choo sound, like the steam- pufife in the smoke-stack of a locomotive when it starts a heavy train, and especially when the driving-wheels slip on the rail. UA11 the bulls now have the power and frequent inclination to utter four entirely distinct calls or notes — a hoarse, resonant roar, loud and long; a low gurgling growl; a chuckling, sibi- lant, piping whistle, of which it is impossible to convey an ade- quate idea, for it must be heard to be understood; and this spitting, just described. The cows* have but one note — a hol- low, prolonged, bla-a-ting call, addressed only to their pups ; on all other occasions they are usually silent. It is something like the cry of a calf or sheep. They also make a spitting sound, and snort, when suddenly disturbed. The pups l bla-at ' also, with little or no variation, the sound being somewhat weaker and hoarser than that of their mothers for the first two or three weeks after birth ; they, too, spit and cough when aroused sud- denly from a nap or driven into a corner. A number of pups crying at a short distance oif bring to mind very strongly the idea of a flock of sheep i baa-cia-ing? a Indeed, so similar is the sound that a number of sheep brought up from San Francisco to Saint George's Island during the summer of 1873 were constantly attracted to the rookeries, running in among the seals, and had to be driven away to a good feeding-ground by a small boy detailed for the purpose. * ''Without explanation I may be considered as making use of misapplied terms in describing these animals, for the inconsistency of coupling * pups ' with 'cows' and 'bulls,' and 'rookeries' with the breeding-grounds of the same, cannot fail to be noticed ; but this nomenclature has been given and used by the English and American whalemen and sealing-parties for many years, and the characteristic features of the seals suit the odd naming exactly, so much so that I have felt satisfied to retain the style throughout as rendering my description more intelligible, especially so to those who are engaged in the business or may be hereafter. The Russians are more con- sistent, but not so 'pat.' The bull is called 'see-catch,' a term implying strength, vigor, &c. ; the cow, 'matkah,'or mother; the pups, 'kotickie,' or little seals ; the non-breeding males, under six and seven years, ' hollus- chickie,' or bachelors. The name applied collectively to the fur-seal by them is ' morskie-kot,' or sea-cat." 352 CALLORHINUS URSINUS NORTHERN FUR SEAL. u The sound arising from these great breeding-grounds of the fur-seal, where thousands upon thousands of angry, vigilant bulls are roaring, chuckling, piping, and multitudes of seal- mothers are calling in hollow, bla-ating tones to their young, which in turn respond incessantly, is simply indescribable. It is, at a slight distance, softened into a deep booming, as of a cataract, and can be heard a long distance off at sea, under favorable circumstances as far as five or six miles, and fre- quently warns vessels that may be approaching the islands in thick, foggy weather, of the positive, though unseen, proximity of land. Mght and day, throughout the season, the din of the rookeries is steady and constant. " The seals seem to suffer great inconvenience from a com- paratively low degree of heat ; for, with a temperature of 46° and 48° on land, during the summer, they show signs of dis- tress from heat whenever they make any exertion, pant, raise their hind flippers, and use them incessantly as fans. With the thermometer at 55°-60°, they seem to suffer even when at rest, and at such times the eye is struck by the kaleidoscopic appear- ance of a rookery, on which a million seals are spread out in every imaginable position their bodies can assume, all indus- triously fanning themselves, using sometimes the fore flippers, as ventilators, as it were, by holding them aloft motionless, at the same moment fanning briskly with the hind flipper, or flip- pers, according as they sit or lie. This wavy motion of flapping and fanning gives a peculiar shade of hazy indistinctness to the whole scene, which is difficult to express in language ; but one of the most prominent characteristics of the fur-seal is this fanning manner in which they use their flippers, when seen on the breeding-grounds in season. They also, when idling, as it were, off shore at sea, lie on their sides, with only a partial ex- posure of the body, the head submerged, and hoist up a fore or hind flipper clear of the water, while scratching themsejves or enjoying a nap ; but in this position there is no fanning. I say L scratching,' because the seal, in common with all animals, is preyed upon by vermin, a species of louse and a tick, peculiar to itself. "All the bulls, from the very first, that have been able to hold their positions, have not left them for an instant, night or day, nor do they do so until the end of the rutting-season, which subsides entirely between the 1st and 10th of August, begin- ning shortly after the coming of the cows in June. Of necessity, HABITS. 353 therefore, this causes them to fast, to abstain entirely from food of any kind, or water, for three months at least, and a few of them stay four months before going into the water for the first time after hauling up in May. " This alone is remarkable enough, but it is simply wonderful when we come to associate the condition with the unceasing activity, restlessness, and duty devolved upon the bulls as heads and fathers of large families. They do not stagnate, like bears in caves ; it is evidently accomplished or due to the ab- sorption of their own fat, with which they are so liberally sup- plied when they take their positions on the breeding-ground, and which gradually diminishes while they remain on it. But still some most remarkable provision must be made for the en- tire torpidity of the stomach and bowels, consequent upon their being empty and unsupplied during this long period, which, however, in spite of the violation of a supposed physiological law, does not seem to affect them, for they come back just as sleek, fat, and ambitious as ever in the following season. (il have examined the stomachs of a number which were driven up and killed immediately after their arrival in spring, and natives here have seen hundreds, even thousands, of them during the killing-season in June and July, but in no case has anything been found other than the bile and ordinary secretions of healthy organs of this class, with the exception only of find- ing in every one a snarl or cluster of worms (Nematoda), from the size of a walnut to that of one's fist, the fast apparently having no effect on them, for when three or four hundred old bulls were slaughtered late in the fall, to supply the natives with 'bidarkee' or canoe skins, I found these worms in a lively condition in every paunch cut open, and their presence, I think, gives some reason for the habit which these old bulls have of swallowing small bowlders, the stones in some of the stomachs weighing half a pound or so, and in one paunch I found about five pounds in the aggregate of larger pebbles, which in grinding against one another must destroy, in a great measure, these intestinal pests. The sea-lion is also troubled in the same way by a similar species of worm, and I have pre- served a stomach of one of these animals in which are more than ten pounds of bowlders, some of them alone quite large. The greater size of this animal enables it to swallow stones which weigh two and three pounds. I can ascribe no other cause for this habit among these animals than that given, as Misc. Pub. No. 12 23 354 CALLORHINUS URSINUS — NORTHERN FUR SEAL. they are of the highest type of the carnivora, eating fish as a regular means of subsistence 5 [*] varying the monotony of this diet with occasional juicy fronds of sea- weed, or kelp, and per- haps a crab, or such, once in a while, provided it is small and tender, or soft-shelled. u Between the 12th and 14th of June the first of the cow-seals come up from the sea, and the bulls signalize it by a universal, spasmodic, desperate fighting among themselves. u The strong contrast between the males and females in size and shape is heightened by the air of exceeding peace and amiability which the latter class exhibit. " The cows are from 4 to 4J feet in length from head to tail, and much more shapely in their proportions than the bulls, the neck and shoulder being not near so fat and heavy in propor- tion to the posteriors. "When they come up, wet and dripping, they are of a dull, dirty-gray color, darker on the back and upper parts, but in a few hours the transformation made by drying is wonderful ; you would hardly believe they could be the same animals, for they now fairly glisten with a rich steel and maltese-gray luster on the back of the head, neck, and spine, which blends into an almost pure white on the chest and abdomen. But this beauti- ful coloring in turn is altered by exposure to the weather, for in two or three days it will gradually change to a dull, rufous ocher below, and a cinereous-brown and gray-mixed above ; this color they retain throughout the breeding-season up to the time of shedding the coat in August. " The head and eye of the female are really attractive ; the •expression is exceedingly gentle and intelligent ; the large, lus- trous eyes, in the small, well-formed head, apparently gleam with benignity and satisfaction when she is perched up on some •convenient rock and has an opportunity to quietly fan herself. " The cows appear to be driven on to the rookeries by an ac- curate instinctive appreciation of the time in which their period of gestation ends ; for in all cases marked by myself, the pups are born soon after landing, some in a few hours after, but most usually a day or two elapses before delivery. [* The habit of swallowing stones is one apparently common to all of the Pinnipeds. The common belief among sealers and others is that they take in these stones as ballast. Compare on this point a quotation already given respecting the Southern Sea Lion (Otariajiibata), anted, p. 311. Mr. Elliott's explanation appears to be more reasonable than most that have been pro- posed.] HABITS. 355 u They are noticed and received by the bulls on the water- line station with much attention ; they are alternately coaxed and urged up on to the rocks, and are immediately under the most jealous supervision j but owing to the covetous and ambi- tious nature of the bulls which occupy the stations reaching way back from the water-line, the little cows have a rough-and- tumble time of it when they begin to arrive in small numbers at first ; for no sooner is the pretty animal fairly established on the station of bull number one, who has installed her there, he perhaps' sees another one of her style down in the water from which she has just come, and in obedience to his polygamous feeling, he devotes himself anew to coaxing the later arrival in the same winning manner so successful in her case, when bull number two, seeing bull number one off his guard, reaches out with his long strong neck and picks the unhappy but pas- sive creature up by the scruff of hers, just as a cat does a kit- ten, and deposits her on his seraglio-ground ; then bulls number three, four, and so on, in the vicinity, seeing this high-handed operation, all assail one another, and especially bull number two, and have a tremendous fight, perhaps for half a minute or so, and during this commotion the cow generally is moved or moves farther back from the water, two or three stations more, where, when all gets quiet, she usually remains in peace. Her last lord and master, not having the exposure to such diverting temptation as had her first, he gives her such care that she not only is unable to leave did she wish, but no other bull can seize upon her. This is only one instance of the many different trials and tribulations which both parties on the rookery subject themselves to before the harems are filled. Far back, fifteen or twenty stations deep from the water-line sometimes, but gen- erally not more on an average than ten or fifteen, the cows crowd in at the close of the season for arriving, July 10 to 14, and then they are able to go about pretty much as they please, for the bulls have become greatly enfeebled by this constant fighting and excitement during the past two months, and are quite content with even only one or two partners. " The cows seem to haul in compact bodies from the water up to the rear of the rookeries, never scattering about over the ground ; and they will not lie quiet in any position outside of the great mass of their kind. This is due to their intensely gregarious nature, and for the sake of protection. They also select land with special reference to the drainage, having a 356 CALLORHINUS URSINUS NORTHERN FUR SEAL. great dislike to water-puddled ground. This is well shown on Saint Paul. " I have found it difficult to ascertain the average number of cows to one bull on the rookery, but I think it will be nearly correct to assign to each male from twelve to fifteen females, occupying the stations nearest the water, and those back in the rear from five to nine. I have counted forty-five cows all under the charge of one bull, which had them penned up on a flat table-rock, near Keetavie Point; the bull was enabled to do this quite easily, as there was but one way to go to or come from this seraglio, and on this path the old Turk took his stand and guarded it well. uAt the rear of all these rookeries there is always a large number of able-bodied bulls, who wait patiently, but in vain, for families, most of them having had to fight as desperately for the privilege of being there as any of their more fortunately- located neighbors, who are nearer the water than themselves ; but the cows do not like to be in any outside position, where they are not in close company, lying most quiet and content in the largest harems, and these large families pack the surface of the ground so thickly that there is hardly moving or turning room until the females cease to come up from the sea ; but the inaction on the part of the bulls in the rear during the rutting- season only serves to qualify them to move into the places va- cated by those males who are obliged to leave from exhaustion, and to take the positions of jealous and fearless protectors for the young pups in the fall. "The courage with which the fur-seal holds his position, as the head and guardian of a family, is of the very highest order, compared with that of other animals. I have repeatedly tried to drive them when they have fairly established themselves, . and have almost always failed, using every stone at my com- ^mand, making all the noise I could, and, finally, to put their courage to the full test, I walked up to within 20 feet of a bull at the rear and extreme end of Tolstoi Eookery, who had four cows in charge, and commenced with my double-barreled breech-loading shot-gun to pepper him all over with mustard- seed or dust shot. His bearing, in spite of the noise, smell of powder, and pain, did not change in the least from the usual attitude of determined defense which nearly all the bulls as- ,sume when attacked with showers of stones and noise; he would dart out right and left and catch the cows, which tim- HABITS. 357 idly attempted to run after each report, and fling and drag them back to their places 5 then, stretching up to his full height, look me directly and defiantly in the face, roaring and spitting most vehemently. The cows, however, soon got away from him ; but he still stood his ground, making little charges on me of 10 or 15 feet in a succession of gallops or lunges, spitting furiously, and then retreating to the old position, back of which he would not go, fully resolved to hold his own or die in the attempt. "This courage is all the more noteworthy from the fact that, in regard to man, it is invariably of a defensive character. The seal, if it makes you turn when you attack it, never follows you much farther than the boundary of its station, and no ag- gravation will compel it to become offensive, as far as I have been able to observe. "The cows, during the whole season, do great credit to their amiable expression by their manner and behavior on the rook ery ; never fight or quarrel one with another, and never or sel doni utter a cry of pain or rage when they are roughly handled by the bulls, who frequently get a cow between them and* tear the skin from her back, cutting deep gashes into it, as they snatch her from mouth to mouth. These wounds, however, heal rapidly, and exhibit no traces the next year. "The cows, like the bulls, vary much in weight. Two were taken from the rookery nearest Saint PauFs Tillage, after they had been delivered of their young, and the respective weights were 56 and 101 pounds, the former being about three or four years old, and the latter over six. They both were fat and in excellent condition. "It is quite out of the question to give a fair idea of the posi- tions in which the seals rest when on land. They may be said to assume every possible attitude which a flexible body can be put into. One favorite position, especially with the cows, is to perch upon a point or top of some rock and throw their heads back upon their shoulders, with the nose held aloft, then, clos- ing their eyes, take short naps without changing, now and then gently fanning with one or the other of the long, slender hind flippers ; another, and the most common, is to curl themselves up, just as a dog does on a hearth-rug, bringing the tail and the nos« close together. They also stretch out, laying the head straight with the body, and sleep for an hour or two without moving, holding one of the hinder flippers up all the time, now and then gently waving it, the eyes being tightly closed. 358 CALLORHINUS URSINUS— NORTHERN FUR SEAL. u The sleep of the fur-seal, from the old bull to the young pup, is always accompanied by a nervous, muscular twitching and slight shifting of the flippers ; quivering and uneasy rolling of the body, accompanied by a quick folding anew of the fore flip- pers, winch are signs, as it were, of their having nightmares, or sporting, perhaps, in a visionary way far off in some dream- land sea ; or disturbed, perhaps more probably, by their intes- tinal parasites. I have studied hundreds of all classes, steal- ing softly up so closely that I could lay my hand on them, and have always found the sleep to be of this nervous description. The respiration is short and rapid, but with no breathing (un- less your ear is brought very close) or snoring sound ; the heav- ing of the flanks only indicates the action. I have frequently thought that I had succeeded in finding a snoring seal, espe- cially among the pups, but a close examination always gave some abnormal reason for it, generally a slight distemper, by which the nostrils were stopped up to a greater or less degree. uAs I have said before, the cows, soon after landing, are de- livered of their young. " Immediately after the birth of the pup, (twins are rare, if ever [occurring],) it finds its voice, a weak, husky bloat, and begins to paddle about, with eyes wide open, in a confused sort of way for a few minutes until the mother is ready to give it attention, and, still later, suckle it; and for this purpose she is provided with four small, brown nipples, placed about eight inches apart, lengthwise with the body, on the abdomen, be- tween the fore and hinder flippers, with some four inches of space between them transversely. The nipples are not usually visible ; only seen through the hair and fur. The milk is abun- dant, rich, and creamy. The pups nurse very heartily, gorging themselves. " The pup at birth, and for the next three months, is of a jet- black color, hair, eyes, and flippers, save a tiny white patch just back of each fore foot, and weighs from 3 to 4 pounds, and 12 to 14 inches long ; it does not seem to nurse more than once every two or three days, but in this I am most likely mistaken, for they may have received attention from the mother in the night or other times in the day when I was unable to watch them. "The apathy with which the young are treated by tjie old on the breeding-grounds is somewhat strange. I have never seen a cow caress or fondle her offspring, and should it stray but a HABITS. 359 short distance from the harem, it can be picked up and killed before the mother's eyes, without causing her to show the slightest concern. The same indifference is exhibited by the bull to all that takes place outside of the boundary of his se- raglio. While the pups are, however, within the limits of his harem- ground, he is a jealous and fearless protectory but if the little animals pass beyond this boundary, then they may be carried off without the slightest attention in their behalf from their guardian1. "It is surprising to me how few of the pups get crushed to death while the ponderous bulls are floundering over them when engaged in fighting. I have seen two bulls dash at each other with all the energy of furious rage, meeting right in the midst of a small 87 than there are now, in 1874, as far as all evi- dence goes." ENEMIES. 381 "What can be done to promote their increase? We cannot cause a greater number of females to be born every year ; we do not touch or disturb these females as they grow up and live, and we save more than enough males to serve them. Nothing more can be done, for it is impossible to protect them from deadly enemies in their wanderings for food." " In view, therefore, of all these facts," continues Mr. Elliott, " I have no hesitation in saying quite confidently that, under the present rules and regulations governing the sealing inter- ests on these islands, the increase or diminution of the life will amount to nothing 5 that the seals will continue for all time in about the same number and condition." * ENEMIES OF THE FUR SEALS. — Man, of course, stands first in importance as an enemy of the Fur Seals, but under the restric- tions respecting the killing these animals now enforced at the Prybilov Islands, does not appear to have a very marked influence in effecting their decrease. That they suffer greatly from other animals is evident from the fact that only about one-half of the Seals annually born at the Seal Islands ever return there again. What these enemies are is not as yet well known, since it is only within a few years that the matter has been so closely studied as to render it apparent that there is this very large decrease of young Seals during their absence from the islands. It has been known, however, for many years that Killer Whales (different species of Orca) prey habitually upon the young, from these having been found in their stomachs. Michael Carroll, Esq., in his " Seal and Herring Fisheries of Newfoundland " and in the reports on the Canadian Fisheries, alludes to the great destruction of young Seals on the Atlantic coast by this animal and by sharks and sword-fishes, and also by their being crushed in the ice. The Orca and the sharks are alluded to by Mr. Elliott as preying extensively upon the young Seals, and it may be that many others are destroyed by enemies not at present well known. Since the foregoing was prepared for publication, I have re- ceived from Captain Bryant the subjoined account, based on long personal experience at Saint PauPs Island. Although in some points anticipated by Mr. Elliott's published Eeport, and covering to a great extent the same phases of the subject, it contains so much additional matter that at the expense of some * Condition of Affairs in Alaska, pp. 88, 89. 382 CALLORHINUS URSINUS — NORTHERN FUR SEAL. reiteration I have deemed it best to introduce it entire. The report is addressed as a personal communication to me in re- sponse to my earnest solicitation for the final results of his many years of observation upon the Alaskan Fur Seal. By way of explanation of the character of his report he observes : "The object I wish to attain in writing these notes is to put on record the result of my observations on the Fur Seals of Saint PauFs Island during eight years' residence as Treasury agent in charge of the interest of the United States Treasury Department. In order to do this some account of their habits and the condition of affairs on my first arrival there seems necessary as a starting point, in order that the changes that have since occurred may be more clearly understood. As you have had the result of my first season's observations there, [*] I need not be so diffuse in my descriptions as would be otherwise necessary, and you will understand that where any of my for- mer statements are omitted or changed it is due to correction made necessary by my longer experience. I shall endeavor to make this report as brief as is consistent with the successful attainment of the objects before stated." u HISTORY OF THE FUR-SEAL FISHERY AT THE PRYBILOV ISLANDS, ALASKA, FROM 1869 TO 1877. — PRELIMINARY AND GENERAL OBSERVATIONS. — The island of Saint Paul is of purely volcanic origin, consisting of a collection of elevated cones and elongated ridges, connected by low valleys composed of beds of marine sand that has gradually been thrown on the shores by the action of the waves. This sand is of so light a character that when dry it readily drifts over the hills, thereby covering the lava surface. It also washes into the coves formed by the projecting points of land, where it constitutes broad, low beaches. The shores of the points and ridges which extend out into the sea are mostly composed of irregular masses of broken rock, washed by the surf and rains, so that no sand accumulates on them except in an occasional crack or gully. These rocky slopes are selected by the breeding Seals as the places for bringing forth their young, they having a repug- nance to occupying the sandy spaces. " The male Fur Seal attains its full growth and strength at the age of six or seven years, when it weighs, at the time of land- [* See Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool., vol. ii, 1870, pp. 89-108.] CONDITION IN 1869. 383 Ing, from three hundred and fifty pounds to four hundred ; in •exceptional cases a weight of four hundred and fifty pounds is attained. The males acquire the power of procreation in the fourth year, and at five years share largely in the duty of repro- duction. " The females bring forth young in their fourth year, and then weigh from fifty -five to sixty-five pounds. They continue to increase in size until the sixth year, often attain a weight of ninety pounds, and, in exceptional cases, even one hundred and eight, the general average being eighty pounds. It will be thus seen that the greater strength and weight of the males enable them to control the females, which they do absolutely when on the breeding-places. The young Seals at birth weigh six pounds, and the young males, when they leave the island at the age of four and a half months, weigh thirty-eight pounds, but a large portion of this weight consists of excessive fat, so that when they return to the island the following year, although they have grown longer, they have lost their superabundant fat, and weigh only forty- two pounds. At the age of two years their average weight is sixty-one pounds ; at three one hundred and seven. After this they increase in weight much more rapidly, attaining their full size at six. Subsequently, their in- crease in weight ie due to excessive fatness, rather than to con- tinued growth. " In spring a careful watch is kept for the arrival of the first Seals, which come with great uniformity, the record showing only four days' variation in the last seven years in the time of their being first seen in the water near the island. The time of landing, however, varies with the condition of the shores, some seasons the beaches being obstructed by snow and ice. As a rule, a few effect a landing within five or six days after their first appearance. The males invariably come first and entirely by themselves. The first arrivals are of old Seals, which coast along the shore for two or three days, and are at first exceed- ingly sensitive to disturbing influences, but soon after landing become torpid and indifferent to objects approaching to within eight or ten rods. They continue in this state until they be- come so numerous as to begin to crowd on each others' premises. After the first fortnight they arrive quite rapidly. The groups are then composed of Seals of all ages, from two years upward, with a few yearlings, but those of full size predominate. Most of the yearlings arrive with the females in July. 384 CALLORHINUS URSINUS — NORTHERN FUR SEAL. uAs before stated, the Seals select and occupy for their breed- ing-stations the rocky slopes of the projecting head-lands.- [*] On their arrival at the island the full-grown Seals separate from the younger, the former hauling up on the shore singly or in groups of two or three, separated by quite wide intervals'. The young gather in a single body where the shore is smooth and spend their time in play, pushing and tumbling over each other, or gathering in groups of from three to ten around some rock near the shore, passing hours in apparently trying to crowd each other off the rock, of which each seems to be striving to gain possession, to the exclusion of the others. Later, as the number of Seals on the beaches increases, the young ones are crowded back to the upland, and find access to the water by passing along the sandy belts which extend down to the sea. As the shore line becomes completely occupied those which are old and strong enough fight their way to a place on the breed- ing-grounds, while the younger and weaker seek the sandy openings and crawl up to join their own class. Here they spend the time alternately in playing and sleeping, usually going into the water for an hour or two every day. It is only the l beachinasters,' or breeding bulls, on the rookery that remain continuously in their places, for if they were to leave them they would be immediately occupied by some other beach- master, and they could regain possession only by a victory over the trespasser. The struggle among the old bulls goes on until the breeding-grounds are fully occupied, averaging one old male to each square rod of space, while the younger, meantime, find their way to the upland. During the latter portion of the land- ing time there is a large excess of old males that cannot find room on the breeding places ; these pass up with the younger Seals and congregate along the upper edge of the rookery, and watch for a chance to charge down and fill any vacancies that may occur. These, to distinguish them from the beachmasters, are called the ' reserves,7 while those younger than five years are denominated by the natives 'holluschucke,' a term denot- ing bachelors or unmarried Seals. It is from these latter that the Seals are selected to kill for their skins. "By the middle of June all the males, except the great body of the yearlings, have arrived 5 the rookery is filled with the [* This statement, as well as the following account of the habits of the Fur Seal, relates to the state of the rookeries as observed in 1869, as is stated later (poatea, p. 388) in the present report.] CONDITION IN 1869. 385 beachmasters ; me 'reserves7 all occupy tlie most advan- tageous position for seizing upon any vacancies, and the bach- elors spread over the adjoining uplands. At this time the first females make their appearance. They are not observed in the water in any numbers until they appear on the shore. Imme- diately on landing they are taken possession of by the nearest males, who compel them to lie down in the spaces they have re- served for their families. For a few days the females arrive slowly, but by the 25th of the month thousands land daily. As soon as the males in the line nearest to the shore get each seven or eight females in their possession, those higher up watch their opportunity and steal them from them. This they accomplish by seizing the females by the neck as a cat takes her kitten. Those still higher up pursue the same method until the entire breeding space is filled. In the average there are about fif- teen females to one beachmaster. Soon after the females have landed each gives birth to a single young one. During parturi- tion the female lies extended on the rocks, and keeps up a fanning motion with her hind flippers. They appear to suffer little in la- bour. The young Seal remains in the placenta until liberated by the mother, who rends the envelope with her teeth, which she sometimes does before parturition is completed. Once freed from the sac, the little fellow is very active and soon learns to nurse. The mother suckles her young while lying on her side ; the teats being situated on the belly. Two days after the birth of the young the female is in heat and receives the male. Dur- ing copulation the female extends herself on the rocks in the same manner as when giving birth to her young. The act of coition continues for from seven to ten minutes, during which, at intervals of two or three minutes, occur rapid vibrations of the body of the male, accompanied by a fanning movement of the hind flippers by the female, who is otherwise quiescent. Ordinarily the operation is similar to that of the cat, but in some instances, when a male and female are by themselves, without danger of interruption, I have seen the male deliber- ately turn the female on her back and copulate in that manner. This, however, happens more frequently in the water than on the land. It is often observable that while the females are landing in great numbers they come in heat faster than the males on the rookeries can cover them. In such cases some of the females break away and escape into the water to meet fresher and more vigorous mates* It is in this way that the class of Misc. Pub. No. 12 25 386 CALLORHINU8 URSINU8 NORTHERN FUR SEAL. young males of four and five years of age perform a most im- portant service. While sufficiently developed to be fully able to serve the females, they lack the physical strength to success- fully contend for a place on the rookery. They haul up with the bachelors at night, but during the day are in the water swimming along the shore of the rookery, always on the alert for the females that seek the water as above stated. On meet- ing them they immediately accompany them to a little distance from the shore and then perform the act of coition. The fe- males, after remaining for a short time in the water, again return to the shore to their former places. The old males find- ing they have been served express their disgust in a most evi- dent manner. The jealous watchfulness of the male over the female ceases with her impregnation, after which she is allowed to go at will about the rookery. From that time she lies either sleeping near her young or spends her time floating or playing in the water near the shore, returning occasionally to suckle her pup. The male, meanwhile, watches over the young, and makes additions to his harem as long as the landing season continues. The females, after giving birth to their young, temporarily re- pair again to the water, and are thus never all on shore at once, so that by the end of the season there will be twice as many young Seals on shore as there are females. As the season ad- vances, or by the 15th of July, the earliest-born young Seals gather in large groups of from three hundred to five hundred in number on the upper edge of the breeding-places, thus sep- arating themselves in a measure from the beachmasters. They spend their time in play until tired, when they fall asleep, often sleeping so soundly that one can almost lift them from the ground by the flipper without awaking them. "By the 25th of July the females have all arrived and given birth to their young. At this time the beachmasters, after hav- ing been confined to the same rock for an average period of ninety days, without eating or drinking, fighting and struggling with each other for their places, have become so lean and ex- hausted as to present a remarkable contrast to the fat and sleek •condition in which they arrived at the island. They are now mere skeletons, almost too weak to drag themselves into the water ; they now crawl away, and are seen only in small numbers hanging about the shores away from the breeding-places. As these leave, the reserves and younger Seals come in to take their places, covering any straggling female that may have arrived late or CONDITION IN 1869. 387 missed impregnation earlier. The withdrawal of the beach- masters leaves the breeding-grounds in possession of the younger males, with the pups gathered in masses on the upper side. "As already stated, the females now mostly spend their time in the water, returning on shore only to suckle their young as they require food. On landing, the mother calls out to her young with a plaintive bleat like that of a sheep calling to her lamb. As she approaches the mass several of the young ones answer and start to meet her, responding to her call as a young lamb answers its parent. As she meets them she looks at them, touches them with her nose as if smelling them, and passes hurriedly on until she meets her own, which she at once recog- nizes. After caressing him she lies down and allows him to suck, and often falls into a sound sleep very quickly after. "By the 20th of August the young, then forty or forty-five days old, move down to the edge of the water, where they begin to learn to swim. The greater part of the young seem to resort to the water from a natural instinct, but some require to be urged in by the older ones, and I have in a few instances observed the parents take them by the neck and carry them into the water, and when they have become tired return with them to the shore again. When once in the .water the young Seals soon appear to delight in it, spending most of their time there in play, tum- bling over each other like shoals of fish. It seems strange that an animal like this, born to live in the water for the greater por- tion of its life, should be at first helpless in what seems to be its natural element ; yet these young Seals, if put into it before they are five or six weeks old, will drown as quickly as a young chicken. They are somewhat slow, too, in learning to swim, using at first only the fore flippers, carrying the hind ones rigidly extended and partially above water. As soon as they are well able to swim (usually about the last week of August) they move from the breeding-places on the exposed points and headlands to the coves and bays, where they are sheltered from the heavy surf, and where there are low sand-beaches. Here they occupy a belt of shore near the water entirely sepa- rated from their parents, where they play until weary, and then haul up on to the beach to rest and sleep, often covering an area of several acres in extent in one compact body. The mothers lie apart (when not in the water) at a convenient distance, for the young to find them to nurse. Thus they remain until October, when the oldest and strongest begin to leave for the 388 CALLORHINUS URSINUS NORTHERN FUR SEAL. winter, and others soon follow. By the middle of December allr both young and old, are gone, and are seen no more until the next season, when they return to repeat the cycle above described. " Having now carried the breeding Seals through their annual round, we will return to the young males, or holluschucke that were left in June spread out in the rear of the breeding Seals. This class is made up of a very small number of yearlings (the greater part of these coming later, as before stated), and those of all ages between two and six years old, with a few superannu- ated males, which, being unable to hold their place on the rook- eries, retire here with the younger Seals for quiet and rest. All of the Seals between four and six years of age pass a large por- tion of their time during the day in the water, returning to the shore at night. While in the water they swarm along the shore of the breeding-places, watching for opportunities of mating with any females that may chance to be in the water. To this class I shall have to return later, when I come to refer to the ^changes in the movements of the Seals growing out of the effect of the present mode of taking them for their ^kins. " It is from the holluschucke class that the animals are selected and killed for their skins. As the process of driving has been so often described in detail, I shall refer to it only so far as is necessary to explain its effects under the present management. In the foregoing description I have followed the observations made during the first year of my residence on the island (1869), as the normal conditions then existed in a greater degree than afterwards, when other influences came into operation. "BECENT CHANGES TN THE HABITS AND RELATIVE NUM- BERS OF THE DIFFERENT CLASSES OF SEALS. — In order to be able to understand fully what the changes are that have occurred^ it will be necessary to go back to a date still earlier. Accord- ing to information derived from the natives, and hence some- what meagre and vague, it appears that in the year 1842 large quantities of ice and snow accumulated on the island and re- mained on the breeding-places when the Seals arrived. They landed and brought forth their young on it, but a large portion of them were lost by the breaking up of the ice, the young be- ing drowned, while thousands of females were crushed by the sliding of the masses of snow from the higher grounds. The number of Seals became thus so reduced that the natives for two years were not allowed to kill them for food. From that RECENT CHANGES IN HABITS AND NUMBERS, ETC. 389 time up to the transfer of tlie islands to the United States great care was given to their increase, at which time were established the methods in practice when I arrived on the island in 1869, and which still continue with little modification. The islands were then in charge of Kazean Shisenekoff, a Creole born on the island and educated in the school at Sitka. He appears to have been a man of great natural ability. He left a family of sons, part of whom inherit their father's talent, the oldest one? being pontenori or arch-priest for the diocese of the Territory. This Kazean governed the islands twenty-seven years, and his memory is revered by the people like that of a saint. He kept a record in manuscript of his observations and left it on the island at his death, but before my arrival there it had been used to paste over the cracks in the ceiling of the hut of one of the natives and so was lost. During the administration of this able governor these nurseries of the Seals had been de- veloped from almost nothing to the condition in which they were at the transfer of the islands to the United States. For many years they were able to kill only a small number, but the Seals gradually increased so that they killed as many as 40,000 in one year. The result of this judicious system was seen in the condition of affairs in the spring of 1867, when, knowing the islands were to be surrendered to the United States, the Eussians took all the Seals they could, amounting to 75,000. During the season of 1868, when there was no legal protection for the Seals, 250,000 were taken. " This brings us to the year of 1869, the date of my first visit; and on that year's observation is based the foregoing descrip- tion of the habits of the Seals. One of the first objects to be attained was an approximate determination, at least, of the number of Seals frequenting the islands ; but to count them was impossible. After the rookeries were filled I discovered that on the breeding-grounds there were no open spaces ; that, .as a rule, they began to fill at the water-line and extended no further back than they could occupy in a compact body. Mak- ing as careful a calculation as possible of the space occupied, and ascertaining the average number to the square rod, I found that this gave the astonishing number of 1,130,000 for the breed- ing Seals alone. The other or non-breeding Seals — that is, the males not on the breeding-grounds — were at that time occupying the upland in the rear of the females in groups of from five or ,six hundred to as many thousands. These being more restless 390 CALLORHINUS URSINUS NORTHERN FUR SEAL. in their habits, it was not so easy to calculate their numbers ;-. but after comparing these groups with the masses of breeding Seals in their vicinity, and estimating their proportional num- bers, I found that they were nearly as numerous as the breed- ing Seals, numbering at least one million. Adding to these the young of the year, nearly equal in number to the females, it became evident that there were on the island at that time not less than 3,230,000 Seals. " Under the Russian regime the work was all done by the hand labor of the natives, the Seals being not only driven in, killed, and skinned by them, but the skins were carried on their backs to the salt-houses. The work of salting and preparing for ship- ment was necessarily slow, tedious, and exhausting, and as skins of young animals were smaller to take off and lighter to carry, and the choice of animals being left to the natives, they seldom killed any over three years of age, and only a small por- tion of this. age. As a natural consequence, the killing falling on this younger and more numerous class, a larger number of males than were really necessary for breeding purposes escaped to grow up, so that at. this date more than 30 per cent, of the male non-breeding Seals were of procreative age. Owing to •the large number of young males constantly in the water about , the rookeries, in addition to the beachrn asters, all the females iwere impregnated before the 10th of August. " The number of full-grown males at this date may be consid- ered as three times greater than the number required, or equal to one full-grown male to every three or four females. In con- sequence of this large excess of males, and their strong desire to possess the females, they crowded the rookeries to the extent of leaving only fighting room, and kept up a continuous strug- gle for the mastery, regardless of both mother and young, and often destroying each other. There being always a large re- serve on the alert, the contending forces were recruited as fast as the combatants became crippled or exhausted, so that there ^was no cessation in the strife, day nor night, while the noise of ;the mingled voices could be heard at the distance of five miles from the rookeries. ; " The Eussians contracted with dealers in Europe for a given number of skins at a fixed rate per skin, and then ordered them taken at the islands. The killing being left to the parties there, they, for their own convenience (as before stated), killed mostly from the younger class. The killing commenced on the 1st of RECENT CHANGES IN HABITS AND NUMBERS, ETC. 391 June, O. S., or the 12th of our style, and continued through the entire season, or until the number ordered was obtained. During June and July, the breeding season, the greater part of the four-, five-, and six-year-old Seals being in the water, the killing naturally fell heaviest on the two- and three-year-olds. After the arrival of the yearlings, they being a more numerous class, the killing fell largely on them for the remainder of the season. This system prevailed not only during 1868 and 1869, when the natives were allowed to kill for food and to sell for supplies, but the same practice was followed during the season of 1870. Although the lease bears this date, it was not put in practical operation iintil 1871, when all this became changed. " Until this year (1871) the Fur Seal skins that had been sold in the market of London had varied greatly in price, ranging from one dollar to sixteen dollars per skin, but only a very small percentage brought the latter price, the average price being about four and a half dollars each. " Having now stated the condition and numerical proportions of the different classes of Seals on the islands at the time the United States Government leased the right to take one hun- dred thousand skins per annum to the Alaska Commercial Company, a brief statement of the effects of this provision will throw further light on the habits of the Seals. Owing to the erroneous information prevailing at the time the lease was made, respecting the proportionate number of Seals at that time visiting the islands of Saint Paul and Saint George, 75,000 of the annual quota were assigned to Saint Paul's and 25,000 to Saint George's. " The parties having the lease paying a tax of a certain sum per skin, and as it cost as much to get a poor skin to market as a good one, pains were taken to determine at what age the skin was of most value. It proved that Se.als of the ages of three, four, and five years were the most desirable, and the lessees hav- ing the right to select their skins, took only Seals of those ages. " This matter, however, was not fully understood until the sea- son of 1873, when it was found that the skins of highest value were those taken from animals three years old, those older yield- ing skins of less value, while those older than five years were not worth taking. From this date only the three-year-old Seals have been taken. The selection of this class instead of the younger animals was a great change, the effect of which soon became manifest, as I shall presently show. 392 CALLORHINUS URSINUS NORTHERN FUR SEAL. " When the agent and employes of the company came to the islands in 1871, they had no knowledge of the business, and had to learn it of the natives, so that they naturally at first followed the old routine, with only the difference that instead of confin- ing the killing to the younger classes, as before, a larger per- centage of ' half-bulls,7 or four- and five-year-olds, were killed. The 75,000 Seals killed by the Eussians in 1867, the 250,000 killed by various parties in 1868, and the 85,000 taken by the natives in 1869, being mostly young animals, the markets had become so overstocked with small skins as to render them un- salable, and the manufacturers in London notified the agent of the Alaska Commercial Company that only large skins were desirable 5 hence the agent selected for killing all the larger Seals available. Seventy thousand of the quota of seventy- five thousand were taken during the months of June and July, the remainder being left to be supplied by the skins of animals required for food by the natives during the remainder of the season. During this year (1871) no material changes were ob- served in the movements of the Seals as compared with former years. " This brings the history of the subject to the year 1872. The product of 1871 had been sold in Europe, and the demand for larger skins had become more imperative than before, and it being in the interest of the lessees to suit their customers, they instructed their agent residing at the islands, whose duty it was to select the animals for killing, to take only large sTcins. Un- der these instructions their agent, as far as possible, confined the killing for skins to Seals of from four to six years old, and often a seven-year-old got killed by straggling into the younger groups to rest. The effect of killing the class that formed so important an element in the reproduction of the species showed itself in the diminished number doing service in the water along the shore. The reserves also showed quite a perceptible de- crease in number, in comparison with their number in 1869, The female breeding Seals showed, through the increased space occupied by them, an increase in numbers equivalent to 15 per cent, over their number in 1869, or an increase of 5 per cent, a year, while the selection of the four-, five-, and six-year- olds, instead of the younger as formerly, had spared so large a number under four years of age that when the yearlings came on shore the two classes united seemed to flood the island with vheir living masses, thronging the beaches and spreading up the RECENT CHANGES IN HABITS AND NUMBERS, ETC. 393 Irillsides, their moving troops looking like armies. This year a part of the reserves located on new places, arid by gathering a few females around them appeared to be forming new rook- eries. At the breaking up of the rookeries, during the last days of July and the early part of August, all the females with their young did not go to the coves as before, but a consider- able number remained, herding with the young bulls, while the pups learned to swim on the shore of the breeding-ground. The weather proved exceptionally fine in November, December, and January, and a part of the females remained with their young a mouth later than usual, and groups of two-, three-, and four-year-olds were seen in the water near the shore as late as.' February. " During the latter part of the winter and spring of the follow- ing year (1873), great masses of ice from the north passed the island, coming from the northwest and drifting toward the south- east, keeping the island nearly enclosed until the 23d of May, and remaining in scattered belts for seven or eight days later. The earliest arrival of the Seals that landed was May 15, and all that arrived in May showed by their exhausted condition that they had encountered obstructions in coming. At the usual time, however, June 15, the rookeries were occupied by the beachmasters, but there were a smaller number to a given .area than formerly, the great body of the reserves of 1869 hav- ing become reduced one-half. The females showed the same average increase of about 5 per cent, over the previous year, but none of the attempts to form new rookeries were con- tinued. The increased number of females found room by fill- ing up the spaces between the old rookeries through which the young Seals had been in the habit of passing to the up- lands to the rear of the reserves, and where such spaces were not to be found the females crowded over the ridge into the inner slopes, in some places actually locating on clear sand- beaches. The closing of the passes by the breeding Seals had the effect of forcing the young Seals to coast along the shore entirely past the rookery, where they found resting places in the beaches by themselves, thus rendering their separation from the breeding Seals more complete than before, so that when wanted for driving they were found in large bodies in- stead of small groups as formerly, when they remained in the Tear of the rookeries, and when each group had to be driven .separately before they could be massed for the general drive. 394 CALLORHINUS URSINUS NdRTHERN FUR SEAL. This change has ever since remained permanent, and greatly facilitates the gathering of the droves for slaughter. It was also- apparent that the killing of so many half-bulls the two previous years had reduced to a minimum the number that hovered in the vicinity of the breeding-rookeries, keeping the beachmastera in continual alarm. The effect of this change could also be perceived in the lessening of the noise resulting from the fight- ing on the breeding-grounds. " When the season for the breaking up of the rookeries arrived,, only a small part of the females moved to the coves with their young, the remainder lingering on the breeding-places with their pups, and gathering around the half-bulls and remnant of the reserves that had not left the shore, as if their first cover- ing had failed of impregnation, and they had again become in heat and were seeking the males. " The introduction of mules and carts for the purpose of haul- ing the seal-skins had greatly lessened the amount of physical labor for the natives, and the full quota of 75,000 seal-skins were ready for shipment by the 1st of August. The killing then- ceased, except for fresh food for the natives, ainounitng to about two hundred and fifty Seals a week. For this purpose care was taken to kill, as far as possible, only animals whose skins would be accepted by the company as a part of the quota for the next season, it being for the interest of all concerned to obtain the necessary quota of 75,000 skins and feed the natives with as little waste of Seal life as possible. In September and October a few females were seen to land and bear their young — females which had been covered out of season the previous year. This was the first time this had been .observed, and was spoken of by the natives, who are thoroughly familiar with every detail r as exceptional. " The dissatisfaction of the London manufacturers with the quality of the skins sent to market still continuing, the com- pany, during the winter of 1872 and 1873, sent their agent to London to find out under what conditions the skins were of greatest value. This investigation established the fact previ- ously noted that the best skins were obtained from three-year olds. At four the value has already depreciated, while skins of large-sized two-year-olds and five-year-olds are of still poorer quality than those of the four-year-olds. On this basis was es- tablished the rule by which the killing has since been regulated. " During the fall of 1873 the weather was again very mild, ar.d RECENT CHANGES IN HABITS AND NUMBERS, ETC. 395 thus continued into the winter. The females, consequently, lingered in small numbers, with their young, till into January, while some of the young bulls, in groups of ten or twenty, were seen as late as February 10. " The rapid decrease of the reserves, with the attendant changes in the movements of the Seals, caused considerable anxiety. The wise ones among the natives shook their heads ominously, and said they had predicted this from slaughtering so many half-bulls during the previous three years. I felt this, but could not order differently, the company having the right to select their own animals : but at the same time I thought that this might not be the whole cause. I watched, as did all on the island, the coming of the Seals in 1874, with intense anx- iety. In the spring of that year the shores became, at the usual time, fairly clear of ice and other obstructions, and on April 13, the usual time for their arrival, the chief reported that Seals had been seen in the water. Soon after two or three beach- masters landed, and these were followed, on succeeding days, by scattered groups of three to five at a time. By the 23d of May enough young bulls had landed on the point to make a drive for the purpose of obtaining fresh food for the people. " The changes that had been observed in the movements of the- Seals during the year 1873 were noticeable in a more marked degree. The beachmasters took their positions on the breed- ing-grounds farther apart than formerly, and there being less cause for fighting there was less noise and tumult. The reserves appeared in about the same numbers as in 1873, but there was an increase in the proportion of the younger over the older animals, as if a larger number of the former were coming for- ward to take the place of the old stock of the period before the leasing of the island. There was, on the whole, an evident gain over the previous year, which gave us hope that the crisis of depletion had passed. When the females came it was found that their numbers had not materially changed. When the time arrived for the breaking up of the rookeries they all remained, only moving up farther from the water, where the reserves and half-bulls met them, forming families in the same manner as on their first landing earlier in the season ; and they remained here with their young until the time of leaving the island for the winter, going from here instead of from the bays, as formerly. This has now become their fixed habit, they remaining on, and going from, the breeding-places direct. 396 CALLORHINUS URSINUS NORTHERN FUR SEAL. uAt this point it is necessary to take up another thread of this subject. I have already stated that, under erroneous infor- mation as to the relative proportion of the numbers of Seals breeding on Saint George's and Saint Paul's Islands, the quota had been fixed at 75,000 for the latter and 25,000 for the former island. Samuel Falconer, my assistant in charge of Saint George's Island, had reported a rapid decrease in the number of Seals of the quality desired for their skins. Assistant Agent H. W. Elliott, who had resided with me on Saint Paul's during the season of 1872, 1 now assigned to assist Mr. Falconer on Saint George during the season of 1873. He, by his residence on Saint Paul's, was able to give the relative difference in the proportionate number of Seals on the two islands. After his examination it was found necessary to change the original di- vision, and assign to Saint Paul's 90,000 and to Saint George's only 10,000. This, however, disturbed the relative compensa- tion allowed the natives for the support of their families, and twelve of the sealers were removed from Saint George's to Saint Paul's to assist in taking the skins on that island. " In 1875 the sealing began, as usual, June 1, and with this additional assistance and the improved facilities for doing the work, 85,000 skins were taken by July 24, leaving the balance to be supplied from Seals killed for food. The agent of the company, whose duty it was to select the skins, having become convinced that it was detrimental to the future increase of the Seals to kill the half-bulls, confined the killing to those less than five years old. This left a larger number to mature as breeding males. This year more two-year-olds were taken than previously since 1870. This proved to be an important change, resulting in the sparing of a much larger percentage to mature. The moyements of the females were the same as in 1873; that is, they occupied the breeding-grounds with their young until the time of leaving the island, and when departing left (Directly from the breeding-ground. But it was observable that there were many young Seals born in August, or later in the season than formerly, showing that a portion of the females had been covered out of season. The weather proved favorable, continuing warm till into January, thus affording the Seals born in August time to learn to swim and get strong enough to insure their safety at sea. Many of the bachelor class also remained around the island until February, when the ice com- ing down drove them away RECENT CHANGES IN HABITS AND NUMBERS, ETC. 397 tl The season of 1876 was marked by no special change in the movements of the Seals from that of the preceding year. The Seals came at their usual time, beginning to arrive the 12th of April, and the same conditions of location obtained as in 1874 and 1875. The beachmasters, by occupying the entire length of the old breeding-ground, compelled the younger Seals to pass completely beyond to the bays and sand-beaches, while the jncreased number of females, through lack of space on the old grounds, began to occupy the sand-beaches nearest the rookeries.* " The average time of landing of the females was a little later, or, rather, a portion landed after the 20th of July to have their young, showing that they were not covered in their first heat the previous season. " The beachmasters and reserves showed an increase in num- ber over the previous year, due to young bulls just matured. The old stock of the year prior to the lease had apparently nearly died out, leaving a new and more vigorous stock to- supply their places. " In the autumn the weather, which for three years had been so mild, proved unusually rough and severe. October 30th there was a severe gale, accompanied with snow, which covered the breeding-grounds to a depth of ten inches, and drove all the Seals, both young and old, into the water, and only a compara- tively small number returned again to the shore. Among these were large numbers of females which had lost their young, and for several days they went about the breeding-grounds plaintively calling for their pups. In November, when the time had arrived for driving the young Seals to kill fb» the supply of winter food for the natives, it was found that only half the number (five thousand) requisite for that purpose flould be ob- tained. Undoubtedly great numbers of the young Seals which were driven to the water by the storm must have become sep- arated from their parents and lost. As I was relieved before the time for their return the next season, there was no one on the island experienced enough to perceive to what extent the " * I may here state that the repugnance the females have to occupying the sandy beaches for a breeding-ground appears to arise from the evident dis- comfort they experience from the sand getting into their, hair and fur while obliged to remain there, especially when rains occur. The young Seals also appear to suffer in health if rains occur before they are old enough to take to the water, they becoming scurfy precisely as young pigs do when compelled to live in muddy places." 398 CALLORHINUS URSINUS — NORTHERN FUR SEAL. Injury prevailed, and as the product of 1877 will not arrive at the proper age for killing until 1880, it must be left to the future to determine the extent of the loss. " CAUSES OF THE CHANGES IN THE HABITS OF THE SEALS, ETC. — It will now be well to try and trace some of the causes that •operated to produce changes in what had been the usual habits of these animals. At the date of the transfer of these islands to the United States the non-breeding Seals (and by this class I mean the males of all ages not in active service on the breed- ing-places) were, as nearly as can be ascertained, equal to the whole number of both beachmasters and females. Thirty per cent, of this non-breeding class were capable of pro- creation. During the years 1867, 1868, and 1869 there were taken 410,000 Seals, mostly of the product of 1866, 1867, and 1868. This- large number killed in so short a time, left only a small portion of the product of those years to mature, to furnish the half-bulls in 1871, 1872, and 1873. During these years (the first years under the lease), the demand, for reasons before stated, was for large skins, and it had to be met by killing four-, five-, and six-year-olds. This destruction of the remnant that escaped from the excessive killing in the years of 1868 and 1869 liad the effect to exterminate the product of those years and create a chasm, that had to be bridged over by the products of years prior to 1865, which had to supply the males neces- sary for breeding, until the products of later years could ma- ture. Again, during the season of 1870 the natives, to pur- chase supplies and for their own food, killed 85,000, mostly one- ,and two-year-old Seals. This operated in the same direction, reducing to a minimum the products of 1868 and 1869, and rendering the breach still wider. There was consequently only a limited number to fill this gap until those spared by the com- pany in 1871, 1872, and 1873, when only half-bulls were taken, had matured. Before these had time to attain maturity the large surplus of reserves of the year 1869 became so reduced in numbers by natural causes as to induce the changes we have noted in the movements of the female breeding Seals. The old males, having become weakened and exhausted, failed to im- pregnate the females in their first heat and forced them to seek the younger males in their second heat instead of going to the beaches with their young as formerly. This caused many fe- males to bear their young later in the season, and consequently, CAUSES OF CHANGES IN HABITS, ETC. 399 during this and the following years, resulted in considerably delaying the time of their impregnation. Owing to the mild weather late in autumn, the mothers of these late pups were able to stay until their young were old enough and strong enough to insure their safety. " The decrease in the number of breeding males may be con- sidered as having reached its minimum in 1876. In 1877, the last season I spent at the islands, there was an evident increase in the number of this class. A review of the different classes will now assist us in drawing our conclusions. The reserves and beachmasters belong to a single class, the only difference being that those which get on shore first and hold a place for & family are denominated beachmasters, while those of the same class that arrive too late for this purpose are termed reserves. In 1869 the beachmasters were numerous enough to occupy the breeding-ground in the proportion of one to the square rod, leaving a surplus or reserve of double this number, or three times as many as could find space on the breeding-ground. There being so large an excess of males of breeding age, they crowded each other to the extent of leaving only fighting-room, averaging one beachmaster to seven females. The beachmas- ters were continually fighting for the possession of the females, often killing each other in their struggles, while many more be- came so crippled as to have to retire from the breeding-grounds, so that during the season the injured and exhausted amounted to fully 30 per cent. This condition continued until the ef- fect of the excessive killing in 1865 became apparent, resulting in the reduction of the reserves from natural causes. Those already old died out, and the products of 1866 and 1867 being reduced by overkilling in 1868, fewer were left to mature to make up for the natural loss. Consequently, in 1870, or be- fore the Alaska Commercial Company began to take the ani- mals for their skins, this class had perceptibly decreased. Dur- ing the succeeding three years, nearly all of the half-bulls being killed, there was no new stock to replace the natural decrease from old age and exhaustion, nor many half-bulls to assist in the duties of reproduction. This rendered the season of service for the old Seals more protracted. In three years, or by 1873, the old reserves had become so reduced in number that when the rookeries were fully occupied there were only half as many l)eachmasters there as formerly, or only one to two square rods of area, while each beachmaster had on the average about fifteen 400 CALLORHINUS URSINUS NORTHERN FUR SEAL. females. The reserves were now only about half as numerous as the beachmasters. As a result of these conditions, the fe- males were imperfectly covered, and instead of going in August to the beaches remained on the breeding-grounds until their second heat, herding with the younger or less matured males, while the young Seals learned to swim from the shores of the rookeries. Another marked result was that on the rookeries the beachmasters were so far separated and had each so many more females that there was less occasion for fighting, and conse- quently less uproar and destruction from wounds. At this date occurred the change in the system of killing, the younger males being taken instead of the half-bulls. Since this time the rel- ative number of breeding males has been steadily increasing. It is still, however, below the proper proportion, and under the present system will require three years at least to supply the deficiency. The period of gestation being nearly one year, it is necessary that the females should be all impregnated in their first heat, lest, as was the case in 1876, early storms occur and force the late-born young to enter the sea before they have ac- quired sufficient strength and endurance to insure their safety. Similar changes in their movements and relative numbers were noticed in the holluschucke or bachelor class. This class in- cludes all under six years old, with a very small number of superannuated males, and also the half -bulls. The custom of killing the younger Seals for their skins, by the Kussians, had allowed so large a number of half-bulls to mature every year that in 1869 the proportion of half-bulls to the whole number was fully 20 per cent., but in 1871, 1872, and 1873, when this class were taken for their skins, it decreased to less than 5 per cent., and did not show any perceptible increase until 1876. "In 1869, the rookeries, where they extended along the shore, were not continuous, but broken into sections by the small gul- lies formed by the streams from the melting snows in spring. These open spaces appeared to be regarded by all classes as neutral ground, and all the Seals not old enough to maintain a position on the breeding-places passed through them to the up- lands in the rear of the rookery, going and returning at will. When on the upland these younger Seals occupied places near the reserves. When they were wanted for their skins the men passed rapidly between them and the reserves, cutting them off from these open passages and turning them inland. Here the small squads collected from the different divisions were gath- CAUSES OF CHANGES IN HABITS, ETC. 401 erecl into herds of from six hundred to eight hundred each ; that number being as many as can be driven to advantage in one flock. "The decrease of the reserves from 1870 to 1872 gave ample room on the old breeding-places without forming new rookeries. Later the increase of the females made it necessary for them to occupy the open places which had before afforded passages for the young males from the water to the uplands, so that the young males on their arrival, after trying in vain to find land- ing-places as before, passed the rookeries and occupied the beaches of the coves and bays beyond. This began in 1872, and in 1875 had become general, and may now be considered as a fixed habit. As it saves gathering them in small groups, it greatly facilitates the process of obtaining the drives without detrimental effect to the rookeries. " When I made my estimate of the number of the Seals in 1869, the proportionate number these groups bore to the breeding- rookery near which they were located suggested the inquiry whether the young returned to the exact point where they were born. I found on questioning the natives that they believed they did thus return. To test this matter I had, in November, 1870, fifty young males selected from one rookery, and marked on the right ear, and fifty more selected from another rookery, two miles distant from the first, were marked on the left ear. The result was that in 1873, when they were of the proper age to be taken for their skins, four of them were killed on Saint Paul's Island, at points more or less distant from the place where they were marked, and two were found on the island of Saint George. "Passing now to the consideration of the females, we meet with greater difficulties and arrive at less satisfactory results, owing to the fact that our knowledge of them during the first three years is less definite. During the first four months after birth the sexes do not appreciably differ. When the Seals are driven to the uplands in November for the purpose of selecting young males for the winter supply of food for the natives, the sexes, as nearly as can be judged, are equal in numbers 5 but at this time the females average at least one-tenth smaller than the males. "At this stage they leave the island for the winter, and very few appear to return to the island until they are three years old, Misc. Pub. No. 12 26 402 CALLORHINUS URSINUS NORTHERN FUR SEAL. at which age they seek the males for sexual intercourse. On the other hand, the males return the following year with the mature females. On their arrival they land on the island and pass some distance inland, where they repose in large herds during the breeding-season, and linger about the island until after the females and their young are gone. They continue to return, each year, arriving earlier as they approach to maturity, until old enough to become beachmasters. But the young- females, as already stated, are not seen in numbers until they are three years old, when they arrive about the height of the breeding-season. Considerable numbers land on the breeding- places, but a larger portion are covered by the males before they have time to land. In the females there are no definite external indications of age as there are in the males, and in as- signing the age of three years I have accepted the judgment of the natives, who are familiar with every phase of Seal life, and are governed mainly in their opinion by the appearance of the teeth. In the few I have had killed from time to time for ex- amination the differences have been pointed out to me, but I do not consider myself competent to judge, and in the absence of more definite evidence I accept the statements of the natives. At this age they weigh about forty-five pounds, are of a steel- gray color on the back, with pearly white breast and belly, the gray of the back gradually shading into the white on the sides, and their coat has a very soft, velvety appearance. When they return the following year to give birth to their first young they average sixty pounds, and the color of the back is of a deeper shade and extends lower down on the sides. They still con- tinue to grow for two or three years, and attain an average weight of eighty pounds. At six or seven years old the color of the back has become brown and extends to the belly, which is then only a few shades lighter than the back. When the young females first land their color is bright and soft, but in two or three days the white tint gradually becomes of a rusty shade, so that when visiting the rookeries daily it is easy to dis- tinguish the Seals that have just landed. After they have been on shore ten days they become all of the same shade, and are individually undistinguishable. As the females are never killed, but are left to die from old age or natural causes, there are no means of ascertaining their length of life. In exceptional cases they become barren and haul up with the young males. VARIATION IN COLOR WITH AGE, ETC. 403 " ALBINOS AND SEXUALLY ABNORMAL INDIVIDUALS. — Three or four albinos are found every year, which are of a pinkish white color, sometimes mottled with liver-colored spots, and the -eyes and the skin covering the flippers are also pinkish. On one or two occasions I have seen the young pup black, except a narrow light stripe extending from the corners of the mouth along the sides to the posterior extremities. These conditions .are very unusual. "Among the males we find sometimes an imperfect develop- ment of the organs of generation. Individuals thus defective are not distinguishable until the fourth year, when instead of the neck thickening and the hair on it growing curly and longer as in the perfect male, they retain the slim form of the neck, characteristic of the female, non-development of the testes hav- ing the same effect upon their development that castration has upon the domestic bull. " Occasional instances of hermaphroditism also occur, in which the same individual has a nearly perfect development of the organs of .both sexes. These herd with the males, but are readily distinguishable from them by their having the posterior part of the body fuller and thicker as in the full-grown female. " DESCRIPTION OF THE YOUNG; VARIATION IN COLOR WITH AGE, ETC. — The young Seals are all born with a coat of short, stiff black hair covering the whole body. When sixty days old this is replaced by a very soft and silky covering three-fourths of an inch in length. This is a fine steel-gray on the back and white on the throat, breast, and abdomen. This coat of o verhair is shed annually in August and September, becpming coarser and darker with age each year. At seven years the back has attained a dark brown, shading gradually to two or three shades lighter on the belly. At the fifth year the hair on the neck and shoulders grows coarser, curling at the ends, and on many of these the curly tips are white, giving a grizzled or silver-gray appearance. The fur commences to grow with the first coat of overhair, as a soft light down, the overhair entirely covering and concealing it. On the male this continues to grow to three- eighths of an inch in length, increasing evenly in thickness and fineness all over the body until the third year, when it is in its greatest perfection. After this, as the male develops the char- acteristics of his sex, as the thickening of the neck and shoul- ders, the fur also becomes longer and thicker, while, as the 404 CALLORHINUS URSINUS NORTHERN FUR SEAL. animal grows older, the fur on the posterior portion of the back gets thinner. The skin thus deteriorates in value ; the fur being unequally developed on different parts of the body, prevents the use of the whole skin in the same garment. The color of the fur is not indicated by the overhair, and as a rule shows greater variation in shade than the latter, varying from a smutty white to a rich maroon, the latter shade being the most rare. "MouLTiNGr. — A diversity of opinion exists on the island as to whether or not the fur is shed with the overhair. I have given close attention to the subject and find that all the evidence is against the opinion that the fur is shed. The great quantity of overhair annually shed by this immense number of animals covers the ground like dead leaves in a forest. It is blown by the winds around the roc&s, and becomes trodden into the soil,, so that when the earth is dry if a piece be taken and broken the whole mass is found to be permeated with it like the hair in dried plaster. The difference between the fibers of the over- hair and the fur is plainly apparent to the eye. I have, how- ever, gathered parcels of it at all times during the shedding season and subjected it to microscopic examination, but have always failed to detect the presence of fur in sufficient quantity to warrant the belief that any of it is shed naturally. The shedding of the overhair begins about the middle of Augustr and the Seals are not fully clothed with the new coat until the end of September, and it does not attain its full length before the end of October. The first indications of shedding are noticed around the eyes and fore flippers and in the wrinkles or folds of the skins. The new overhair appears in the fur as short black points, and as it grows out the old coat is gradually cast. The whole process covers a period of forty days, during which time the skins are in a condition denominated by fur- dealers as 4 stagey,7 and are of inferior value. This, however^ is not due to any defect in the fur, but to the condition of the overhair, which is so short as to render the process of plucking too slow and laborious by the usual methods to be remunera- tive. In the first shipments of skins under the lease complaints were made of the number of i stagey7 skins that were sent. As this was a term that conveyed no explanation of the defect, it was necessary to send to London for a package of stagey skins. This was done during the third year, and on their re- ception at the island the cause was at once understood and no SEXUAL ORGANS AND COPULATION. 405 more stagey skins were shipped. Two years after^ inquiries were made by parties in London for stagey skins, or rather why there were no more to be had in the market. It was ascer- tained that parties there had been making it a special business to manufacture stagey skins. The low price at which they were sold in the raw state enabled them to bestow the extra labor necessary to pluck them and realize a large profit thereby, the skins after plucking being of prime value. This gives further proof that the animals were not shedding their fur. When- ever Seals are wounded before the shedding season the wound heals very quickly and the scar is covered with a coat of fur immediately after, but no overhair grows on the wound until the shedding season arrives, when nature wholly repairs the in- jury. I have had such animals killed in the shedding season and found the new overhair showing in the fur of the wound just as on the rest of the body. In tKe spring of 1873 a fine three- year-old landed with a wound on its body as large as two hands, apparently caused by the animal getting pinched in the ice. The wound, though fresh, soon healed and became cov- ered with fur. This Seal was several times driven to the kill- ing-ground and allowed to go back, on account of the blemish on its skin. In August, when taking Seals for food, this Seal was killed and unmistakable evidences of the new overhair covering the wound were found. " SEXUAL, ORGANS AND COPULATION. — As before stated, the male is born with the testes enclosed in the body. These descend in the second year but do not become fully developed until the fourth. In the fifth year the scrotum becomes distended and the testes show like those of the dog. The vaginal orifice of the female being within the anus there is but one external open- ing ; hence the difficulty of distinguishing the sexes at birth. The female has four teats, two on each side of the middle line of the belly, equidistant from the fore and hind flippers. During lactation they are half an inch in length, but do not protrude beyond the overhair. The mode of copulation on land has already been described. When there was a full supply of breeding males copulation occurred mainly on the breeding- grounds, the half-bulls participating to only a limited extent, and was rarely seen to occur in the water. Since 1874, owing to the decrease in the number of breeding males, a much larger proportion of the females receive the males in the water, so that on any still day after the 20th of July, by taking a canoe 406 CALLORH1NUS URSINUS NORTHERN FUR SEAL. and going a little off-shore, considerable numbers may be seen? pairing, and readily approached so near as to be fully observed. They are then found in single pairs, swimming in circles, some- times the one sometimes the other leading. They come together in approaching the surface from below, the male shooting onto* the back of the female and firmly clasping her between his fore flippers. The time of contact is shorter than on land, not exceeding five minutes, but the operation is repeated two or three times, at intervals of fifteen or twenty minutes. They then separate, each going in a different direction. "POWER OF SUSPENDING BESPIRATION. — As these creatures spend so great a portion of their life at sea, it is interesting to know how long they are capable of remaining below the surface. When full-grown males, sleeping on the edge of the beach, are frightened into the water so suddenly that they do not recog- nize the nature of the disturbance, they invariably plunge and swim beneath the surface till obliged to rise to breathe. In such cases they remain from two to two and a half minutes under the surface and come up from one hundred and fifty to two hun- dred yards distant. If a boat passes among them they will follow it at a distance of ten or fifteen yards. On coming to the surface they will stand erect with the whole of the body ante- rior to the fore limbs above the water, and in this position remain perfectly still for several seconds, then with a summer- sault and a splash, disappear for a minute or so to reappear again in some other direction, apparently enjoying the fun ; in no case have I timed them when they remained over two and a half minutes under water. I do not think their power of remain- ing below the surface equal to that of an experienced and well- trained pearl-oyster diver. This seems to indicate that they must feed on fishes living near the surface ; at least not on bot- tom-fish in deep waters. "NATURAL, ENEMIES. — From the birth of the young Seals until they leave the island at four and a half months old, the loss of life from natural causes is very slight, not exceeding one-half of 1 per cent. At the time of their departure they are excessively fat and clumsy, and easily fall a prey to the small Whale known as the Killer, their only positively-known enemy. These grow to a length of fifteen to eighteen feet, and go in schools of from five to a dozen or more, frequently attack- ing and killing full-grown Eight Whales by eating out their EFFECT OF CLIMATIC INFLUENCES. 407 tongues ; hence the name Killer, applied to them by whalemen. When the season arrives for the young Seals to enter the water these animals are seen near the island, creating great conster- nation among the Seals both young and old. They rarely ven- ture near shore, but in three cases where they have been caught young Seals have been found in their stomachs, leaving no doubt of their object in approaching the island. I have also been informed by the natives of Bristol Bay that these same animals are formidable enemies to the young Walruses and Hair Seals. The Killers doubtless follow the Seals to their winter feeding- grounds and prey upon them. During the time the young Seals are absent from the island fully 60 per cent, of their number are destroyed by their enemies before they arrive at the age of one year, and during the second year about 15 per cent, more are lost. Later they appear to be better able to protect themselves, but before they arrive at maturity at least 10 per cent, more are destroyed 5 so that if left entirely to themselves only 10 or 15 per cent, of the annual product would mature or reach the age of seven years. To what age the males attain, there is no means of definitely ascertaining. In the records of Shisenekoff, to which I have before alluded, it is stated that he observed one male occupy the same rock for fourteen successive years. Only in five instances have I beeil able to identify the same Seal as occupying the same place. Four of these returned four years in succession, and the other, five years. They were probably eight years old when first ob- served, so that they attained at least to twelve years, which I think may be considered as their average length of life. As I have before stated, the large surplus of full-grown males exist- ing in 1869 nearly all disappeared in about six years ; and when we consider the fact of their severe labors during the breeding season, when they pass from ninety to one hundred and twenty days without food, engaged in a constant struggle for their positions, and performing the most exhaustive function of phys- ical life, six or seven years would seem to be the limit of the active period of their lives. "EFFECT OF CLIMATIC INFLUENCES. — It remains now to notice the effect of the climate on these animals. The climate is very uniform at the islands during the period the Seals remain here. The months of April, May, June, and July are the most important portions of the year, as in August the Seals are all in a condition to go in the water and avoid the influences most 408 CALLORHINUS URSINUS NORTHERN FUR SEAL. injurious to them, namely, sunshine and rain. I here furnish an abstract from the meteorological tables of 0. P. Fish, signal- officer resident on the island in 1874, this being the warmest year and the one most unfavorable to the Seals during my eight years7 residence at the islands. h g Mean average for the 43 1 h 1 month. i S? i >> 1 i j ! 8, et seq. tProc. Essex Inst., vol. v, 1866, pp. 4-13. §P6ron and Leseur's Voy. au Terres Aust., ii, 1816, p. 41; Nouv. Diet. d'Hist. Nat., vol. xxx, 1817, p. 595 ; Mamm., 1820, p. 249. || Mem. du Mus. d'Hist. Nat. xi, 1824, pp. 174-214. Misc. Pub. No. 12 27 418 FAMILY PHOCnXZE. mtulina is especially designated as the type. As both genera were published simultaneously, preference should be claimed for Calloceplialus, as it occurs eighteen pages earlier in the paper than Macrorhinus. Thus the process of elimination necessitates, on the principle above implied, and in accordance with a com- monly recognized rule in such cases, the restriction of Phocato Linnets Phoca leonina. This, however, seems so contrary to the traditions of Phoca, which from 1735 to the present day has been generally associated by the majority of writers with mtu- lina and its nearest allies, that it seems an act of violence to transfer it to what is logically its legitimate connection with leonina, thereby making Macrorhinus a synonym of the restricted genus Phoca, notwithstanding that it has been universally ac- cepted for half a century for the Sea-Elephants, while Plioca has not for an equal length of time been looked upon as having any intimate relationship with that group. In view of the tradition and usage of the case it seems best to waive the technicality here involved and suffer Phoca to retain its time-honored asso- ciations.* As regards further subdivision of the Phocidce, Dr. Gray, in 1866, f proposed Halipliilus as a generic name for Peale's Ha- lichcerus antarcticus (= Phoca pealei. Gill), while Dr. Gill, in 1872,f substituted Leptonychotes for Leptonyx, Gray, (1836, nee * In this connection reference may be very properly made to Prof. Alfred Newton's Paper "On the Assignation of a Type to Linnsean Genera, with especial reference to the Genus Strlx" (Ibis, 3d ser., vi, 1876, pp. 94-105), in which he very reasonably maintains that, as Linne" had no notion of a type species as commonly used by modern systematists, we should make him "the interpreter of his own intentions" by imagining him "put in our place and called on to show which he would consider his type species according to modern ideas." This he claims can be accomplished by giving some degree of attention to the works of Linn6's predecessors, which will enable one to hunt down almost every name used by him, since by far the greater part of Linnets generic names were adopted by him from preceding authors, " by whom the majority were used absolutely and in a specific sense. When this was the case," continues Professor Newton, "there can scarcely be a reasonable doubt that Linnaeus, had he known our modern practice, would have designated as the type of his genus that species to which the name he adopted as generic had formerly been specifically applied.." As regards the present case, there can be no doubt that under this rule the proper type of the Linnsean genus Phoca is the common small Seal of the European shores, the Phoca vitulina of Linns', and that Callocephalus is strictly a synonym of Phoca. tAnn. and Mag. Nat. Hist., vol. xvii, 1866, p. 446. t Families of Mammals, p. 70. TECHNICAL HISTORY GENERA. Swainson, 1821), and in 1873* instituted the genus Histriophoca for the Phoca fasciata of Shaw (= P. equestris, Pallas). Peters, in 1875, t finding that the old generic name Stenorhyn- 'dius of F. Cuvier, which had been currently received since 1824 .as the generic designation of the Sea-Leopard of the Antarctic Seas, was preoccupied for a genus of Crustaceans to which it was applied by Lainark in 1819, as well as for a genus of insects in 1823, proposed in its place the name Ogmorhinus. Finally Gill has recently revived the name Pusa (Scopoli, 1777) for the Gray Seal in place of Haliclicerus, Nilsson, 1820, but, as will be shown later, Pusa is not tenable in this connection. At this point the following resume of the subject may be pre- sented, synonyms and untenable names being designated by thick type : 1735 — Phoca, Limi6, covering four species, belonging to three families and four distinct genera. 1777 — Pusa, Scopoli, = Phoca fcetida, Fabricius. 1g ( Halichcerus, Nilsson,=Pftoca grypus, Fabricius. \ Cystophora, Nilsson,=P/ioca cristata, Erxleben. 1822 — Monachus, Fleming, = Phoca monachus, Hermann. f Callocephalus, F. Cuvier, type, Phoca vitulina, Linne*. Stenorhynchus, F. Cuvier, = Phoca leptonyx, Blainville. Preoccn- « J pied in carcinology and entomology. I Pelagius, F. Cuvier, = Phoca monachus, Hermann. I Stemmatopus, F. Cuvier, = Phoca cristata, Erxleben. ^Macrorhinus, F. Cuvier, = Phoca leonina, Linne*. 1827 — Mirounga, Gray, = Cystophora, Nilsson, and Maerorhinus, F. Cuvier. 1830 — Rhinophora, Wagler,=PAoca leonina, Linn^. 1836 — Leptonyx, Gray, = Stenorhynchus iveddelli, F. Cuvier. Preoccupied in ornithology. (Pagophilus, Gray, = Phoca grcenlandica, Fabricius. J Lolodon, Gray, = Phoca carcinophaga, Homb. and Jacq I Ommatophoca, Gray, = 0. rossi, n. sp.,, Gray, t Phoca, Gray, iiec Linn^,=P^oca &ar&a/a, Fabricius. 1854— Heliophoca, Giay,=H. atlantica n. sp., Gray,=P^oca monachus, Her- mann. ( Halicyon, Gray,=£T. richardsin. sp., GT&J— Phoca vitulina, i Pagomys, Gray, = Phoca foctida, Fabricius. ( Erignathus, Gill, = P^oca barbata, Fabricius. 1866^ Haliphilus, Gra,y,=Halicho2ru8 antarcticus, Peale,= Phoca vitulina, ( Linne". 1872 — Leptoni/chotes, Q\\\,=Lepionyx, Gray, nee Swainson. 1873— Histriophoca, Gill, = Phoca fasciata, Shaw. 1875 — Ogmorhinus, Peters, = Stenorhynchus, F. Cuvier, nee Lamark. Of the above-given list of twenty-five generic names, two *Amer. Nat,, vol. vii, 1873, p. 179. tMonatsb. Kongl. Prenss. Akad. d Wissens. zu Berlin, 1875, p. 393. 420 FAMILY PHOCIDJS (Stenorhynchus and Leptonyx) were preoccupied in other de- partments of zoology, and consequently untenable ; ten were- exclusively based on four species,, so that six of these ten may be set down as pure synonyms. The remaining thirteen have at times been more "or less current, either in a generic or sub- generic sense. But leading writers have employed several of them with widely differing scopes. Callocephalus, as at first used, was synonymous with Phoca, as commonly interpreted, Cal- locephalus being employed for all of the smaller species of the family (mtulina, fostida, grcenlandica, fasciata, caspica, &c, with all their numerous synonyms, as well as for barbata). In the subjoined history of the species of the family, the varying sig- nificance attached by different writers to the more prominent generic names will become sufficiently apparent, but in the pres- ent connection a few examples may be cited. In 1820, Desrnarest placed all the Pinnipeds, except the Walruses, under Phoca, which he divided into two subgenera ("sous-genre") — Phoca (including all the Phocidce of recent au- thors) and Otaria ( = 0tariidce of late writers), in this following Peron's classification of 1816. F. Cuvier, in 1824, divided the Earless Seals into five genera, which classification was followed by the same writer in 182G, and by Lesson in 1827, when he adopted strictly the generic nomenclature of F. Cuvier, but abandoned it in 1828. Gray, at about the same date, employed only two genera, Phoca and Mirounga, while Fischer, in 1829, placed all the species once more in Phoca. Nilsson, in 1837, recognized five genera, — Stenorhynchus , Pela- gius, Phoca, Halichcerus, and Cystophora. Gray, in 1844 and in 1850, adopted ten, — Lobodon, Leptonyx, Ommatophoca, Steno- rhynchus, Pelagius, Callocephalus, Pagophilus, Phoca (with one species), Halichoerus, Morunga, and Cystophora. Wagner, in 184G, adopted four, — Halichcerus, Phoca (with six species), Lep- tonyx (with five species), and Cystophora. Turner, in 1849, ad- mitted eight, — Morunga, Cystophora, Halichcerus, Ommatophora ^typographical error for Ommatophoca), Lobodon, Leptonyx, Sten- rhynchus, and Phoca. Giebel, in 1855, adopted the same genera as Wagner in 1846. Gray, in 1866 and in 1871, admitted thir- teen,— Lobodon, Leptonyx, Ommatoplioca, Stenorhynchus , Mona- chus. Call1 icephalus, Pagomys, Pagopliilus, HaUcyon, Phoca, Hali- choerus, Morunga^SLiid Cystopliora; Gill, in 1866 and 1872, twelve, — Phoca, PagomySj Pagophilus^ Erignathus, Halicliwrus, Monaclius, Cystopliora, Macrorhinus, Lobodon, Stenorhynchus , Leptonyx, and Ommatophoca ; in 1877, twelve, — Phoca, Pagophilufi, TECHNICAL HISTORY SPECIES. 421 Histriophoca, Pusa, Monachus, Cystophora, Macrorhinus, Lobodon, Ogmorhinus, Leptonychotcs, and Ommatophoca. While Dr. Gill recognized the same number of genera in 1877 as in 1866, the nomenclature is quite different ; but this is due mainly to simply changes of names, as the substitution of Pwa for Halichoerus, of Ogmorhinus for Stenorhynchus, and of Leptonychotes for Lep- tonyx; but in the later enumeration Pagomys is omitted and His- triophoca is added. So far as the number of genera is concerned, the greatest differ- ence of opinion has always obtained in respect to the PhocincCj all the members of which group are confined to the Northern Hemisphere. Gray, after 1864 (1864-1874), uniformly recog- nized seven ; Gill, 1866-1877, six, only two of which (Halichce- rus and Monaclius, about which authors generally have for many years been in unison) were the exact equivalents of Gray's genera; but the chief disagreement consisted in Gill's use of Phoca for what Gray termed Callocephalus, and of Erignathus for what Gray termed Phoca. Lilljeborg*, in 1874, referred all of the species of the PhocincCj except Haliclicerm grypus (and Mo- nachus albiventer, which latter is not there treated), to the genus Phoca, and von Heuglin the same year did the same, except that Pagomys, Pagophilus, and Callocephalus (the latter being applied to C. barbata) were recognized as subgenera under Phoca. The •classification and nomenclature of Giebel (1855), Blasius (1857), Malmgren (1863), and Holmgren (1865) are, generically, the same as Lilljeborg's in 1874. The tendency has, in short, been to refer all the species of Phocinw, with the two exceptions al- ready specified, to the Linnaean genus Phoca. SPECIES. — Although Seals have figured in works on natural history since the time of Eondelet, Olaus Magnus, and Gesner (1554-1555), it is unnecessary in the present connection to refer in detail to those earlier works, since down to the time of Steller (1751), all the Phocids or Earless Seals known to systematic writers were referred to the common Seal (Phoca vituUna, auct.) of the shores of Middle and Northern Europe. This indeed was the only species recognized by Linne, from the Northern Hem- isphere, even in the last (1766) edition of his "Systema Naturae." But other species had been incidentally and vaguely described l>y the early Greenland missionaries, arid by explorers and trav- ellers in both the Arctic and Antarctic regions, to which refer- * Fauna Sveriges och ]STorges Ryggradsdjur, i, Daggdjnren, pp. 667-729. 422 FAMILY PHOCIDJE. ence is necessary, since these descriptions became later the basisy in part or wholly, of various systematic names. As early as 1741 the Harp Seal and the Crested Seal were- figured (or caricatured) by Egede* under the names respectively of Svartsiide and Klapmiits. He says in the accompanying text that Seals are of different sorts and sizes, but have all the same shape, except the Kla/pmutSj which is the only species he ex- pressly distinguishes in the text. Ellis,t in 1748, again rudely figured these two species under the names "Blackside Seal" and " Seal with a Oawl ". Although he gives of them no descrip- tions, subsequent systematic writers have seen fit to cite the names and figures given by both these writers, but their interest is purely historic. The same year (1748) was also published in Alison's " Voy- age "$ the first specially important account of the Southern Sea- Elephant (" Sea Lion" of Anson), since it became later the basis of Llnne's Phoca leonina, and, besides, is one of the fullest and most explicit descriptions of the habits of the species extant. Steller, in his memoir entitled " De Bestiis Marinis", published in 1751,§ distinguished three species of Seals as follows : "Dis- tinguo auteni phocas ratione magnitudinis in tres species, in ! maximam, quae magnitudine Taurum superat, ac solummodo in oceano Orientali a gradu latitudiiiis 56. ad 50. occurrit, ac in colis | Kamtschaticis Lachtak vocatur. Mediae magnitudinis, quae om- , nes Tigridum iristar, multis exiguis maculis variae sunt, 3. in- fimae magnitudinis, itt Oceanica, quae tain in inari Balthicoy quam circa portum Sti Archangeli, in Suecia, JSorwegia, Amer- ica et Kaintschatka capitur, et lacustris dulcium aquarum mono- chroa sen unicolor, ut Baikali ea coloris argeutei." The first two of the species here thus briefly mentioned, have been quoted by Schreber, Erxleben, Gmelin, and by some later writers, as, respectively, " Phoca maxima, Steller" (also u Lachtak, Steller"),. and "Phoca ocean-tea, Steller," the first being referred to Phoca ~barbata, and the other sometimes to Phoca mtulina and sometimes to Phoca grcenlandica. In 1744 Parsons published a paper entitled "Some Account * Det gamle Gr^nlauds uye Perlustration, eller Natural-Historic, og Besk- rivelse over diet gamle Gr0nlands Situation, Luft, Temperament og Beskaffen- hed, etc. 1741. Plate facing p. 46. He also figures the common Seal under the name Spraglet. t A Voyage to Hudson's Bay, etc., 1748, plate facing p. 134. t A Voyage around the World in 1740-1744, p. 172. $ Nov. Comm. Acad. Petrop., torn, ii, p. 290. TECHNICAL HISTORY SPECIES. 423 of the Phoca, Vitulus marinus, or Sea-Calf, shewed at Charing- Cross, in February, 1742->43",* containing a plate illustrative of the animal. Figure one, it is said by the author, " Bepresents the Phoca lying upon the right side, that the belly and Parts of Generation may be the better observed." He says the animal was very young, " though Seven Feet and half in Length, having scarce any Teeth, and having Four Holes regularly placed about the naval, as appears by the Figure, which in time become Pa- pillce." This account, as will be noticed later, has figured very prominently in relation to the history of the Bearded Seal (Phoca bdrbata, auct.), especially in reference to its right to a place in the British Fauna. In 1753 the same author, in a paper entitled " A. Dissertation upon the Class of the Phocae Marinae, " t formally described five " species" under the term Phoca, of which three were cari- catured in figures. In the way of criticism of his paper, it is perhaps enough to say that one of his species is a compound of the Manatee and the Sea-Elephant (i.e., "Manati, De Laet" and "Sea-lion, Lord Anson"). Another, based on Grew's "Long-necked Seal", from an unknown locality, is evidently some kind of Otary. His " Common Seal", his " Tortoise-headed Seal", and his "Long-bodied Seal", are evidently Phocids, but the short diagnoses give no distinctive characters, and the spe- cies, as here described, are consequently unrecognizable. The last named, which was originally described, as already noticed, in 1744, has been usually referred, but generally with doubt, to the Phoca barbata, mainly on account of its large size, but his figure gives other characters that render it pretty certain that this is a correct allocation. His ' i Common Seal " has been presumed to be the Phoca vitulina. Two of these were introduced into techni- cal nomenclature by Kerr in 1792, on which Shaw imposed addi- tional names in 1800. In 1758 Linne, in the tenth edition of the " Systema Naturae", gave four species under the genus Phoca, namely ; 1, Phoca ursina (based exclusively on S teller's "Ursus marinus"}; 2, Phoca leonina (based exclusively on Anson's "Sea Lion "); 3, Phoca rosmarus (the Walrus) ; and 4, Plioca vitulina, with its hab- itat defined as "Mari Europaeo". In the twelfth edition of the same work (176G) the third species above named was removed to the1 genus Tricliechus, and Ellis's figure of the "Seal with a * Phil. Trans., vol. xlii, for the years 1742 and 1743 (1744), p. 383, pi. i. tlbid., vol. xlvii, 1751-1752 (1753), pp. 109-122, pi. vi. 424 FAMILY PHOCIDJE. Cawl" is cited under Phoca leonina, thereby incepting the con- fusion of the Crested Seal of the Arctic Seas with the Sea-Ele- phant of the Southern Hemisphere which prevailed more or less generally for the next quarter of a century. Phoca riitrlimi was thus the only northern Phocid here distinctively recognized. A second notice of Seals on the basis of Steller's observations, and one that has figured prominently in the history of the sub- ject, is contained in Kraschinenikow's "History of Kamt- schatka", published in 1764,* — a work avowedly based largely on Steller's MSS. Grieve's translation of the passage relating to the Seals is as follows : " There are reconed to be four sorts of this animal ; the very largest of which is catched from 56° to 64° of north latitude. This sort differs from the others in its bulk, which exceeds that of a large ox. The second species is about the size of a yearling bullock. Their skin is of different colours, something like the skin of a tyger, having several spots of equal largeness on the back, with a white and yellowish belly. Their young ones are as white as snow. The third is yet less than the former. Its skin is yellowish, with large cherry-col- oured circles, which take up near the half of its surface. The fourth kind is seen in the large lakes of Baikaal and Oronne. Its size is like those that are found near Archangel; and their colour is whitish." These indications, though so vague, have served, either in part or solely, as the basis of several of the species of the later systematic writers, they being referred to numerically as the " First sort of Seal", the " Fourth sort of Seal", etc. The first really important account of the Seals of the North- ern Seas is that given by Cranz in 1765, in his "Historic von Gronland," in which he enumerates and briefly characterizes all of the five species of Seals hunted or commonly met with in Greenland. Although his descriptions are in most cases meagre, and relate more to the habits of the species and to their useful products than to their external characters, his species are, from one circumstance or another, so easily recognized that there has never been much uncertainty in regard to them. *I cite Grieve's (English) translation (1 vol., 4to) from the original Rus- sian, published in 1764, wherein the matter relating to the Seals appears at page 116. There is also a French translation (2 vols. 12mo) published in 1767, which is often quoted by French authors. The work quoted by Ger- man writers as Steller's " Beschreibung von den Lande Kamtschatka " (1 vol. 8vo, 1774 — which I have not. been able to see), seems to be, so far as the matter relating to the Seals is concerned, merely a German version of the same work. TECHNICAL HISTORY SPECIES. 425 They are, 1. The Kassigiak (= Phoca vitulina)] 2. Attar soak (= Phoca grcenlandica) ; 3. Neitsek (= Phoca fcetida) ; 4. Neiter- soak, called also Clapmutz (= Cystophora cristata}; and 5. Utsuk (=Erignathus barbatus). The Neitsek or Kinged Seal (Phoca fcetida) appears to be here for the first time indicated. Pennant, in 1771, formally introduced three species into his " Synopsis of Quadrupeds" under English names, the Neitsek appearing under the name "Rough Seal." His description of this species is based wholly on Cranz, and those of the "Harp" and "Hooded" Seals on Egede and Cranz. In 1776 these spe- cies all received systematic names at the hands of Fabricius, in an iuedited MS. in Miiller's "Zoologiae Danicae Prodromus" (p. viii of the Introduction, received after the main body of the work was printed), except the long previously named Kassigiak (Phoca vitulina). Fabricius's names, however, were unaccompa- nied by descriptions, but carried with them the common Ice- landic and Greenlandic names of the species indicated, by means of which they are susceptible of strict identification, aside from their being identified later by Fabricius's own de- scriptions and references to them. The following is a literal transcript of Fabricius's inedited list : "PHOCA leonina capite antice cristato., I. Blandruselr. Gr. -Neitscrsoalc. "Ph. fcetida, I. Utielr. Gr. Neitselc, Neitsilek. "Ph. grcenlandica, I. Vadeselr. Gr. Ata"k. "Ph. barbata, I. Gramselr. Gr. UrJcsulc."* Here is the origin of the names still in current use for three -of the four species here named by Fabricius. t Simultaneously with the publication of Muller's "Prodromus" must have appeared the first fasciculus of the third part of Schreber's "Saugthiere" (as appears by contemporaneous evi- dence, although the completed part bears date 1778), in which all these and two other species of Seals are described, in ad- dition to the common Phoca vitulina. In the text they are mentioned only under vernacular names, but the plate of the * It is worthy of note in this connection that Mtiller himself, on page 1 of the "Prodromus," under Phoca vitulina, cites the names of "Klapiniits" and " Svartside." He then gives a list of Icelandic, Greenlandic, and other vernacular names of Seals, respecting which he says information is desira- ble, and adds "varietates an species'?" Yet Miiller is quite commonly quoted as the authority for these Fabrician names. t The first species of the list bears the name previously given by Linne* to :.the Sea-Lion of the Antarctic Seas. 426 FAMILY PHOCID^E. "Neitsek" bears the name Phoca liispida, between which and Fabricius's Phoca fcetida there is consequently a troublesome question of priority.* In Schreber's work are first formally introduced into a general systematic treatise, the Siberian Seal and the Caspian Seal (based wholly respectively on previous descriptions of the same by Steller and Gmelint), and "Der graue Seehund," commonly referred to Halichoerus grypux. Schreber also described, under the head of Phoca, two species of Utary. His species are the following: 1. Der Seebar, Phoca ursina (= Ursus marinm) ; 2. Derglatte Seelowe, Phoca leonina ( = primarily Anson's Sea Lion); 3. Der zottige Seelowe, Phoca jubata (= primarily Steller's Leo marinus, but including also the Southern Sea-Lion) ; 4. Phoca mtulina ; 5. Der graue Seehund (= Erignatlms barbatus}; 6. Der sibirische Seehund (—Phoca sibirica); 7. Der caspische Seehund (= Ph oca caspica); 8. Der Schwarzside (= Phoca granlandica); 9. Der rauhe Seehund (named Phoca hispida on the plate); 10. Der Klappmiize (= Cystophora cristata}; 11. Der grosse Seehund (= Phoca barbata + H. grypus) ; 12. Der kleine geohrte Seehund, Phoca pusilla. These twelve species, excepting the last, all represent valid species, nine of which belong to the present family. He mentions, however, Olafsen's Gramm-Selur as still another " grosse Seehundsart," but does not formally notice it as a spe- cies. His Der grosse Seehund, it should be further noticed, is based on the Utsuk of Cranz and the Ut-Selur of Olafsen, com- bining an account of the habits of the latter with a description of the external characters of the other. Olavsen (or Olafsen, as more commonly written), in his account of his trdlvels in Iceland, published in 1772, J repeatedly alludes to the various species of Seals met with in Iceland. As already noticed, Olafsen is quoted by Schreber, and quite frequently by later writers. While he describes quite fully their habits, dis- tribution, and products, he has very little to say of their external * For a discussion of tliis point see postea under Phoca fmilda. t Schreber' s "Der caspische Seehund" is based on the account of the Caspian Seal given by Gmelin in 1770, in the third volume (p. 246) of his Reise durch Russland zur Untersuchung der drey Naturreiche. 1 1 cite here the German edition entitled "Des Bice-Lavmands Eggert Olafsens und des Landphysici Biarne Povelsens Reise durch Island, veran- staltet von der Kouiglichen Societat der Wissenschaften in Kopenhagen und beschrieben von bemeldtem Eggert Olafsen. Aus dem Danischeu iiber- setzt. Mit 25 Kupfertafeln und einer neuen Charte iiber Island versehen. Kopenhagen und Leipzig bey Heinecke und Faber, 1774." Zwci Thoilen, -\ : . TECHNICAL HISTORY SPECIES. 427 characters. Yet in the light of present knowledge it is not difficult to determine with considerable certainty the species he mentioned. His " Land-Selur," called also " Wor-Selur " or Spring Seal, be- cause it brings forth its young in the spring (1. c. §§ 83, 329r 524, 651-655,) is evidently the Phoca vitulina, at least in greater part, but may be a general term for the smaller Seals found in Iceland, and hence refer in part to Phoca fcetida. His "Ut- Selur," called also " Wetrar-Selur," or Winter Seal, because it brings forth its young at the beginning of winter (1. c. §§ 329, 651-655) is without doubt the Halichcerus grypus. He says it is much larger than the Land-Selur, but resembles it in appearance, and brings forth its young on the island at the time of the withering of the grass in the month of November (1. c. § 329). He also mentions not only the Walrus as of rare occurrence in Iceland, but enumerates three other species of Seals, two of which are identifiable. One of these is the " Yade- Sal" or "Hav-Sal," said to be as large as the Ut-Selur, or four elles long, but thicker and fatter, with a very strong skin. It is described as being black in color, with large round spots,, which are smaller on the back than on the sides. It swims in a straight line, in great troops, and close together, in a certain order, whence it derives its name " Vada," signifying a swim- ming herd. One of them, commonly the largest, takes the lead, and is called "Sale Konge" (King of the Seals). This species is never seen on the land, but only on the drift-ice, where it is hunted with harpoons, particularly on the Northern Coast. It has its young in April, on the remote outlying rocks and islands, for it goes away in March, and when it comes back in May it has its young with it. This account, in almost every particular, points to the Bearded Seal (Phoca barbata, auct.) as the species indicated, with which the size, coloration, and habits sufficiently agree. Another is the "Blaudru-Selur" or " Blase-Seehund," which is here rarely met with and killed. It has a protuberance re- sembling a bladder on the head over the nose, where the skin is loose, so that the animal can suddenly draw it with the fat down upon the nose. He says it is uncertain whether this is the Phoca leonina of Linne, for the character capite antice cris- tate does not agree. He also raises the question whether it can be the Sea Bear, and decides it in the negative, and gently crit- icises the above-named author for referring all the Seals to one- 428 FAMILY PHOCIDJE. species, under the name Phoca vitulina. In the characters here given we have certainly indicated the Hooded or Crested Seal (Cystoplwra crvstata). The third additional species he gives is called "Gramm- Selur," which he says is also known in Iceland, and refers to its being mentioned in the " Speculo Regali, p. 177," and in "Olaf Tryggeseu's Saga, p. 203." He says it is called commonly u Gram-Selur," and is counted as large as some kinds of whales. "Grain" signifies in the old poets a king 5 the Gram-Selur may be t\\ elve or fifteen Icelandic elles long, and is rare in Iceland ; still they sometimes find it in West-land where examples have been killed on the outermost rocks of Breedefiord. They find it also thrown up on the shore dead, but then no further informa- tion or description of it can be obtained than is found in Olaf Tryggesen's Saga, namely, that it has long hair on the head, particularly around the mouth, therefore it is perhaps a Sea Lion, or the great species which lives in the American Antilles (see, he says, uJoh. Sam. Hallens Xatur-Geschichte der Thiere> p. 593 und 581"), which is also credible. It thus appears that Olaf sen, like the other early writers who refer to the " Gram- Selur," had no personal knowledge of it and spoke of it only from report. It may doubtless therefore be safely treated as a myth. It will be noticed that two species known to frequent Iceland are not here mentioned, namely, the Harp Seal and the Rough Seal. The latter may have been confounded with the Land Seal, but the former can hardly be thus accounted for, especially as Olaf sen on one occasion distinctly refers to its occurrence in Greenland. Only four species are thus apparently referred to by Olafsen as inhabitants of Iceland. He alludes further to the manner of capturing the different kinds of seals in Iceland and the value and uses of their products, and recounts the fables cur- rent among the Icelanders respecting the Seal- tribe, and the estimation in which the animals are held among them. In Erxleben's admirable compilation, entitled " Sy sterna Eegni Animalis," published in 1777, the Earless Seals recognized and briefly diagnosed, are the following : 1. Phoca vitulina, with three unnamed varieties (of which latter more will be said later) ; 2. Phoca grcenlandica ; 3. Phoca hispida ; 4. Phoca cristata (the Klapmtitz of Egede and the Neitsersoak of Cranz = Phoca leonina, capite antice cristato, Fabricius, 1780, but not of Liiine, 1758); 5. Phoca barbata. The Hooded Seal (Cystophora cris- tata) here receives its first tenable specific name. TECHNICAL HISTORY — SPECIES. 429 In 1778 Lepechin* described two species of Seals under the names Phoca oceanica and Phoca leporina. The first is unques- tionably the Phoca grcenlandica of Fabricius and Erxleben, while the other is usually regarded as having been based on the young of the Phoca barbata of the same authors, although in both cases the incisors are described as four in each jaw. The following year (1779) appeared Hermann's elaborate me- moir f (of fifty pages and two plates) on the Monk Seal ("Mtinchs- Robbe, — Phoca monachus") of the Mediterranean Sea — the first explicit account of the species, and a very admirable mon- ograph for this early date. The next year (1780) Fabricius published his "Fauna Grren- landica," in which all the Seals named in Miiller's "Prodromus" are quite satisfactorily described, under the names there first proposed. He, however, erroneously includes among the Seals of Greenland Steller's Sea Bear, under the name Phoca ursina, and concludes his account of the Greenland Seals by mention- ing four other marine animals he had heard of from the Green- landers, but of which he had never seen either skins or skulls, and of which he knew nothing with certainty, namely Singulctop, Imab-ukallia, Atarpicik, and Kongeseteriak. J In 1780, in his " Synopsis der Quadrupeden" (Geographische Geschichte, etc., Theil ii, pp. 419-423), Zimmermann gave the same species that Erxleben did in 1777, and under the same names. In 1782, however, in an appendix to the "Synopsis" (ibid., Theil iii, 1782, pp. 276-278), he added three species under "Phoca," two of them based on Pennant's "History of Quad- rupeds," published in 1781, as follows: 1. " Phoca australis. Falkland Seal Pennant ii, 521"; 2. " Phoca fasciata. Kubbon Seal Pennant ii, p. 523 "5 3. Phoca leporina, Lepech. The first two are for the first time named 5 the first, however, is an Otary. Zimmermann also says, "Le phoque a Yentre blanc, Buifon Suppl. vi, pi. 44, p. 310, ist wohl Phoca monachus"-, yet subsequent writers of less discrimination held it for a distinct species. Bufibn, in 1782, in the sixth volume of the " Supplement" of his "Histoire naturelle," recognized eight species of " Les Phoques sans oreilles ou Phoques proprernent dits" (some of whichy *Act. Acad. Sci. Imp. Petrop., i, 1777 (1778), pp. 259,264, pll. vi-ix. tBerschaft. d. Berlinische Gesselschaft naturf. Freunde, Band iv, 1779, pp. 456-509, pll. xii, xiii (external characters). t Respecting these see posted,, pp. 432, 433. 430 FAMILY however, really covered several distinct species), as follows : 1. Le grand Phoque a museau ride (=Macrorhinus leoninus); 2. Le Phoque a ventre blanc (=priniarily Monachus albiventer, with an original description and a good figure, from a specimen taken October 28, 1777, in the Adriatic Sea, but to which he er- roneously referred Parsons's Long-bodied Seal, he giving a trans- lation of Parsons's description and a /copy of his figure, and also the TJtsuk of Cranz, and a large Seal mentioned by Charlevoix as found on "les cotes de 1'Acadie7'); 3. Le Phoque a capu- chon ( = Cystophora cristata) $ 4. Le Phoque a croissant (= Phoca grcenlandica, at least mainly) ; 5. Le Phoque IsTeit-soak (Phoca fcetida); 6. Le Phoque Laktak de Kamtschatka (=Erignatlms barbatus) ; 7. Le Phoque Gassigiak (= the Seal "appelee Tcas- sigidk par les Groenlandois" ; consequently Phoca vitulina) ; "8. Le Phoque comniun ( = primarily Phoca vitulina, but with allu- sions to other species). Of these eight species two are composite, and one is purely nominal.* In the same year (1782) also appeared Molina's work on the natural "history of Chili, t in which, under the head of Phoca, are described four species, all claimed by the author to be new. These are: 1. "L'Urique, Phoca lupina" (a Fur-Seal, or at least an Otary); 2. "II Porco marina, Phoca porcina" (probably the young of the next) 5 3. "II Lame, Phoca elcphantina" (= Phoca leonina, Linne", 1758 and 1766) j 4. " II Leon inarin, Phoca leo- nina," (^Otaria jubata, auct.). In 1784 Boddaert appears to have added (I have not the workf at hand) four synonyms, as follows: 1. Phoca albiventer (=P. monachus, Herm.) ; 2. Phoca scmilunaris ( =P. grcenlandica) j 3. *TMs enumeration, however, is a great improvement upon that given by the same author in 1765, in the thirteenth volume of his " Histoire naturelle", where all the Seals then known are referred to four species. " . . . . le premier (pi. xlv) est le phoque de notre oce"an, dont il y a plusieurs varie"- t€s " ; called also ' ' le Veau marin ou Phoque de nos mers ". The second, sup- posed to he "le phoca des anciens", and which is figured in pi. liii, is a young Eared Seal, the PTioca pusilla of later writers, of which he says, "on nous a assure" que Findividu que nous vu venoit des Indes", etc. Later it is called "le petit phoque noir des Indes & du Levant". (See further, antea, p. 194. ) The third is the Seal described by Parsons in 1743 — the Long-bodied Seal of this and many subsequent authors— here called "le grand phoque des mers du Nord". The fourth is Anson's "Sea Lion", but which here covers also "les grands phoques des mers du Canada, dont parle Denis, sous le nom de loups marins", to which he is also inclined to refer the larger Seal described by Parsons ! tSaggio Sulla Storia Naturale del Chili, pp. 275-290, 341. t Elenchus Animalium, vol. i, 1784, pp. 170, 171. TECHNICAL HISTORY SPECIES. 431 Phoca citcuUata (=P. crisiata, Erxl.) ; 4. Phoca maculata (? = P. vitulina). The next work of importance in this connection is Gmelin's -•Systema Naturae", which appeared in 1788. Here Erxleben's five species appear without change of name, and in addition to them the Monk Seal (Phoca monachus) of the Mediterranean.* Under Phoca vitulina are three named varieties, to wit, botnica, xibirica ("colore argenteo. Habitat in lacubus Baikal et Orom") and caspica ("colore vario"), which are respectively Erxleben's varieties «, <3, and ^, and Schreber's "graue Seehund", asibi rische Seehunde", and "caspische Seehund". In 1790 and 1791 Fabricius published his celebrated memoir on the Seals of Greenland, t in which all the Greenland species are described in great detail, and the skulls of Phoca grcenland- ica, Cystophora cristata, Urignathus barbatus, and Halichcerus grypus are for the first time figured, while the last-mentioned species is for the first time named. In this series of papers the general subject is exhaustively treated in all its bearings, nearly eighty pages being devoted to the "Svartside" (Harp Seal, Phoca grcenlandica) alone j twenty -four to the Fiordssel (Einged Seal, Phoca fcetida) 5 twenty- two (including nearly four pages of bibliographical references) to the " Spraglede Sa3l" (Harbor Seal, Pkoca vitulina)', about the same number each to the uKlap- mydsen" (Hooded Seal, Cystophora cristata); and the uEem- melssel" (Bearded Seal, Erignatlms barbatus). In the bibliogra- phy of these species are, however, given various references that are not pertinent, particularly under Phoca cristata, under which name are confounded the Sea-Elephant of the Southern Hemi- sphere with the Crested Seal of the Northern. The Halichcerus grypus is mentioned (but not fully described), and the skull figured, under the names " Krumsuudede Sael (Phoca grypus)". As regards changes in nomenclature, he abandons the names fcetida and leonina respectively for hispida and cristata. His memoir is greatly marred by the introduction into its closing portion of various species (already referred to in his "Fauna Grrenlandiea") that are either mythical or have no relation to the Greenland fauna, as the Sea-Bear ( "S^ebiyfrne, Phoca ursina)", the "Sviinssel (Phoca porcina) ", the " S^ehare (Phoca leporina)", *Ex a Hermann, Act. Nat. Scrutat. Berol. iv, p. 246, t. xii, xiii." t"Udf0rlig Beskrivelse over de Gr0nlandske Saele", Skriv. af Naturk. Selsk., Iste Bind, Iste Hefte, 1790, pp. 79-157, 2det Hefte, 1791, pp. 73-170, Tab. xii, xiii. 432 FAMILY PHOCID.&. and the "Atarpiak", making nine species formally introduced (besides u Phoca grypus", which is treated incidentally at the close of the account of the " Sviinsael"). The Phoca leporina of Lepechin is a synonym of his Phoca barbata, but the Phoca lep- orina of Fabricius has doubtless no foundation except in the imagination of the Greenlanders. These doubtful or mythical species have been especially investigated by Mr. "Robert Brown. The Phoca ursina was based on a part of a cranium which was "full of holes", but so much uncertainty prevailed in Fabricius's mind respecting the nature of the creature it represented that he makes the same fragment the basis for the introduction into the Greenland fauna ("Fauna Grrenlandica", p. 6) of two spe- cies,— Steller's Sea-Cow (" Trichechus manatusJ\=Rhytina gigas, auct.) as well as Steller's Sea-Bear. Says Mr. Brown, " What- ever it is, there can, I think, be scarcely a doubt as to the ex- clusion of Trichechus manatus and Phoca ursina from the Green- land fauna; nor can their place as yet be supplied by any other species. Prof. Steenstrup thinks that it was a portion of the skull of a Sea- wolf (Anarrhichas). The situation of the teeth and the nature of this fish's cellular skull well agree with his description of the skull as 'full of holes7 Hr. Bolbroe, who understands the Eskimo language intimately, tells me that the word [Auvekwjah] means a i little walrus', and that in all probability it was only the skull of a young walrus, an animal not at all familiar to Fabricius, as they are chiefly confined to one spot, and the natives fear to go near that locality. Fabri- cius may have only written the description from recollection; and memory, assisted by preconceived notions, may have led him into error in the description of the long teeth, which after all might, without great trouble, be made to refer to the denti- tion of the young walrus This opinion is strengthened by a passage in Fabricius's account of the walrus, where he again is in doubt whether a certain animal is the young of the walrus or the dugong So that, after all, perhaps the Amekmjak was only the young of the walrus ; and this opinion I am on the whole inclined to acquiesce in".* The other species of Fabricius's supposed Phocw are thus re- ferred to by Mr. Brown : " Fabricius has notified in his fauna [and noticed them more at length in his later memoir on the Greenland Seals already cited] many species of supposed Seals, *Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1868, p. 358; Man. Nat. Hist., etc., Greenland,, Mam., p. 29. TECHNICAL HISTORY SPECIES. 433 &c., under various Eskimo names, but which he was unable to decipher. Hr. Fleischer, Colonibestyrer of Jacobshavn, has aided me in resolving these : "1. Siyuktok, having a long snout and a body similar to Phoca grcenlandicd) perhaps P. ursina. This is apparently some Eskimo perversion, if interpreted properly ; for I am assured that it is only the name of the Eider Duck (Somateria mollis- sima). [In his memoir in the i Skrivter af Xaturhistorie- Selskabet' (vol. i, part ii, p. 163) it is called l Sviinsselen (Phoca porcina) ', and he refers to it such diverse creatures as Molina's ' Phoca porcina' and Pennant's l Bottle-nosed Seal/ and devotes nearly four pages to its consideration.] U2. Imab-ukullia^ a Seal with a snow-white coat, * the eye pre- senting a red iris, probably P. leporina', is a rare albino of the Netsilc (Payomys fcetidus). The meaning of the word is the Sea- hare. [In the i Skrivter' (1. c. p. 168) this is called ;S0eharen (Phoca leporinay, of which Lepechin's i Phoca leporina7 and Schreber's 'sibirische Seehund' are cited as synonyms.] " 3. Atarpiak or atarpek, 'the smallest species of Seal, not ex- ceeding the size of the hand, of a whitish color, and a blackish spot of the form of a half-moon on each side of the body.' This description does not correspond to the meaning of the word, which is < the Brown Seal'. [This in the < Skrivter' (1. c. p. 169) appears as the i Mende Art, Atarpiak', without a Latin name or synonyms.] Hr. Fleischer thinks that it is only a myth, as is — "4. Kongesteriak [not mentioned in the i Skrivter'], which has, < according to the description given by the natives, some resemblance to the Sea-ape described by Mr. Heller '. This is one of the northern myths." * In 1792 appeared Kerr's "Animal Kingdom", the title-page of which states it to be "A translation of that part of the Sys- tema Naturae, as lately published by Professor Gmelin of Gcet- tingen, together with numerous additions from more recent zoological writers and illustrated with copper plates." In this work (pp. 121-128) nineteen species appear under the generic name Phoca, with five additional varieties, among which we find the real origin of quite a number of names currently attributed to much later authors. The species and varieties here enumer- ated are the following, the new names being distinguished by the use of thick type: 1. Phoca ursina; 2. P. leonina (=Bot- *Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1868, p. 360; Man. Nat. Hist., etc., Greenland, pp. 31,32. Misc. Pub. No. 12 28 434 FAMILY PHOCID2E. tled-nosed Seal of Pennant); 3. P. jubata; 4. P. mtulina (with vars. botnica, sibirica, caspica) ; 5. P. monachus ; 6. P. grcenlan- dica (with var. nigra); 7. P. liispida (with var. quadrata = " Square Phipper, Arct. Zool. i, 161"); 8. P. cristata; 9. P. barbata; 10. P. pusilla (an Eared Seal) ; 11. P. chilensis ( = P. porcina, Molina) ; 12. P. mutica ( = Long-necked Seal of Par- sons— an Eared Seal); 13. P. australis (= "Falkland Seal, Penn. Hist. Quad., n. 378"); 14. P. testudo (= Tortoise-head Seal, Pennant) ; 15. P. fasciata ("Harnassed Seal" = Bubbon Seal, Pennant) ; 16. P. laniger ( = Phoca leporina, Lepechin) ; 17. P. punctata ("Is speckled all over the body, head, and limbs. Penn. Hist. Quad. p. 523. Inhabits the seas about Kamtschatka and the Kurile Islands"); 18. P. maculata ("The body is spotted with brown. Penn. Hist. Quad. p. 523. In- habits the coasts about the Kurile Islands. This species is very scarce ") ; 19. P. nigra (" Has a peculiar conformation of the legs. Penn. Hist. Quad. p. 523. Inhabits the coast about the Kurile Islands. This and the two last species are mentioned by Mr. Pennant as being obscurely described in the manu- scripts of Steller. What the peculiarity in the conformation of the hind legs, in the Black Seal, consists of, is not said"). In this case the " numerous additions" are all from Pennant, and embrace nine new names, seven of which are specific and two varietal. In each case explicit reference is made to Pen- nant's species. Kerr's work has been so completely overlooked or ignored by subsequent writers that most of his new names have been attributed to Shaw and other still later sources. Pennant, in 1793, published the third and last edition of his " History of Quadrupeds." Although he employed only ver- nacular names, his descriptions are well drawn, and some of them are important from their being the basis, wholly or in part, of several technical names imposed by later writers. Al- though almost exclusively a compilation, the matter relating to the Seals reflects fairly the then present state of knowledge respecting these animals. As it was, furthermore, the last gen- eral account of the Seals published prior to the year 1800, it may well be taken as an exponent of the subject as known a few years prior to that date. Under the term " Seal" Pennant embraced all of the Pinni- peds then known, except the Walruses, the term being equiva- lent to "P/ioca" of more technical writers of the same period. The species he recognized are the following : * 1. " Common Seal," * L. c., vol. ii, pp. 270-291. TECHNICAL HISTORY SPECIES. 435 of which he says, "Inhabit most quarters of the globe, but in greatest multitudes towards the North and the South ; swarm near the Arctic circle, and the lower parts of South America, in both oceans ; near the southern end of Terra del Fuego / and even among the floating ice as low as south lat. 60. 21. Found in the Caspian Sea, in the lake Aralj and lakes Baikal and Oron, which are fresh waters. They are lesser than those which frequent salt waters ; but so fat that they seem almost shapeless. In lake Baikal some are covered with silvery hairs ; others are yellowish, and have a large dark-colored mark on the hind part of the back, covering almost a third of the body." 2. "Pied Seal" (= Le Phoque a ventre blanc, Buflbn, = Monachus albiven- ter); 3. "Mediterranean Seal" (= Phoca monachus, Hermann, = Monachus albiventer) ; 4. "Long-necked Seal" (of "Grew's Museum, 95," and of Parsons = some indeterminable species of Otary); 5. " Falkland Isle Seal" (= Arctocephalus australis=A. falklandicus, auct.); 6. "Tortoise-headed Seal" ( = Tortoise- headed Seal, Parsons, — undeterminable); 7. "Eubbon Seal," based on a description (?) and a drawing communicated to him by "Doctor Pallas," of a mutilated skin received by the latter "from one of the remotest Kuril islands." The drawing "is en- graven on the title of Division III, Pinnated Quadrupeds." This is a species described much later by Pallas as Phoca equestris ; 8. "Leporine Seal" (= Phoca leporina, Lepechin); 9. "Great Seal" (= Phoca larlata, at least mainly); 10. "Eough Seal" ( = Neitsek, Cranz ; Phoca hispida, Schreber) ; 11. Porcine Seal, (Phoca porcina, Molina); 12. "Eared Seal" (described from a specimen in Parkinson's Museum, from the Straits of Magellan, and probably a young Otaria jubata); 13. "Hooded Seal" ( = Cystophora cristata, unmixed with any other species) ; 14. "Harp Seal" (Phoca grcenlandica) ; 15. "Little Seal" (= Le petit Phoque, Buffon ; based on a specimen of a young Eared Seal, originally supposed to have come from India — undeter- minable); 16. " Ursine Seal" (a compound of all the Sea-Bears or Fur-Seals); 17. "Bottle-nose Seal" (= Sea Elephant of the Southern Seas. A good description is given of the external characters of both sexes, that of the female being based on a "well-preserved specimen in the Museum of the Eoyal So- ciety"— the specimen previously described by Parsons under the name Manatie!); 18. "Leonine Seal" (= a compound of the Northern and Southern Sea Lions); 19. " Urigene Seal" (== Phoca lupina, Molina). 436 FAMILY PHOCID^E. Of these nineteen species six are Otaries ; of the remaining- thirteen one is described for the first time 5 three are pure syno- nyms, and two are not certainly determinable. Three valid species are confounded under the name " Common Seal," which embraces (a) PJwca vitulina, (b) P. caspica, (c) P. sibirica, the two last already thus named as varieties of Phoca vitulina by Gmelin. With this exception, all of the species of Earless Seals of the Northern Hemisphere, up to that time indicated, were duly recognized and clearly distinguished by Pennant, as well also as one from the Southern Seas. In 1798 Thunberg, in a small work on the mammalian fauna of Sweden,* recognized five species of Seals, three of which appeared under new names, but they are so briefly described it is nearly impossible to determine to what his various names re- late, especially as he gives no synonyms, and no subsequent author appears to have been able to positively identify them. The names are accompanied by short Latin diagnoses, which I here transcribe: 1. i(P[hoca] hispida : corpore pallido fusco- maculato." He adds the Swedish names " SMI, GrdsMl, Hofs- skdl." Perhaps the Phoca "hispida" of authors, but of this there is no certainty. 2. "P.sericea: corpore albido iinmacu- lato." "Stat-skal." Undeterminable. 3. "P.canina: corpore griseo iininaculato." " Vikare-sMl och Grd Vikare-skal." 4. UP» vitulina: corpore fusco." " Svart Vikare-skal." 5. "P. varie- gata : corpore griseo nigro-maculato." " Morunge" This by some authors is judged to be Phoca vitulina. Eight of the eleven pages devoted to the Seals in this work are occupied with the account of i^he present species. Thus Thunberg ob- tained the distinction of adding five species to the numerous list of Seals too inadequately described for recognition, and of contributing three new names to the synonymy of the subject. Pausing now for a hasty retrospect, we find that prior to the year 1800 the following species (exclusive of synonyms and un- identifiable " species"), named in the order of their first recogni- tion in technical nomenclature, had already made their appear- ance in works on systematic zoology : 1. Phoca vitulina ; 2. Na- crorhinus leoninus ; 3. Cystophora cristata (1-3 as early as, or prior to, 1758) 5 4. Phoca fcetida ; 5. Phoca grcenlandica ; 6. Erig- nathus barbatus (4-6, 1766) ; 7. Monachus albiventer (1779); 8» * Beskrifning pa Svenske Djur. Forsta Classen, om Mammalia eller Dtlg- gandejuren, af Carl Peter Thunberg, Upsala, 1798. 8 vo. pp. 100. Sealsr pp. 85-96. TECHNICAL HISTORY — SPECIES. 437 Phoca fasciata (1783) ; 9. Halichcerus grypus (1791). Two other species had been distinguished as varieties, namely, 10. Phoca caspica; 11. Phoca sibirica (both 1788). As will be seen later, only two northern species (Macrorhinus angustirostris and the West Indian Seal), and three others from the Southern Seas, remained to be added, although the literature of the subject has since been burdened by the addition of not less than sixty synonyms ! In the year 1800 Shaw, in his "General Zoology " (Quad- rupeds, vol. i, pp. 250-272) redescribed Pennant's nineteen species, under Latin as well as English names, bestowing new Latin names upon five of them, none of which, however, have proved to be valid species. So far as the Seals are concerned, his work is little more than an abridged paraphrase of Pen- nant, being strictly a compilation (based almost wholly on Pen- nant), with the most of the bibliographical references omitted (he cites usually only Gmelin and Pennant), with the form of the matter changed by throwing the descriptions of the external characters into brief Latin diagnoses, duplicated in English.* His species are the following, the new names added being here printed in heavy type : 1. Phoca mtulina ; 2. P/toc&bicolor(=Le Phoque a ventre blanc, Buffon, hence Monaclms albiventer) ; 3. » \ Phoca monachus; 4. Phoca longicollis (= Long-necked Seal, Pen- nant); 5. Phoca falklandica (= Falkland Isle Seal, Pennant = Phoca australiSjZtimm.); 6. Phoca testudinea (Tortoise-head Seal, Pennant, ex Parsons = Phoca testudo, Kerr) ; 7. Phoca fasciata {= Eubbon Seal, Pennant); 8. Phoca Icporina (= Leporine Seal, Pennant ; Lepechin not cited) ; 9. Phoca barbata ; 10. Phoca • hispida ( = Eough Seal, Pennant) ; 1 1 . Phoca porcina (= Porcine Seal, Pennant; Molina not cited) ; 12. Phoca flavescens(= Eared .Seal, Pennant); 13. Phoca cristata ; 14. Phoca grcenlandica ; 15. Phoca pusilla; 16. Phoca ursina ; 17. Phoca leonina ( = Anson's Sea-Lion); 18. Phoca jubata (= all the Sea-Lions then known); 19. Phoca lupina (Urigene Seal, Pennant ; Molina not cited). * The author of the work under consideration thus expresses its raison d'etre : ' ' The general history of quadrupeds has been so often detailed in the various works on Natural History, that a fresh publication on the subject must of necessity labour under peculiar disadvantages. The valuable works of the Count de Buffon and Mr. Pennant have diffused such a degree of in- formation on these subjects, that it does not seem an easy task to improve upon their plan otherwise than by the introduction of the Linnaean method of arrangement, the rectification of errors relative to synonyms, the addition of proper specific characters, and the introduction of new species " — Gen. ZooL, Introd. to vol. i, pp. vii, viii. 438 FAMILY PHOCIIXSJ. Under the generic term Phoca are here of course included the Otaries as well as the Phocids. These nineteen species are sim- ply those of Pennant, with the addition of Latin names. In 1806 Turton brought out his " General System of Nature77 (the dedication is dated 1800) in which (vol. i, pp. 38-40) nine- teen species of Phoca are given, they being the selfsame nine- teen enumerated by Kerr in 1792. Peron,* in 1816, described in great detail the Sea-Elephant of the Southern Seas under the name Phoca proboscidea, claiming that the Linnaean name was not strictly tenable. He also named t Bu if oil's "Phoque a ventre blanc" Phoca leucog aster ( = Phoca monachus, Hermann), and gave the name Phoca resima$ to "le grand Phoque des iles St.-Pierre et St.-Paul d' Amster- dam, dont Macartney, Cox et Mortimer nous ont successivernent donne Pinteressante histoire" (= Macrorhimis leoninus, fern.), thus introducing three synonyms. In the same year (1816) appeared the second part of Oken's "Lehrbuch der Katurgeschichte", in which sixteen species are enumerated under Phoca. The only noteworthy points are bestowal upon Molina's Phoca lupina of the name tetradactyla, the omission of all of Kerr's and Shaw's new names, and the 1 inclusion of three of Thuuberg's (namely Phoca sericea, P. canina, and P. variegata). Desmarest gave in 1817 § a very fair monograph of the Seals, ( especially considering the date of publication. He distinguishes, first, with commendable discrimination, seven species " sans oreilles " which he considers are not sufficiently well known to take a place in a list of the species, or to be referred with cer- tainty to other species. These are very properly : 1. Phoca Ion- gicollis, Shaw; 2. P. tcstudinea, Shaw; 3. P.fasciata, Shaw; 4. . P.punctata, "Encycl. angl.";|| 5. P. maculata, "Encycl. angl."; * Voy. aux Terr. Austr. vol. ii, 1816, pp. 32-66, pi. xxxii. t L. c., p. 47, footnote. JL. c., p. 66. f Nouv. Diet. d'Hist. Nat., vol. xxv, article "Phoque", 1817, pp. 544-590. || The "Encycl. angl." here quoted by Desmarest, and later by F. Cuvier and Lesson, and by Fischer as "Enc. Brit.," is doubtless Rees's "Cyclo- paedia ; or, Universal Dictionary of Arts, Sciences, and Literature," in which I find under "PHOCA" (vol. xxviii, of the "first American edition," with- out date, but given in catalogues as published 1806-1824), the names here cited by Desmarest, as well as additional ones cited by Fischer (see beyond, p. 446). The authorship of the article is not given, but the editor of the work states that the zoological portions were chiefly prepared by Donovan. The matter relating to the Seals could scarcely be more noxious, the ac- TECHNICAL HISTORY — SPECIES. 439 6. Phoque tigre, Krascheninikow ; 7. Le Phoque grumm-selur des Islandaises, "Ann. d'Olaf Tryggesen et le Speculum Kegale". Eleven species are admitted as valid, among which appear two under new names ; eight may be considered as representatives of valid species, the other four being synonyms, but not in all counts of even the more common species being very meagre and erroneous, while many of the less known are introduced with such inadequate descrip- tions that from these alone they are mostly indeterminable. Although vir- tually anonymous, as well as worthless, they have been dragged to light by the above-named and other writers, but they always appear in the waste lumber of unidentifiable species. To show the nature of this rubbish, and for the purpose of elucidating the references to it which follow, I quote ver- batim and entire the portions in question, and adding thereto the real origin and basis of the names here appearing. Phoca "mutica; Long-necked Seal. Body slender, without claws on the fore- feet." [The ' ' Long-necked Seal" of Parsons ( —Phoca mutica, Kerr), which, as already stated, is some undeterminable species of Otary.] Phoca "testudo; Tortoise Seal. Head resembling a tortoise; neck slender. It is said to inhabit many European shores ; the species is, how- ever, but little known." [The Tortoise-headed Seal of Parsons and the Phoca testudo of Kerr. J Phoca " laniger; Leporine Seal. It has four fore-teeth in each jaw; the upper lip is thick, with long, thick whiskers ; the fur is soft and uneven ; the feet have nails, and its length is about six feet and one-half. It inhabits the White Sea, Iceland, and the Frozen Ocean." [The Phoca leporina of Lepechin (=Phoca laniger, Kerr).] Phoca "punctata; Speckled Seal. Body, head, and limbs speckled. It in- habits the seas of Kamtschatka, and the Kurile islands." [The Phoca punctata of Kerr. ] Phoca "maculata; Spotted Seal.. Body spotted with brown. It inhabits the Kurile seas, and is very scarce." [The Phoca maculata of Kerr. ] Phoca "nigra; Black Seal. Hind legs peculiarly formed. It is found on the coasts of the Kurile seas ; but the structure of its legs has not been accurately ascertained." [The Phoca nigra of Kerr.] Kerr's references show that the last three species were unquestionably de- rived from the following passage in Pennant : "Other obscure species in those [Kurile] seas, which are mentioned in Steller's MSS., are, I. A middle-sized Seal, elegantly speckled in all parts ; II. One with brown spots, scarcer than the rest ; III. Ablack species with a peculiar conformation of the hind legs." — PENNANT'S History of Quadrupeds, third edition (1793), vol. ii, p. 276. None of these species make their first appearance here, they all occurring in Kerr. As Kerr (see antea, pp. 433, 434) cites Pennant in each case, and also Parsons and Lepechin respectively in the three instances where Pennant's species are based on these authors, the above-given names are thus strictly identifiable. Whether these names and diagnoses were here copied from Kerr or from Turton it is impossible to say, as Turton also gives them, but entirely without reference to previous authors. It thus happens that neither Turton nor the "Cyclopedia" gives us any direct clue to their origin. 440 FAMILY PHOCID^E. cases referable with certainty to other species. Three nominal species of previous authors are correctly allocated. All are in- troduced under the generic name (or rather " sous-genre" as he terms it) Phoca, and all are true Phocids. His accepted species are the following : 1. Phoca proboscidea ; 2. Phoca coxii (sp. nov.= " Sea Lion, John Henry Cox, Description of the Island called St.-Paulo by the Dutch, and by the English" = P. resima, Pe*ron = MacrorMnus leoninus, female) ; 3. Phoca monachus (correctly covers P. bicolor, Shaw, and P. albiventer Bodd.) ; 4. Phoca grcenlandica (includes P. oceanica, Lepechin); 5. Phoca cristata; 6. Phoca leporina (ex Lepechin) ; 7. Phoca vitulina ; 8. Phoca maculata (ex Boddaert); 9. Phoca hispida (= P.fwtida); 10. Phoca lakhtak (sp. nov. = Lachtak, Krascheninikow) ; 11. Phoca lupina (ex Molina). Only six of these are valid, to which may be added one from the list of doubtful species, making seven in all. In 1820 Desmarest gave a second account of the Earless Seals in the "Encyclopedic methodique" (vol. clxxxii, Mammal- ogie, Part i, 1820, pp. 237-247, Part ii, 1822, 541), recognizing thirteen species as valid, all of which are referred, as before, to Pe"ron7s "subgenus" Phoca. They are: 1. Phoca proboscidea (= Macrorhinus leoninus) $ 2. Phoca ansoni (cites " Phoca leonina, Linn., Gmel., Erxl."), based in part on a skull of Otaria jubata, and in part on Anson's Sea Lion, which is his Phoca probos- cidea; 3. Phoca byroni (ex Blainville MSS., based, it is stated, on a skull in the Hunterian collection labelled " Sea Lion from the Island of Tinian, by Commodore Byron"; = Macrorhinus leoninus); 4. Phoca cristata; 5. Phoca monachus ; 6. Phoca ocean- ica; 7. Phoca leporina; 8. Phoca vitulina; 9. Phoca grcen- landica; 10. Phoca fcetida; 11. Phoca barbata; 12. Phoca leptonyx (" Blainv.") ; 13. Phoca albicauda (—Phoca groenlandica). Of these thirteen species three (Phoca ansonij P. byroni, and P. albicauda) are here first named ; all are nominal. Two other nominal species are Lepechin's Phoca oceanica and P. leporina^ leaving eight valid species. Desmarest appends a list of eleven species, briefly characterized, "qui sont bien moins connus" than those more formally recognized, these being as follows: 1. Phoca lupina ; 2. Phoca coxii / 3. Phoca longicollis ; 4. Phoca testudi- nea; 5. Phoca fasciata; 6. Phoca punctata ; 7. Phoca maculata ; 8. Phoca nigra ; 9. Le Phoque lakhtak ( = Phoca laktaJc, Desm., 1817) : 10. Le Phoque tigre; 11. Le Phoque grumm-selur. The present enumeration differs much from the same author's TECHNICAL HISTORY SPECIES. 441 former one. It includes as valid one more species, while the list of doubtful ones contains three more, including the two "new species " (P. coxii and P. lackhtcik) described by him three years before. Plioca oceanica is raised from a synonym to the rank of a valid species ; Phoca foetida appears in place of P. hispida ; Plioca luplna is transferred to the doubtful list, and two nomi- nal species are added. Altogether there is an increase of two. valid species (P. barbata and P. leptonyx), making eight in all (or nine with P.fasciata, given as doubtful). Blainville, the same year (1820,) himself published descrip- tions of the species accredited to him by Desmarest, namely, Phoca byronia * and Phoca leptonyx ( = Stenorhynchus leptonyx, F. Cuvier), both based on specimens in the Museum of the Royal College of Surgeons of London. Mlsson, in 1820, in his " Skandinavisk Fauna", described Phoca vitulina under the name Phoca variegata, Phoca foetida as Phoca annellata, Halichcerus grypus as Halichcerus griseus, and Cystophora cristata as Cystophora borealis. In 1822, Ohoris, in his "Voyage pittoresque autour du Monde," figured and described a Seal under the name "Chien de nier du detroit de Behring" (pi. viii of the livraison treating of Kamtschatka, etc.). The figure is exceedingly inartistic, but the coloration agrees very well with a common phase of Phoca vitulina. Its only importance turns on the fact that it later became the Phoca chorisi of Lesson. The figure is often referred to as being unaccompanied by a description, but at p. 12 of the livraison above cited, occurs the following: "Phoque du detroit de Behring, blanc, tachete de petites marques noires ; il differe cependant de celui des lies Aleoutiennes qui est d'un blanc sale, et n'a presque point de taches. Dans les lies Kou- riles on en trouve encore une autre espece, mais tout-a-fait noire, inarquetee de petites taches blanches en form d'annelets [Phoca foetida f]. Sa grandeur toutefois est generalement de quatre pieds a quatre pieds et demi." In 1824, F. Cuvier, in his paper on the classification of the Seals, already noticed,! in which he divided the Earless Seals into five generic groups, gave to the young Seal figured and described in his livraison ix of his "Histoire Naturelle des Mammiferes" as the "Phoque cominun", the specific name dis- color (= Phoca fostida), referring it at the same time to his * Jonrn. de Physique, vol. xci, 1820, pp. 287, 288. t Ann. du MILS. d'Hiat. Nat., torn, xi, pp. 174-200, pll. xii-xix. See antea, pp. 415, 417. 442 FAMILY PHOCID^E. genus Callocephalus. He discusses to some extent the charac- ters of several of the species of Earless Seals (as well as Otaries) and figures the skulls of five of them. The same year (1824) Thienemann * published his observa- tions on the Seals collected and observed by him in Iceland, in which he renamed most of the species, and published a full Description and colored illustrations of the animals, and figured the skulls of most of them. He recognized seven species, which are as follows, with the allocations usually assigned them by recent authorities : t 1. Phoca littorea (= P. vitulina); 2. Phoca annellata ( = Phoca fcetida) ; 3. Phoca groenlandica ; 4. Phoca barbata; 5. Phoca halichcerus (= Halichcerus grypus); 0. Phoca scopulicola ( = Halichcerm grypus, young); 7. Phoca lencopla (= Cystophora cristata). Of these seven species two are purely nominal, and three others represent species previously de- scribed. Thienemann here adds in all four synonyms and no- new species, f G. Cuvier, in his "Ossemens fossiles",§ gave a somewhat extended but informal review of the " Phoques vivantes," in which are described two new species, namely, Phoca lagura (= Phoca grcenlandica, young), from " Terre-Neuve," received from M. de la Pilaye. It is evidently based on a quite young animal, having a length of " trois pied trois pouces," and cov- ered with "laine blanche". He also describes a Phoca mitrata (ex "Camper" MSS.)|| based on a skull of Cystophora cristata * Naturhistorische Bemerkungen gesainmelt auf einer Reise im Norden von Europa, vorziilich in Island in d. Jahren 1820 bis 1821, I, Saugeth. 1824, Quoted at second hand, as cited by various authors, the work being inac- cessible to me. t Based mainly on the identifications of Gray, Lilljeborg, and von Heuglin. t According to Ferussac's Bull, des Sci. Nat. v, 1825, pp. 260-262, Thiene- mann gives the following figures : Phoca barbata, pi. i, $ adult ; pi. ii, $ & years old; pi. iii, $ \ year old ; pi. iv, skull . Phoca scopulicola, pi. v, $ ad. Phoca littorea, pi. vi, $ ; pi. vii, skull ; pi. viii, anatomy. Phoca annellata, pi. ix, $ ad. ; pi. x, juv. ; pi. xi, skull ; pi. xii, anatomy. Phoca leucoplar pi. xiii. Phoca grcenlandica, pi. xiv, $ ad. ; pi. xv, $ ; pi. xvi, $ 2 years old ] pi. xvii, c? 1 year old ; pi. xviii, young 8 days old ; pi. xix, skull ; pi. xx, anatomy ; pi. xxi, attitudes in the water. $ I cite here the third (the author's last) edition, torn, v, 1825, pp. 206. et seq. || The name mitrata, derived from the same specimen, appears to have been previously made public by Desinarest in 1820, who says UM. Milbert, correspondent du Museum, dans les Etats-Unis, vient d' envoy er a cet 6tablisse- ment, sous le nom de Phoca mitrata, la tete d'un phoque qui differe essen- tielleinent de celui-ci ["Phoca cristata"~] par le marque de cre"te et par le nombre de dents. . . ." — Mammalogie, p. 241, footnote. TECHNICAL HISTORY — SPECIES. 443 sent by M. Milbert to the Paris Museum from New York. The author's remarks on the species of this group abound with ju- dicious suggestions and form an important contribution to the subject. He discusses at length the Plioca oceanica of Lepechin, and refers it unquestionably to Plioca grcenlandica. Harlan, in 1825, in his "Fauna Americana" (pp. 102-112), recognized five species, as follows : 1. Phoca cristata ; 2. Phoca vitulina; 3. Plioca grcenlandica ; 4. Phoca fcetida; 5. Phoca barbata. All are valid ; all stand under their correct specific names ; the few synonyms given are all correctly referred ; and only one species (Halichcerus grypus) known at that time to in- habit North America is omitted. Godman, the following year (1826), in his "American Natural History " (vol. i, pp. 310-346,) recognized also the same number of North American species, and under the same names, but gave a much more extended account of them. In 1826, in the article "Phoque," F. Cuvier gave, in the " Dictionnaire des Sciences Naturelles" (vol. xxxix, pp. 540- 553), a systematic revision of the Seals, respecting which he says, "Nous reunirons done dans cet article, mais d'une rnani- ere fort succincte, tout ce qui a rapport aux phoques considered comme ordre, comme genres et comme especes." In this re- vision he adopts the genera proposed by him two years ear- lier (see antea, p. 415), and recognizes the following species : 1. Callocephalus vitulinus; 2. C. Icporinus; 3. C. discolor ( = "Phoque commun," Hist. nat. des Mamm., 9e livraison) ; 4. 0. lagurus; 5. C. grcenlandicus ; 6. C. hispidus ; 7. C. barbatus ; 8. Stenorhynchus Icptonyx ; 9. Pelagius monachus ; 10. Stemma- topus cristatus ; 11. Macrorliinus proboscideus. In addition, under the caption " Phoques privees d'oreilles ex- ternes," he cites the following as too little known to enable him to recognize their generic characters, explains the basis on which each rests, and gives such brief notices of their charac- ters as he was able to glean: 1. Phoca coxii, Desm. ; 2. P. maculata, Bodd.; 3. P. lalilitdk, Desin.; 4. P. lupinaj Molina; 5. P.byroni, "Blainv."; 6. P. ansoni, "Blainv."; 7 '. P. oceanica, Lepech.; 8. P. testudinea, Shaw; 9. P. longicoUis, Shaw; 10. P. fasciata, "Shaw"; 11. P. punctate, "Encycl. angl."; 12. 'P. maculata, "Encycl. angl."; 13. P. niyra, "Encycl. angl."; 14, Phoque tigre, Krasch. Of the eleven species accepted as valid, two only (C. lepori- nus and C. discolor) are nominal ; of the fourteen provisionally 444 FAMILY PHOCID^. given, one only (P. "fasciata") is valid, making nine valid species now enumerated, six of which stand under their legiti- mate specific names. Lesson,* in 1826, named Weddell's Sea Leopard Otaria ived- delUi supposing it to be an Eared Seal, but the following year (1827), in his "Manuel de Maininalogie", referred it to F. Cuvier's genus Stenorhynchus. In this work, u Manuel de Mam- inalogie" (pp. 196-208), he treats formally nineteen species of Earless Seals (!Nbs. 529-546, and 551), and under the caption " § 1, Point d'oreilles externes, Phoques des auteurs," gives a list of eleven additional species, the last all under the genus Phoca, which he was unable to rigorously determine. The work is admittedly based largely on that of Desmarestt (" Encyclopedic methodique," vol. clxxxii), but is stated to have grown out of his systematic studies of the collections made during the voy- age of the corvette la CoquiUe (1822-1825), the results of which were just then published. He adopts the generic divisions previously instituted by F. Cuvier and Nilsson, and on the whole presents a very judicious summary of the subject. The species and genera, concisely and fairly characterized, are as follows: 1. Galocephalus oceanicus ; 2.C.grcenlandicus; 3. C.vitu- linus (includes P. littorea, Thienemann) ; 4. C. albicauda (ex Des- marest); 5. C. leporinus; 6. C. discolor (ex F. Cuvier); 7. C. lagurus (ex G. Cuvier) ; 8. C. barbatus ; 9. C. scopulicolus (ex Thienemann) ; 10. Stenorhynchus leptonyx ; 11. 8. iceddelli ( = Otaria weddelli, Lesson, 1826) ; 12. Pelagius monachus (correctly covering Phoca bicolor, Shaw, and P. leucogaster, Peron); 13. Stemmotopus cristatus ; 14. Macrorhinus proboscideus ; 15. M. ansoni; IG.M.byroni; 17. Halichcerus griseus. No new names are introduced, but several of the species are placed under new generic relations. Among the eleven undetermined species referred to under Phoca are two (P. longicollis, Shaw, P. nigra, "Encycl. angl.") Otaries. The other seven are as follows : 1. P. coxii, Desm. ; 2. P. lupina, Molina; 3. P. maculata, Bodd. ; 4. "Plioqiie lakh- tcik" Desm. ex Krasch.; 5. P. testudinea, Shaw; 6. P. fasciata, "Shaw"; 7. P. punctata, "Encycl. angl.77; 8. P. maculata, "Encycl. angl."; 9. P. tigrina (ex Krasch., apparently here first named). *F6russac's Bull, des Sci. Nat., vol. vii, 1826, p. 438. tSee dedicatory note addressed to M. A. G. Desmarest, 1. c., p. vii. TECHNICAL HISTORY SPECIES. 445 Gray,* the same year (1827), in Griffith's "Cuvier's Animal Kingdom" (vol. v, pp. 175-181), recognized thirteen species, as follows: 1. Phoca vitulina, with varieties ua. bothionica" (uLin. Faun. Sue."); ub. sebrica" ("siUrica, Gmelin, Syst. Nat."); "c. caspica" ("Gmelin, Syst. Nat."); "d. maculata" ("maculata, Bodd."); 2. Phoca "Leporinus" (= Zeponna, Lepechin) ; 3. Phoca discolor ( = discolor, F. Guv.); 4. Phoca lagura (=lagura, G. Cuv.); 5. Phoca groenlandica (covers also oceanica, Lepech., and semihmariS) Bodd.) ; 6. Phoca foetida (covers hispida, Schreber, and Halichcerus griseus, Nilss., "His., 1824, 810"!); 7. Phoca barbata; 8. Phoca leptonyx (covers leptonyx, Blainville, Le Phoque a venire blanc, Buifon, and also Hermann's plate of Phoca monachus!); 9. Mirounga (n. gen.) cristatus ( = cristata7 "Gmel.", leonina. Fabric., and mitrata, 'iCamper"); 10. Mi- rounga proboscidea; 11. Mirounga patagonica (n. sp. = "Phoque de Patagone, F. Cuv., Mem. Mus. iv, 203" (= Macrorhinus leoni- nus) ; 12. Mirounga ansoni ( = leonina, u Gmel.", ansoni, Desm.) ; 13. Mirounga byroni ( = Phoca byronia^ Blainv.). Of these thir- teen species only six are valid, while two then well-known spe- cies (Halichcerus grypus and Monachus albiventer) are confounded with others. In 1828 Lesson t added a large number of synonyms by delib- erately renaming species previously described, a large part of the species so renamed being also merely nominal. He gives a synopsis of the genera proposed by F. Ouvier in 1824, in his general history of the group, but enumerates the species all under the old generic name of Phoca. His review of the group is made with discrimination, but is greatly marred by the free indulgence of his love for coining new names. In the list of his species here following the new names are printed in thick type: 1. Phoca cristata (covering leonina, Fabr., cucullata, Bodd., and mitrata, "DeKay"); 2. Phoca mulleri (covering grwnlandica, "Mu'ller", oceanica, Lepechin, and semilunariSj Boddaert); 3. Phoca schreberi (covering hispida, Schreber, fatida, Mtiller, and annellata, Mlsson) ; 4. Phoca parsons! ( = " Phoca major, Parsons," to which is referred barbata, "Miiller"); 5. Phoca thienemanni (= scopulicola7 Thienemann); 6. Phoca leucopla (ex Thiene- mann) ; 7. Phoca linnaei ( = vitulina, Linne") ; 8. Phoca littorea (ex Thienemann); 9. Phoca lepechini (= leporina, Lepechin); * The authorship is not distinctly stated in the volume, so far as I have been able to find, but is uniformly claimed by Gray in his subsequent works. tDict. class. d'Hist. Nat., tome xiii, art. Phoyue, Janvier, 1828, pp. 400-426. 446 FAMILY FHocnxas. 10. Phoca frederici (= discolor, F. Cuvier); 11. Phoca pylayi (= lagura, G. Cuvier); 12. Phoca demaresti (= albicauda, Des- marest) ; 13. Phoca hermanni ( = monachus, Hermann, to which 3,re referred also albiventer, Bodd., and leucogaster, Peron) ; 14. Phoca chorisi (= Chien de Mer, Choris); 15. Phoca byroni (ex Blainville) ; 16. Phoca homei (= leptonyx, Blaiuville) ; 17. Phoca weddelli (Otaria weddelli, Less.); 18. Phoca proboscidea (includes leonina, Linn., elephantina, Molina, .and ansoni, Desm., in part). Of these eighteen " species " nine are purely nominal; eleven are needlessly renamed, and in addition to which Choris's ^ Chien de Mer" is for the first time introduced into systematic nomenclature, thereby adding in all twelve synonyms in a notice of eighteen supposed species, representing only nine valid ones. The only redeemable feature is the proper alloca- tion of twelve nominal species of preceding authors. He also considers it probable that Pe"ron7s Phoca resima, Desrnarestfs Phoca coxii, and Molina's Phoca lupina, should be referred to his Phoca proboscidea. Of the nine valid species only two stand under tenable specific names. Fischer, in 1829, in his " Synopsis Maminaliuin," recognized eighteen species of "Phocce" under his division u ]\ Auriculis nuUis" (1. c., pp. 234-242, "375-378," t. e., 575-578), which are as follows: 1. Phoca leonina, Linn. (= P. proboscidea, Peron); 2. Phoca ansonij Desm. ; 3. Phoca byroni, Blainv. (the three pre- ceding all referable, either wholly or in part, to Macrorhinus leoninus) ; 4. Phoca monachus, Herm. ; 5. Phoca vitulina, Linn. ; 6. Phoca leporina, Lepech.; 7. Phoca discolor (= Callocephalus discolor, F. Cuv.) ; 8. Phoca scopulicola, Thienm. ; 9. Phoca leu- copla, Thienm.; 10. Phoca lagura, G. Ouv. ; 11. Phoca grcen- landica, " Milll." ; 12. Phoca grypus, Fabr. ; 13. Phoca hispida, Schreber; 14. Phoca barbata, "Mull."; 15. Phoca leptonyx, Blainv.; 16. Phoca weddelli, "Less."; 17. Phoca cristata, Erxl.; 18. Phoca chorisi, Less. Thirteen others are given as doubtful or not well determined, one of which is here first named. These are: 1. Phoca dubia (n. sp., = Macrorhinus leoninus, juv.*) ; 2. Phoca oceanica, Lepech.; Phoca. lupina, Molina; 4. Phoca sericea, Thunb. ; 5. Phoca canina, Thunb. ; 6. Phoca vitulina, Thunb. ; 7. Phoca testudinea, Shaw ; 8. Phoca fasciata, Shaw ; 9. Phoca punctata, " Ency. Brit."; 10. Phoca maculata, "Ency. Brit."; 11. Phoca nigra, "Ency. Brit."; 13. Phoca antarctica, Thunb. (= Arctocephalus antarcticus). In the "Addenda" (1830), how- * See Nilsson, Wiegmann's Archiv, 1841, pp. 324, 325. TECHNICAL HISTORY SPECIES. 447 •ever, Phoca oceanica is referred to P. grcenlandica, and Phoca fcetida, " Mull.," is substituted for P. hispida. "Phoca dubia" is apparently the only new name given. Not only are all these referred to Phoca, but this name is made to cover also all of the Eared Seals. Of the 'eighteen species here formally recognized ten only are valid, to which one may be added from the list of doubtful species, making eleven in all, nine of which have correct specific designations — a great improvement upon Lesson's work of the previous year. In 1831* Pallas, in his "Zoographia Bosso-Asiatica" (vol. i, pp. 100-119), described twrelve species of marine mammals under the generic name Phoca, as follows : 1. Phoca lutris (= Enliydris lutris) ; 2. Phoca ursina (== Callorliinus ur sinus) ; 3. Phoca Iconina (=Eumetopias stelleri); 4. Phoca nigra ( = Callorhinus ur sinus, juv.); 5. Phoca nautica (= f Erignatlius barbatus); 6. Phoca albi- gena ( = Erignatlius barbattis) ; 7. Phoca equestris ( = Histriophoca fasciata) ; 8. Phoca dorsata ( = Phoca grcenlandica) ; 9. Phoca mo- nacha ( = Monachus albiv enter) ; 10. Phoca largha (a young Earless Seal, species indeterminable); 11. Phoca canina (= Phoca mtu- lina, Phoca caspica, and Phoca sibirica) ; 12. Phoca ochotensis (in- determinable ; probably = P. xitulina). Of these twelve species seven only are Phocids, none of which are for the first time named ; two (P. nautica and P. largha) are not with certainty determinable. The author himself identifies five of his species with species previously described, yet in each case bestows a new name. In short, Pallas's twelve supposed species of ' < Phoca " add seven pure synonyms, three indeterminable species, and not one tenable name to the literature of the subject. His Phoca ocho- tensis (by some later authors, as von Schrenck, recognized as a valid species) presents a combination of characters thus far un- known in nature. His diagnosis begins " P. subauriculata", and in his description he says, "Auriculae externae minutae, nigri- cantes", on which account it has been sometimes regarded as an Otary, but he describes the molars as "supra infraque utriuque quini,'primo niinore subbicuspidato ; reliqui acute tri- cuspidati, medio inajore, conico"; and also says, "Palmarum ungues terrninales inagni, incurvi, robust!," etc., which certainly cannot be said of an Otary. There is nothing in the account * The date 011 the title page is 1831, but the work seems to have been printed as early as 1811. The first volume, however, is quoted by Fischer in the " addenda" to his "Synopsis Mammalium", dated 1830, and is not quoted in the work itself, dated 1829. 448 FAMILY PHOCID^E. of the pelage or coloration, either of the young or adult, that might not apply, for instance, to Phoca mtulina, while the gen- eral drift of the description certainly indicates an Earless Seal. Mlssoii, in 1837,* published an important revision of the Pin- nipedia, which, so far as the Phocids are concerned, is one of the most important contributions to the subject that has yet appeared, the variations dependent upon age and individual peculiarities being discussed at length, while a number of the nominal species of preceding authors (some of them for the first time) take their proper stations. Phoca caspica is here first es- tablished as a species, — the only new species added. Characters strictly specific are sharply contrasted among allied species not previously well understood. Only a limited amount of syn- onymy is presented, but that is well considered, and has stood the test of subsequent researches. Only ten species of the fam- ily Phocidce, as now restricted, were recognized, as follows : 1. Stenorhynchus leptonyx; 2. Pelagius monachus ; 3. Phoca vitulina (to which is referred Thienemann's P. littorea) 5 4. Phoca annel- lata ( = Phoca fcetida, to which is referred F. Cuvier's Calloceph- alus discolor) ; 5. Phoca caspica (n. sp.) ; 6. Phoca grcenlandica (to which are referred Lepechin's P. oceanica and G. Cuvier's P. lagura)] 7. Phoca barbata (to which are referred Lepechin's P. leporina and Pallas's P. nautica and P. albigena)-, 8. Halichcerus grypus; 9. Cystophora proboscidea (to which Fischer's Phoca ! dubia is referred ; Phoca ansoni is again shown to be a compound ; of this species and Otaria leonina [= O.-jubata, auct.], and. Phoca \ byroni is declared to have been based on an old skull without the lower jaw of " Otaria jubata • ') ; 10. Cystophora cristata (to i which are referred Phoca mitrata of "Fischer", :JP. leucopla of Thienemann, and Cystophora borcalis of Mlsson, Skand.-Fauna, ' 1, 1820, 283). No reference is hence made to several valid spe- ! cies, and a multitude of nominal ones, previously described. Gray, in 1837, t described some kind of Hair Seal "forty- seven inches" long from, the "Cape of Good Hope", under the name Phoca f platythrix. He seemed to be thus in doubt as to whether it was a true Phoca, but it was doubtless an Earless Seal, or he would not have at this date referred it in any way to Phoca. I find no subsequent reference to it, either by Gray * "Utkast till en systematisk indelning af Phocaceerna. xGill, = Halichcerus antarcticus , Peale); 2. "Pagophilus J? equestris" (ex Pallas, cov- ering fasciata, "Shaw," and annellata, Eadde) ; 3. "Pagopbftusl ochotensis" (ex Pallas) 5 4. Phoca "naurica" (nautica and albi- gena, Pallas) ; 5. Morunga angustirostris (Macrorhinus angustiros- tris, Gill) . Of these, two only ( ' i equestris " and angustirostris) are , valid. He also tabulated the species according to their dis- tribution, as follows : " North Atlantic. "Callocepbalus vitulinus. " Callocepbalus dimidiatus. "Pagomys fcetidus. "Pagopbilus grcenlandicus. " Phoca barbata. '•Halicbcerus grypus. " North Pacific. 'Halicyon richardsi. 'Halicyon pealei. 'Pagophilus ? equestris. 'Pagopliilus ? ochotensis. ' Phoca naurica. 'Morunga angustirostris." "Cystopbora cristata." "Halicyon californica" is thus omitted, and is nowhere men- tioned in the " Supplement," and the same is the case also with "Pagomys ? largha". Whether the former was accidentally overlooked, or intentionally retracted, does not appear. From Dr. Gray's "Hand-List of Seals, Morses, Sea-Lions, and Sea- Bears in the British Museum," published in 1874, in which " it is proposed to give an account of all the specimens" of these animals in the British Museum, it appears that the only speci- mens of North Pacific Phocids there represented were the three referred to Halicyon richardsi. Five out of six of his North Pacific species were apparently unknown to him except through authors7 descriptions, and are, as I hope later to satisfactorily show, merely nominal. The Phoca annellata of Kadde, referred by him to his "Pctffophilusl equestris", relates not at all to this * Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist., 1866, 3d ser., vol. xvii, p. 446. 456 FAMILY PHOCIDJE. species, Eadde's specimen being Phoca caspica, while Badde's annellata, as he understood it, is thefoetida of authors. In 1873 Dr. Dybowski* gave a detailed account of the Lake Baikal Seal, with figures, under the name Phoca baicalensis, for the first time clearly setting forth its distinctive characters, although the species had been vaguely known, chiefly through incidental notices by travellers, for a century, and as early as 1788 had received, at the hands of Gmelin, the varietal name siMrica, he referring it, however, as have many subsequent writers, to Phoca vitulina. In 1875 Dr. Peters t proposed the recognition of five species of Sea Elephants, as follows: 1. Cystophora leonina. Lion. (=the Sea Lion of Ansou) ; 2. C. falklandica ( = the Sea Lion of Pernety) ; 3. C. proboscidea (ex P6ron) ; 4. G. angmtirostris (ex Gill) ; 5. C. ~kergudensis (the species occurring at Kerguelen Island). Nos. 1, 2, 3, and 5 are doubtless synonyms of Hacro- •rhirius leoninus. Two new names are proposed, namely, falk- landica and Icerguelensis. The foregoing review has been intentionally limited to works or papers that either (1) ostensibly relate to the whole family, or (2) to the species of the North American fauna, or (3) to those which introduce "new species" or new synonyms. Con- sequently, reference to many important papers or memoirs treating of particular groups, or of special subjects, is wholly omitted ; but the greater part of these will be found cited in subsequent pages under the species to which they particularly relate. No special reference has been made, for example, to Bell's "History of British Quadrupeds", to Blasius's "Natur- geschichte der Saugethiere Deutschlands", Lilljeborg's " Fauna ofver Sveriges och Norges Kyggradsdjur", etc., or to the spe- cial memoirs on the Seals of the Arctic Seas by Brown, Malin- gren, von Heuglin, etc., or the various papers relating to the anatomy, milk-dentition, etc., of the different species. For convenience of reference, I present the following chrono- logical summary of the foregoing analysis, premising that the names following the sign of equality are those adopted in the present monograph. The names under which valid species are first introduced are designated by the use of thick type, syno- nyms by italic type, and indeterminable names by plain type. Only the Phocids are here taken into account. *Arcli. fur Anat. u. Phys., 1873, pp. 109, -et seqq. pll. ii, iii. tMonatsb. Akad. d. Wissenscli. zu Berlin, 1875, p. 394, footnote. TECHNICAL HISTORY SPECIES. 457 Synonymatlc Rfaume'. 1758 — ) T C Phoca leonina = Macrorhinus leoninus. 1766— \ ] ( Phoca vitulina = Plioca vitulina. f Phoca leonina = Cystophora cristata. 1776— FABRICIUS .... J Phoca foetida = Phoca foetida. I Phoca grcenlandica = Phoca groenlandica. I Phoca barbata = Erignathus barbatns. 1776— SCHREBER, Phoca hispida = Phoca fcetida. 1777— ERXLEBEX, Phoca cristata = Phoca leonina, Fabr., in part, nee leonina Linne". I77Q LEPECHIX J Phoca oceanica = Phoca grcenlaudica. \ Phoca leporina = Erignathus barbatus. 1779 — HERMANN, Phoca monachus * = Monachus albiventer. 5 -Ph°ca P°rcina — ? Macrorhinus leoninus, juv. \ Phoca elephantina = Macrorhinus leoninus. 1783— ZIMMERMANN, Phoca fasciata = Histriophoca fasciata. ( Phoca albiventer* = Monachus albiventer. I Phoca semilunaris = Phoca groenlandica. ' ] Phoca cucullata = Cystophora cristata. [^Phoca maculata = ? Phoca vituh"na. f Phoca vitulina var. botnica = ? Phoca vitulina. 1788— GMELIN J Phoca vitulina var. sibirica = Phoca sibhica. ( Phoca vitulina var. caspica = Phoca caspica. 1791 — FABRICIUS, Phoca grypus = Halichosrus grypus. Phoca grcenlandica var. nigra = ? P. groenlandica. Phoca hispida var. quadrata = ? Halichcerus grjrpus. Phoca chilensis = ? Macrorhinus leoninns, juv. Phoca mutica = ? Phoca testudo = ? Phoca laniger = ? Erignathus barbatus, juv. Phoca punctata = ? Phoca maculata = ? r Phoca hispida = ? Phoca sericea = ? 1798 — THTJNBERG <{ Phoca canina = ? Phoca vitulina = I t Phoca varlegata = ? ? Phoca vitulina. .,OAA ( Phoca bicolor = Mouachus albiventer. lovU-~-HHAW .....--.- < . ( Phoca testudinea = 1 ( Phoca proboscidea — Macrorhinus leoninus. 1816 — P^RON < Phoca leucogaster = Monachus albiventer. ( Phoca resima = ? Macrorhiiius leoninus. < Phoca coxii = Macrorhinus leoninus. ' ' J Phoca lakhiak = Erignathus barbatus. TJ S Ph°ca T>llroni — Macrorhinus leoninus. • ' \ Phoca leptonyx == Ogmorhinus leptonyx. * When the name monachus was taken for the generic name of the species, it became untenable in a specific sense, nnd albiventer, originally a synonym, was taken for the species. 1792— KERR 458 FAMILY 1820 — DESMAREST 1820— NILSSON. -\ 1824 — THIENEMANN . . 1825— G. CUVIER 1828— LESSON Plioca ansoni (Blainville MS.) = Macrorhinus leoni- nus -f- Otaria jubata. Plioca albicauda = Phoca grcenlandica. f Phoca rariegata = Phoca vitulina. 1 Phoca annellata = Phoca fretida. ] Halichoerus griseus = Halichoerus grypus. [_ Cystophora borealis = Cystophora cristata. 1824 — F. CUVIER, Calloccphalus discolor = Phoca fo?tida. ( Phoca litlorea — Phoca vitulina. I Phoca haUchccrus = Halichcerus grypus. } Phoca scopulicola = Halichcerus grypus, juv. [Phoca leucopla = Cystophora cristata. C Phoca lagura — Phoca gromlaudica, juv. \ Phoca mitrata (Milbert MS.) = Cystophora cristata. 1826— LESSON, Otaria weddelli = Leptonychotes weddelli. f Phoca vitulina var. bothionica = f 1827 — GRAY J Phoca vitulina var. sebrica = Phoca sibirica. ( Morounga patagonica = Macrorhinus leoninus. 'Phoca m-ulleri = Phoca grcenlandica. Phoca schreberi = Phoca fo?tida. Phoca parsonsi = ? Erignathus barbatus. Phoca thienemanni = Halichcerus grypus, juv. Phoca linnaei = Phoca vituliua. Phoca lepechini = Erignathus barbatus. Phoca freclerici = Phoca fcetida. Phoca p ylayi = Phoca grcenlandica, juv. Phoca desmaresti = Phoca grosnlandica. Phoca hermannl = Monachus albiventer. Phoca chorisi = ? Phoca vitulina. Phoca homei = Ogmorhinus leptonyx. 1829 — FISCHER, Phoca dubia = Macrorhinus leouinus, juv. C Phoca nautica = ? Erignathus barbatus. Phoca albigena = Erignathus barbatus. Phoca equestris = Histriophoca fasciata. Phoca dorsata = Phoca grcenlandica. Phoca largha — ? Phoca canina = Phoca vitulina -(-. . Phoca ochotensis = ? Phoca vitulina. 1837 — NILSSON, Phoca caspica* = Phoca caspica. 1837— GRAY, Phoca? platythrix = ? 1839 — HAMILTON, Stenorhynchus leopardinus( Jameson, MS. )= Leptonychotes weddelli. ^oort ^ f Phoca commnnis var. octonotata > 1839 — KUTORGA = Phoca fcetida. ( Phoca communw var. undulata $ 1842— TEMMINCK Phoca nummularis = Phoca fcetida. 1842 — DEKAY, Phoca concolor = Phoca vitulina. 1843 — LESSON, Phoca isidorei = Cystophora cristata. " 1843 — OWEN, /Stenorhynchus serridens — Lobodon carcinophaga. 1844 — GRAY, Ommatophoca rossi = Ommatophoca rossi. * First recognized as a species ; = Phoca vitulina var. caspica, Gmelin. 1831— PALLAS TECHNICAL HISTORY - SPECIES. 459 1848 — PEALE, Halichcerus antarcticus = Phoca vitulina. 1849 — GRAY, Cystophora antillarum = ? 185Q _ QRAY < Phoca tropicalis = Monachus tropicalis. " " i Callocephalus dimidiatus (Schlegel MS.) =? c HalichdRrus macrorhynchus = H. grypus. L850-HORNSCHUCH& SCHILLING. \ Halich(Krus pachyrhynchu8==Il. grypns. 1854 — GRAY, Heliophoca atlantica = Monachus albiventer. 1864 — GRAY, Halicyon richardsi — Phoca vitulina. f Macrorhinus angustirostris=Macrorhinus angus- 1866— GILL .......... ) tirostris. ( Phoca pealei — Phoca vitulina. 1866 — GRAY, Halicyon californica — Phoca vitulina. 1873 — DYBOWSKI, Phoca baicalensis = Phoca sibirica. 1875-PETERS ........... Macrorhillusleoniims. ( Cystophora Jcerguelensis y One hundred and three distinct specific and varietal names have thus been bestowed upon sixteen species, leaving eighty- seven of the names as synonyms, — an average of about six to a species. Fourteen names appear to be wholly indeterminable, while fourteen others can be referred only with more or less doubt. Of the fifty-nine remaining synonyms, about the identi- fication of which there can be but little doubt, Phoca vitulina and Phoca foetida have each eleven ; Phoca grcenlandica has eight, &nd.Hacrorhinus leoninusnme', Halichosrus grypus and Cystophora cristata have each six; Nonachus albiventer has five; and JErig- nathus barbatus seven. Five other species have each one, and three (Phoca caspica, Macrorhinus angustirostris, and Ommato- phoca rossi) are apparently without synonyms. The above summary is exclusive of the generic changes that have been rung on these sixteen species. Eegarding each dif- ferent generic combination as a synonym, would raise the total number of distinct names to probably nearly four hundred, or an average of at least twenty to each species, with a maximum for some of the species of at least thirty. It may be further observed that Lesson has the unenviable distinction of having added thirteen (nearly one-fourth) of the fifty-nine identifiable synonyms, and only one valid species and one tenable specific name out of a total of the fourteen specific names for which he is responsible. Pallas comes next with seven specific names, only four of which are identifiable, and none of them tenable. Next follows Gray with ten, covering two and possibly three new species, and three unidentifiable ones, with the result of seven and probably eight synonyms. In respect to the general subject, it may be noted that there 460 FAMILY PHOCHXffi. have been four periods of unusual fertility in respect to the lit- erature of the Phocidce. The first covers the time of Egede, Cranz, Anson, Steller, and Parsons (1741-1765), and antedates nearly all of the systematic literature of the subject, but for which it formed the ground-work of the early portion. The second (1776-1792) may be termed the period of Fabricius, Schreber, Erxleben, Molina, Ginelin, and Kerr, or that of the early tech- nical writers. The third may be denominated the Encyclopaedic • period, covering the work of Desmarest, F. Cuvier, Lesson, Gray (his first general review of the species only), to which may be added (in point of time) Pe"ron, Xilsson, Fischer, and Pallas (1816-1831). During this period originated more than one-half of the synonyms with which the literature of the subject is bur- dened, out of nearly forty names only two representing valid new species. Within this period were published no less than eight mongraphic revisions of the Pinnipeds, prepared by the leading marnmalogists of that time. The fourth period may be regarded as extending from 1837 to 1873, but the different por- tions of this interval were not equally prolific in important gen- eral memoirs. Of special note in the light of a general revision of the subject are those of Nilsson (1837), Gray (1844), Wagner (1846), Gray (1850), Giebel (1855), Gray (1866, 1871, 1873), and Gill (1866). CLASSIFICATION. As already noted, three subfamilies of the Phocidce are now commonly recognized, while the number of genera admitted by two leading authorities who have recently revised the group is respectively twelve (Gill) and thirteen (Gray), with, in the ma- jority of instances, only a single valid species to each. Nine of OilFs genera are monotypic, while of the others two have two species each. The generic affinities of one — the little-known .West Indian Seal — have yet to be determined. As will be shown later, only sixteen species can be considered as satis- factorily established. Consequently the question naturally arises whether generic division among the Phocids has not been carried to an excessive degree, and if so, whether the groups termed subfamilies are really entitled to that rank. In the Pinnipedia differentiation, it is true, has been carried to such a degree that not only are the family types sharply circum- scribed, but the species are so far specialized as to form types that at least some naturalists look upon as types of generic, or .at least subgeneric, value. Of the six Otarian genera, four are SYNOPSIS OF SUBFAMILIES AND GENERA. 461 certainly monotypic, and if the other two are not also mono- typic, the species respectively composing them have not as yet reached the point of well-pronounced specific divergence nor of geographic isolation. As regards the Phocids, we have already seen that in nearly every instance each species has been made the type of a distinct genus. Conservative writers, how- ever, agree in referring four species (mtulina, grcenlandica,fo3tida, barbata) to the genus Phoca (Callocephalus, F. Cuvier), yet each species differs from the others to such a degree in cranial and other important osteological characters that, if we allow to such differences the value usually accorded them among the terrestrial Fercc, each of these species may be regarded as the type of a distinct subgenus, or even genus. In the present revision I feel constrained to separate the Phoca barbata of authors as generically distinct from the other species of the restricted genus Phoca, and to associate with the remaining species Phoca caspica and Phoca sibirica. The Phoca fasciata of authors (= equestris, Pallas) Gill has made the type of his genus Histriophoca. The species is remarkable for its peculiar pattern of coloration, and von Schrenck compares its dentition to that of HalichceruSj between which and the ordinary Phocce it holds an intermediate position as regards the structure of the molar teeth. The other genera of the Phocids will be provision- ally received as now commonly accepted. Monachus stands widely aloof from the other genera of the Phocmce, with which, however, it seems more closely allied than with any of the gen- era of the Stenorhynchince, although all of these have been re- ferred by some systematists (as Wagner and Giebel) to a single genus under the name Leptonyx. Without feeling sure that the Phocids are susceptible of subdivision into trenchantly- marked subfamilies, or into groups really entitled to such rank, they will in the present connection be provisionally adopted in their current acceptation. Synopsis of Subfamilies and Genera. I. Zygomatic process of the maxillary with the posterior border subvertical, not extending far backward beneath the malar ; the latter short. Intermaxillaries prolonged upward, meeting the nasals. Nasals long, nearly reaching to the middle of the orbits, greatly narrowed posteriorly, and wedged between the frontals. Supraorbital pro- cesses wholly obsolete or (in Erignathm) rudimentary. Irfterorbital region very narrow. Incisors usually «rEo' exceptionally (in Mo- nacJius) |^|' Nails of all the digits well developed ; outer digits of the pes not much prolonged beyond the others PHOCIN2E. 462 FAMILY PHOCID^E. 1. Muzzle narrow, regularly declined. Incisors |^|> simple, conical; mo- lars, except first, 2-rooted, and mostly 3-lobed. Digits of manus slightly decreasing in length from first to fifth, or first and second subequal. Mamnise 2 Phoca. a. Skull broad, massive; general form thick; the limbs short; nose broad. Molar teeth large, crowded, obliquely implanted, especially in youth and in the lower jaw. Nasals considerably prolonged pos- teriorly. Posterior nares narrow, the septum incompletely ossified. Palatines deeply emarginate. Scapula sickle- shaped, the post-scap- ular fossa greatly developed (Subgenus) Phoca. ft. Skull thin, light; nose pointed, and general form slender. Teeth small, slightly separated. Palatines, posterior nares, and narial septum nearly as in the subgenus Phoca. Nasals less prolonged posteriorly. Digits of pes subequal. Scapula nearly as in Phoca. (Subgenus) Pusa. c. Skull, teeth, and general form nearly as in the subgenus Pusa. Pos- terior nares broad (nearly twice as broad as high), the narial sep- tum complete. Palatines truncate, or slightly emarginate ; never deeply so as in Phoca and Pusa. Scapula nearly as in the typical terrestrial Ferae — not sickle-shaped, and with a broad pre-scapular fossa. Sexes, when adultj widely different in coloration. (Subgenus) Pagophilus. *2. Muzzle broad; forehead convex. Rudimentary supraorbital processes. Dentition weak ; the molars much separated, slightly implanted, and partly deciduous or abortive in old age. Palatines broad, emarginate. Middle digit of niauus the longest. Limbs small. Scapula with no acromion process. Whiskers smooth, attenuated. Mammse 4 Erignathus. 3. Cranial characters unknown. Dental formula as in Phoca. Molars, except the first, 2-rooted, somewhat separated, with the crowns simple and directed backward, as in Halichcerus. Sexes, when adult, widely different in color Histrioplioca. 4. Muzzle broad; skull much arched, increasing in height anteriorly. Molars single-rooted, except the last lower and the last two upper, nearly simple or 1-lobed, conical. Whiskers crenulated. Digits of manus as in Phoca Halichoerus. 5. Muzzle elongate, depressed ; nasals, short ; skull somewhat depressed posteriorly. Incisors |^|, notched transversely on the inner side of the crown. Canines large. Molars thick, strong, obliquely and closely implanted, imperfectly lobed, and only the three posterior 2- rooted. Whiskers flat, smooth, tapering. Claws small, especially those of the pes Monachus. II. Zygpmatic process of the maxillary and the malar bones nearly as in the Phocinw. Intermaxillaries not prolonged to meet the nasals. Nasals very small. Supraorbital processes distinct, prominent, but ' Small. Incisors ^f . Molars simple or plaited, not lobed, with a single club-shaped root CYSTOPHORIN2E. 6. Palatines short, slightly emarginate, somewhat arched or vaulted. Auditory bullae square in front. Adult males with an inflatable sack extending from the nose to the occiput. All of the digits with claws strongly developed Cystophora. SYNONYM ATIC LIST OF THE SPECIES. 463 7. Palatines very short, deeply emarginate, and deeply vaulted. Au- ditory bullaB concave in front. Adult males with an elongated tubular proboscis. Claws small, those of the pes rudimentary. Macrorbinus. III. Zygomatic process of the maxillary prolonged backward beneath the malar, the latter elongate. Intermaxillaries not (usually) reaching the nasals. Supraorbital processes rudimentary. Nasals generally • greatly prolonged posteriorly, widely expanded anteriorly, and usu- ally early, consolidated by anchyloses. Incisors |^|. Molars lobed (in two genera acutely multi-lobed). Claws of the hind limbs rudi- mentary, and the outer digits lengthened . STENORHYNCHINJE. 8. Skull elongate, narrow anteriorly. Nasals greatly narrowed poste- riorly. Molars 4- or 5-lobed, the principal lobe large, pointed, re- curved, with a smaller one in front of it and two (in the first and second molars) or three (in the others) slender, pointed, recurved lobes behind it. Lower jaw abruptly angular behind. . .Lobodon. 9. General form of the skull much as in the last. Nasals greatly pro- longed posteriorly. Molars 3-lobed, the central lobe cylindrical, high, pointed, recurved, with a smaller lobe in front and an- other behind the principal one. Lower jaw gently rounded pos- teriorly Ogmorhinus. 10. Skull broad; muzzle short and broad, with very short, small nasals. Intermaxillaries prolonged upward, meeting the nasals. Molars small, separated, with a central prominent point, and a smaller one (in unworn teeth) behind it. Lower jaw slender, with a short symphysis and no prominent posterior angle Leptonychotes. 11. Skull very broad (in general outline much as in the Cystophorince), with a broad, short muzzle, and very large orbital fossae. Nasals very broad in front, greatly prolonged and gradually narrowed posteriorly. Molars small, 3-lobed, the central lobe much the largest and slightly recurved Ommatophoca. SYNONYMATIC LIST OF THE SPECIES.* I. Genus PHOCA, Linne. l SYN. — Pusa, SCOPOLI ; Callocephalus, F. CUVIER; Pagophilus, Pagomys, Hali- cyon, HaMphilus, GRAY. 1. Phoca vitulina, Linn4. SYN. — Phoca variegata, NILSSON, 1820. Phoca littorea, THIENEMANN, 1824. Phoca linncei, tigrina, chorisi, LESSON, 1828. Phoca canina, PALLAS, 1831. Phoca concolor, DE!YAY, 1842. Halichcerus antarcticus, PEALE, 1848. Lobodon carcinophaga, CASSIN, 1858. * For full citation of the synonymy of the North American Phocids see posted,, in the general history of the species. 464 FAMILY PHOCIDJE, Halicyon richardsi, GRAY, 1864. Phoca pealei, GILL, 1866. Halicyon? calif arnica, GRAY, 1866. HAB. — North Atlantic, from New Jersey and the Mediterranean northward to the Arctic regions; North Pacific, from Southern California and Kamt- schatka northward to Arctic regions. 2. Fhoca grcenlandica, Fabricius. SYN. — Phoca oceanica, LEPECHIN, 1778. PJioca semilunaris, BODDAERT, 1785. Phoca alUcauda, DESMAREST, 1822. Phoca lagura, G. CUVIER, 1825. Phoca miilleri, d'esmaresti, pilayi, LESSON, 1828. Phoca dorsata, PALLAS, 1831. HAB. — North Atlantic, from Newfoundland and the North Sea northward,, and the Arctic Seas; North Pacific. 3. Phoca foetida, Fabriciua. SYN. — Phoca hispida, SCHREBER, 1776. Phoca annellata, NILSSON, 1820. Phoca discolor, F. CUVIER, 1824. Phoca frederid, schreberi, LESSON, 1828. Phoca largha, PALLAS, 1831. Phoca communis, vars. octonotata et imdulata, KuTORGA, 1839. Phoca nummularis, TEMMINCK, 1842. ? Callocephalm dimidiatm, GRAY, 1850. HAB. — North Atlantic, North Pacific, and Arctic Seas. 4. Phoca caspica (Gmelin), Nilason. SYN. — Phoca vitulina yar. caspica, GMELIN, 1788. Phoca canina [var. caspica'], PALLAS, 1831. HAB. — Caspian and Aral Seas. 5. Phoca sibirica, Gmelin. SYN. — Phoca vitulina var. siUrica, GMELIN, 1788. Phoca annellata, RADDE, 1862 (in part). Phoca laicalemis, DYBOWSKI, 1873. HAB. — Lakes Baikal and Oron. II. Genus HISTRIOPHOCA, Gill. 6. Histriophoca fasciata (Zimmermanri), Gill* SYN. — Phoca equestris, PALLAS, 1831. HAB.— North Pacific. III. Genus ERIGNATHUS, Gill. SYN.— Phoca, GRAY, 1850. SYNONYMATIC LIST OF THE SPECIES. 465 7. Erignathus barbatus (Fabritiua), Gill. SYN. — Phoca leporina, LEPECHIN, 1778. Phoca lachlaTc, DESMAREST, 1817. Phoca lepechini, parsonsi, LESSON, 1828 Phoca albigena, nautica, PALLAS, 1831. Phoca naurica, GRAY, 1871. HAB. — North Atlantic, North Pacific, and Arctic Seas. IV. Genus HALICHCERUS, Nilsson. 8. Halichoerus grypus (Fabricius), Nilsson. SYN. — Halichcerus griseus, NILSSON, 1820. Phoca halichoerus, scopulicola, THIENEMANN, 1824. Phoca thienemanni, LESSON, 1828. Halicho3rus macrorhynchus, pachyrhynchus, HORNSCHUCH and SHIL- LING, 1850. HAB. — North Atlantic, from Newfoundland and Western Islands north- ward. V. Genus MONACHUS, Fleming. &YK.— Monachus, FLEMING, Phil. Zool., ii, 1822, 187, footnote.— Type, Phoca monachus, Hermann. Pelagius ("Pelage"), F. CUVIER, Mem. dn Mus.,xi, 1824, 193.— Type, Phoca monachus, Hermann. Heliophoca, GRAY, Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., 1854, 43. — Type, Heliophoca atlantica, Gray, —Monachus albiventer, juv. 9. Monachus albiventer (Boddaert), Gray. SYN. — Phoca monachus, HERMANN, Beschaft. d. Berlinishche Gesells. Na- turf. Freunde, iv, 1779, 456, pll. xii, xiii. Phoquea ventre blanc, BUFFON, Hist. Nat., Suppl., vi, 1782, pi. xliv. " Phoca albiventer, BODDAERT, Elen. Anim., 1785, 170" (from Buffon, as above). Phoca Tricolor, SHAW, Gen. Zool., i, 1800, 254. Phoca leucogaster, PERON, Voy. aux Terr. Austr., ii, 1817, 47. Pelagius monachus, F. CUVIER, Diet, des Sci. Nat., xxxix, 1826, 550. Phoca hermanni, LESSON, Diet. Class. d'Hist. Nat., xiii, 1828 ( = Phoca monachus, Hermann). " Monachus mediterraneus, NILSSON, Kongl. Vet. Akad. Handl. Stock- holm, 1837, 235" (see Wiegmann's Arch. f. Naturg., 1841, i, 308, footnote). Heliophoca atlantica, GRAY, Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., 1854,43 (young). HAB. — Mediterranean, Adriatic, and Black Seas; Madeira and Canary Islands ; east coast of Africa ? VI. Genus CYSTOPHORA, Nilsson. SYN. — Stemmatopus, F. CUVIER; Mirounga, GRAY (in part). 11. Cystophora cristata (Erxleben), Nilsson. SYN.— Phoca leonina, LINNE 1766 (in part; not Phoca leonina, Linne*, 1758). Phoca cucullata, BODDAERT, 1785. Misc. Pub. No. 12 30 466 FAMILY PHOCHXffi. CystopJiora borealis, NILSSON, 1820. Phoca mitrata, G. CUVIER (ox Milbert, MSS.), 1823 Phoca leucopla, THIENEMANN, 1824. Phoca isidorei, LESSON, 1843. HAS. — North Atlantic and Arctic Seas. VII. Genus MACRORHINUS, F. Cuvier. SYN. — Mirounga, GRAY (in part); Rhinophora, WAGLER; Morunga, GRAY. 12. Macrorhinus leoninus (Linne). SYN.— Phoca leonina, LINNE, Syst. Nat.,i, 1758, 38; ibid., i, 1766, 38 (in part). Phoca elephantina, MOLINA, Sagg. sul. Stor. Nat. del Chili, 1782, 280. ? Phoca porcina, MOLINA, ibid., 279 (young). Phoca proboscidea, PERON, Voy. aux Terr. Anstr. ii, 1817, 34, pi. xxxii. Phoca ansoni, DESMAREST, Mam., 1820, 239 (in part). Phoca byroni, DESMAREST, ibid., 240. • Phoca dubia, FISCHER, Synop. Mam., 1829, 235. Mirounga patagonica, GRAY, Griffith's An. King., v, 1827, 186. Cystophora leonina, falklandica, proboscidea, Tcerguelensis, PETERS, Mo- natsb. K. P. Akad. Wissensch. zu Berlin, 1875, 394, footnote. HAB. — Southern portions of the South Pacific and Indian Oceans and the Antarctic Seas. 13. Macrorhinus angustirostris, Gill. HAB. — Coast of Western Mexico and Southern California. VIII. Genus OGMORHINUS, Peters. SYN. — Stenorhynchus (" Stenorhynque") F. CUVIER, M6m. du Mus., xi, 1824, 190 (preoccupied in Carcinology and Entomology). — Type, Phoca leptonyx, Blainville. Ogmorhinus, PETERS, Monatsb. K. P. Akad. Wissensch. zu Berlin, 1875, 393, footnote. 14. Ogmorhinus leptonyx (Blainville), Peters. SYN. — Phoca leptonyx, " BLAINVILLE, Journ. de Physique, xci, 1820, 288." Phoca homei, LESSON, Diet. Class. d'Hist. Nat., xiii, 1828, 417. HAB. — "New Zealand; Lord Howe's Island," Gray; Desolation Islands. IX. Genus LOBODON, Gray. 15. Lobodon carcinophaga, Gray. SYN. — Phoca carcinophaga, HOME, and JACQ., d'Urville's Voy. au P61e sud, Atlas, 1842? (1842-1853) Mam., pi. x (animal), x A (skull), (not de- scribed).—JACQ., Zool.,iii,1855, 27. Stenorhynchus sen-idem, OWEN, Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist., xii, 1863, 331. HAB. — "Antarctic Seas," Gray. GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION. 467 X. Genus LEPTONYCHOTES, Gill. SYtt.—Leptonyx, GRAY, Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist., x, 1836, 582 (preoccupied in Ornithology). — Type, Leptonyx weddelli. Leptonychotes, GILL, Arrang. Fam. Mam., 1872, 70 (= Leptonyx, Gray). 16. Leptonychotes weddelli (Gray), Gill SYN.— Otaria weddelli, LESSON, FcSrussac's Bull, des Sci.Nat., vii, 1826,438. Stenorhynchus weddelli, LESSON, Man. de Mam., 1827, 200. Leptonyx weddelli, GRAY, Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist., x, 1836, 582; " Zool. Erebus and Terror, Mam., 2, pi. v (animal), plate vi (skull)." Phoca leopardina, JAMESON, Hamilton's Mar. Amphib., 1839, 183. HAB. — Antarctic Seas. — "East coast of Patagonia", Gray. XL Genus OMMATOPHOCA, Gray. SYN. — Ommatophoca, GRAY, "Zool. Erebus and Terror, Mam." — Type, 0. rossi. 17. Ommatophoca rossi, Gray. SYN. — Ommatophoca rossi, GRAY, "Zool. Erebus and Terror, Mam., 3, pi. vii (animal), pi. viii (skull)"; Cat. Seals Brit. Mus., 1850, 31; Hand- List Seals, 1874, 15, pi. xi. HAB.— "Antarctic Seas," Gray. GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION. The Phocidce are found along the seashores of all parts of the temperate and colder portions of the globe, but those of the Southern Hemisphere belong (with one exception) to different genera from those whose habitat is in the Northern Hemisphere, and for the most part to a distinct subfamily not elsewhere rep- resented. All the members of the so-called " subfamily" Steno- rliyncliince are confined to the south-temperate and Antarctic Seas. The Pliocmce, on the other hand — by far the most nu- merous division of the family — are strictly northern, only two or three of the species reaching the middle-temperate latitudes. Of the Cystophorince, consisting of two genera, one genus (Cys- tophora) is boreal, and the other (Macrorhinus) has one repre- sentative on the coast of Lower California, and another on the islands and shores of the southern part of South America, South Africa, and the Crozet and Desolation Islands in the Indian Ocean. Of the Phocince, one species, the Monk Seal (Monachus albiventer), is found on both shores of the Mediterranean Sea, in the Adriatic and Black Seas, and at the Madeira and Canary Islands, and probably on the neighboring Atlantic coast of 468 FAMILY PHOCID^E Africa. An apparently near relative and geographical repre- sentative of this species is found on the shores of Yucatan, Cuba, Jamaica, the Bahamas, and the Florida Keys. None of the remaining members of the Phocince occur in the North Atlantic, except as stragglers, south of the British Islands and Spain, on the European coast, or of New Jersey on the American, or of Japan and Lower California in the North Pacific. The species having the widest distribution is the common Phoca mtulina^ which occurs not only in both the North Atlantic and North Pacific Oceans, as far southward as the limits just given, but reaches Greenland, Finmark, and the northern coast of Europe generally, and is also found in Behring's Straits. Other species, as Erignathus barbatus, Phoca fcetida, and Phoca grcenlandica, extend beyond its habitat to the northward, but have a much more limited range to the southward, the British Islands and the coast of the United States being quite beyond their usual southern limit of distribution. Like Phoca vitulina these species also occur in the North Pacific. Two other species are restricted to the North Atlantic, namely, Halichcerus grypus and Cysto- phora cristata, neither of which ranges so far northward as the others, and the latter only casually wanders to the southward of Newfoundland and the southern coast of Scandinavia, while the former reaches Nova Scotia and Ireland. Phoca fcetida and Erignafhus barbatus are the most northern of all, both being winter residents of the icy shores of Davis's Strait and Jan Mayen Island. It thus appears that of the six species found on the northern shores of Europe, Greenland, and the Atlantic coast of North America, two only are confined to the North Atlantic, the other four being common also to the North Pacific. The Histriophoca fasciata, on the other hand, is limited to the North Pacific, and is the only species occurring there that is not also found in the North Atlantic. Consequently about one- half of the commonly recognized species of the Phocidce of the Northern Hemisphere have a circumpolar distribution. A species (Phoca caspica) formerly regarded by writers as identical with Phoca vitulina, and by others a nearly allied but distinct species, inhabits the Caspian Sea, and another (Phoca sibirica), similarly referred by most writers to Phoca fcetida, inhabits Lake Baikal. These great interior and almost iso- lated seas have been for so long a time separated, the Caspian Sea wholly, and Lake Baikal nearly, from the great oceans or any other large body of water communicating with the sea, FOSSIL REMAINS. 469 that if originally derived from the marine species to which they are allied, it may well be supposed that the peculiar conditions of environment to which they have been for so long a time sub- jected have not been powerless in effecting slight changes of structure, as they have certainly led to well-marked changes in habits. As already noted, Macrorhinus is the only genus having rep- resentatives on both sides of the equator, the two species of which are nevertheless separated by wide areas, the one occur- ring on the Pacific coast of North America between the parallels of 23° and 35° north latitude, while the other is restricted to the shores and islands of the southern extremity of the South Amer- ican continent, New Zealand, and a few groups of pelagic islands in the southern parts of the Indian Ocean. Of the Stenorhynchince only four species are recognized, all of large size, and all confined to the cold-temperate or subfrigid southern waters. FOSSIL REMAINS. NORTH AMERICA. — In North America teeth or other remains attributed to Seals have been reported as occurring at various localities, in Tertiary and Quaternary deposits, from Maine and Canada southward to Virginia and South Carolina. In several instances, merely the finding of such remains has been recorded, the specimens themselves having never been described, or even specifically determined, so that it is impossible to assign them to any particular species, or even to say whether they were correctly identified as the remains of Seals. In other cases, remains described as Phocine are unquestionably referable to Squalodont Cetaceans. In only two or three instances are the supposed remains of Seals obviously Phocine, and in each of these cases they were found in deposits of Post-pliocene age, and referred (usually with some doubt) to existing species. The subject may, therefore, be conveniently treated under the following heads, namely : 1. Remains supposed to be Phocine, but which are not specifically determinable. 2. Squalodont remains described as Phocine. 3. Eemains doubtfully referred to existing species. 4. Extinct species. I. Eemains supposed to be Phocine, but not specifically determin- able.— 1. Newbern, North Carolina. — Under this head must be placed the incidental reference by Dr. Harlan * to the remains * Am. Jouni. Sci., vol. xliii, 1842, p. 143. 470 FAMILY PHOCHLE. of a " Seal" found associated with those of Mastodon, Elephant, Horse, Deer, Elk, etc., in the Post-pliocene deposits of Newbern, North Carolina, in his description of his " Sus Americanus". The specimens here referred to appear to have never been described, and the only information we have respecting the occurrence of Phocine remains at this locality is Dr. Harlan's casual reference to the matter, as above indicated. 2. Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts. — Sir Charles Lyell, in a paper u On the Tertiary Strata of the Island of Martha's Vine- yard in Massachusetts ", in enumerating the organic remains col- lected by him at that locality, mentions,* under the head of Mammalia, "A tooth, identified by Prof. Owen as the canine tooth of a Seal, of which the crown is punctured. It seems nearly allied to the modern Cystophora proboscidea". As no description is given, its positive determination is impossible. No other Seal remains, so far as known to me, have been found at that locality. 3. Richmond, Virginia. — As will be presently noticed more fully, some supposed Phocine remains were described by the late Professor Wymam from the Tertiary deposits underlying the city of Eichmond, Virginia. They came from two local- ities, and consisted of quite different materials. The specimens are at present unknown, so that their reexamination is impos- sible. A part of these remains were in all probability Squalo- dont, while others may have been Phocine. A detailed account of these specimens, with the original descriptions in full, is given below, under the heading ^Phoca wymani". 4. South Berwick, Maine. — Professor Wyruan, in 1850,t re- ferred briefly to some Seal bones found at South Berwick,. Maine, in " marine mud", at a depth of thirty feet from the sur- face, in digging a well. They "proved to be an ulna and a radius", but no description of them is given, they being men- tioned simply as "bones of a Seal". Professor Leidy| has con- jecturally referred them to Phoca grcenlandica. II. Squalodont Remains described as Phocine. — No less than three species referred originally to "Phoca" are in all proba- bility referable, in part or wholly, to Squalodon, as is more or less explicitly admitted by their original describer. These are Phoca wymani, P. debilis, and P. modesta, of Leidy. The first *Proc. Geol. Soc. Lond., vol. iv, 1843-1845, p. 32; Amer. Journ. Sci., vol. xlvii, 1844, p. 319; Phil. Mag., vol. xxxiii, 1843, p. 188. t Amer. Journ. Sci. and Arts, 2d ser., vol. x, 1850, p. 230, footnote. I Extinct Mam. N. Amer., 1869, p. 415. FOSSIL REMAINS. 471 was based originally on remains from the Tertiary deposit at Richmond, Virginia; the others on teeth from the Ashley Eiver beds of the same age in South Carolina. 1. ^Phoca wymanV. — The Eichmond remains were first de- scribed by the late Professor Wyman in 1850,* who merely referred them to " an animal belonging to the family of Phocidce". The bones are spoken of as fragile, and as having " evidently been crushed previous to exhumation n. " The pieces in my pos- session7', says Professor Wyman, " consist of two temporal bones nearly entire, a fragment including a portion of the parietal and occipital bones, and in addition a part of the base of the skull. The reentering angle of the occiput, the well-marked depressions corresponding with the cerebral convolutions on the parietal bones, the form of the cranial cavity, the deep fossa above the internal auditory foramen, the vascular canals opening on the occiput, and the inflated tympanic bones, all indicated an affin- ity to the Phocidce. The size varied but little from that of the common Harp Seal (Phoca grcenlandica). The presence of an in- terparietal crest, indicating a large development of the temporal muscles, offers a diagnostic sign by which it may be distinguished from P. barbata, P. grcenlandica, P. Mspida, P. mitrata, and P. vitulina. From those species of Seals which are provided with a crest the fossil presents a well-marked difference in having the mastoid process much larger, more rounded and prominent, nearly equalling the tympanic bone in size. The entrance to the carotid artery is in full view when the base of the skull is turned upwards. The imperfectly divided canal which lodges the Eustachian tube and the tensor tympani muscle is of re- markable dimensions, especially when compared with that of P. grcenlandica. The interparietal crest, extending from the occiput to the anterior edge of the frontals, is most narrow pos- teriorly where it is but slightly elevated above the surrounding bones". In the description above given there is nothing to prevent the supposition that these cranial fragments are referable to a small species of Squalodont. If, however, they are really Phocine, they represent a type very unlike anything at present known, either existing or extinct. But other remains are de- scribed by Professor Wyman, from the same locality, and in the same paper, which do not seem to admit of such an inter- pretation. Thus, to continue the quotation : " The fragments *Amer. Jour. Sci., 2cl ser., vol. x, 1850, p. 229. 472 FAMILY of cranium above described were found in the Shockoe Creek ravine near the base of Church Hill. In the ravine at the eastern extremity of the city, and in the neighborhood of the penitentiary, Dr. Burton obtained several other portions of the skeleton of another Seal. These consisted of an imperfect cer- vical vertebra, a lumbar vertebra nearly entire, a fragment of the sacrum, coccygeal vertebra, fragments of ribs, and the lower extremity of a fibula. Their generic characters have been sat- isfactorily made out by comparison with recent bones. " In figure 1, page 232, I have represented the coccygeal ver- tebra which corresponds in its general characters very accurately with recent bones of P. grcenlandica from the same region of the vertebral column. The small size of the vertebral canal and the imperfect transverse process, the wide-spread articulating pro- cesses, and the blunted spinous process indicate its affinity to the Seals. The fragment of a left fibula (figs. 2 and 3), pre- sents at its lower extremity (fig. 3) an oblique, regularly concave articulating surface on its inner face, and on its outer (figs. 2 and 3), an elevated ridge or crest, on either side of which is a groove for the passage of a tendon." The specimens here described do not appear to have been pre- served, or to have been seen by subsequent writers, but Pro- fessor Wyman was an osteologist of too well-known proficiency to admit of the supposition that these remains did not present well-marked Phocine affinities. Indeed, his description and rude figures of the fibula above mentioned show clearly that its affini- ties were rightly interpreted. The vertebra is not so evidently Phocine. Three years later the description of these remains became the basis of Dr. Leidy's "Phoca wymanii", who, in pro- posiug the name,* merely cited Wyman's description. In 1856 1 he referred to it a tooth "apparently an inferior canine from the miocene deposit of Virginia." This tooth he describes as being "14 lines, and about as robust in its proportions as the corresponding tooth of P. barbata. The crown is 4J lines long and 3J broad at base, and it presents an anterior and a posterior ridge, of which the former is denticulated, and bifurcates half way towards the base. The enamel is rugose, especially towards the base of the crown internally; and at one or two points in front presents a short inconspicuous tubercle." In 1867 Professor Cope referred Phoca wymani, Leidy, to * Ancient Fauna of Nebraska, 1853, p. 8. tProc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila., 1856, p. 265. FOSSIL REMAINS. 473 Squalodon*, of which he says: "Of this, the smallest species of the genus, three premolar teeth are in the collection [made by Mr. James T. Thomas, in Charles County, Maryland from beds of the Yorktown epoch], and the type specimen [Dr. LeidyV?] is in the Academy's Museum. The teeth are re- markable for the abrupt posterior direction of their crowns. The roots are curved, one of them abruptly so, and flattened." The Squalodon wymani of Cope thus, inferentially at least, includes the remains described by Wyman, though direct refer- ence seems to be made only to the tooth referred by Leidy to his Phoca wymani in 1856, and which is that of a Squalodont. The Phoca wymani, if not originally a composite species, as was in all probability the case, certainly became so in 1856. In 1869 Dr. Leidy retained, under the name Phoca wymani, the speci- mens above mentioned as described by Wyman in 1850, sepa- rating the tooth referred by him to this species in 1856 under the name Delphinodon wymanii 2. "Phoca deMUs". — In 1856 £ Dr. Leidy gave a description of his Phoca debilis, of which the following is a transcript in full : "A species of Seal is apparently indicated by three speci- mens of molar teeth obtained by Capt. Bowman, U. S. A., from the sands of the Ashley Eiver, South Carolina. The teeth bear considerable resemblance to the corresponding ones of Otaria jubata, having small, compressed conical crowns, tuberculate in front and behind, and single, long, gibbous fangs. The small- est specimen is 5.J lines long, and the largest, when perfect, was about an inch long". In 1867 this species was referred by Professor Cope to Squa- lodon, who says : — "A species still smaller than S. wymanii has been described by Leidy as Phoca debilis, from the Pliocene of Ashley Eiver of S. Carolina. It will no doubt be found to be allied to Squalodon ".§ It had, in fact, been apparently already referred by Cope in the early part of the same paper to Squal- odon, where (on page 144) he gives, in his list of species, " Squal- odon debilis Cope, Pliocene". Dr. Leidy himself, in 1869, ad- mitted that Professor Cope's suspicions of their Squalodont affinities might be correct, but adds that these teeth "may belong to a Dolphin ".|| * " Squalodon wymanii m. Phoca wymanii Leidy. Proceedings Academy N. Sci., 1856, 265."— Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila., 1867, p. 152. tExt. Mam. N. Amer., p. 426. JProc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila., 1856, p. 265. $ Ibid., 1867, p. 153. || Ext. Mam. N. Am., p. 475. 474 FAMILY PHOCID^E. 3. "Phoca modesta". — This species, described by Leidy in 1869,* is based on a small tooth from the Ashley Eiver deposits of South Carolina, and, says this author, " is referred to a Seal, though it is not improbable it may belong to a Squalodont" ; as, in fact, I have little doubt is the case. IIT. Remains referred to Existing Species. — In 1856 Professor Leidy described and figured t some fossil remains of Seals found in the " township of Gloucester, county of Caiieton, Canada West, about nine miles east of the city of Ottawa ", in a bed of blue clay containing boulders and marine shells and fishes. The shells found embrace, according to Mr. E. Billings, Tellina grcen- landica, Mytilus eduliSj Saxicava rugosa, and a small species allied to Leda; while the fishes are Mallotus villosus and Cyclopterus lumpuSj and the clays containing them are regarded as of Post- pliocene age. "The bones," says Dr. Leidy, "proved on exam- ination to be those of the greater portion of the hinder extremities of a young Seal, but whether of a species distinct from those now found in the neighboring seas, is only to be determined by careful comparison with the corresponding parts of the recent animals. The soft distal extremities of the tibia and fibula are crushed together. The bones of the ankle and foot are well preserved, but the epiphyses of the latter are separated and only partially developed. The matrix in the vicinity of the bones is marked by the impression of the hairs and skin which enveloped them." Dr. Leidy has since f referred these remains provisionally to Phoca grcenlandica. Dr. Leidy's account of these remains was also published in the " Canadian Naturalist and Geologist" (i, 1857, pp. 238, 239, pi. iii). Twenty years later some further notice of fossil Seal re- mains from the same locality was given by Dr. Dawson, § in which, referring to the former account, he says : "A good figure and description were published in the first volume of the Naturalist in 1856. No further information bearing directly on this fossil was secured until the present year, when the bone now exhibited [before the Natural History Society of Montreal, October 29, 1877], was obtained by Dr. Grant, from a boy who had collected it at the same place and in the same bed in which the first-mentioned specimen was found. It is the left ramus of the *Ext. Mam. N. Amer., 1869, p. 415, pi. xxviii, tig. 14. tProc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila., 1856, pp. 90, 91, pi. iii. JExt. Main. N. Amer., 1869, p. 415. § Canad. Nat., 2 ser., vol. viii, 1877, pp. 340, 341. FOSSIL REMAINS. 475 lower jaw of a young Seal, containing a canine and four molar teeth, with an impression of a fifth. It enables us now to affirm that the species is Phoca Groenlandica — (Pagophilus Groenlandi- cus of Gray's Catalogue), the common Greenland Seal, and it is of such size that it may have belonged to the same individual which furnished the bones described in 1856, or at least an animal of the same species and of similar age." IY. Extinct Species. — Another reference to fossil remains ap- parently referable to a Seal is $f special interest as indicating, if there is no mistake respecting the origin of the specimen, the former presence on our Atlantic coast of a Phocine type exist- ing at present only in the Antarctic Seas. The species was described by Dr. Leidy in 1853, under the name Stenorhynchus vetus. The description is based entirely on an outline drawing of a tooth purporting to be from the "green sand of the Cretace- ous series, near Burlington, New Jersey". The specimen was never seen by the describer of the species, and was long since lost. The tooth is said to have been found by Mr. Samuel A. Wetherill, who gave it to Mr. T. A. Conrad, by whom was made the drawing. "The figure", says Dr. Leidy, "represents a double-fanged tooth, with a crown divided into five prominent lobes. It is, without doubt, the tooth of a mammal, and resem- bles very much one of the posterior molars of Stenorhynchus ser- ridens, Owen, an animal of the Seal tribe. It may have be- longed to a Cetacean allied to Basilosaurus, but until further evidence is obtained I propose to call the species indicated by the tooth Stenorhynchus vetus ".* Later the same writer referred the species to Lobodon, and adds, "The specimen purports to have been derived from the green sand, but is probably of miocene age and accidental in its position in relation with the preceding formation. The original of the tooth I have not seen, but it was in the possession of Timothy Conrad, the well-known naturalist, who made an outline drawing of it the size of nature, which is represented in a wood-cut, of the same size, on page 377 of the Proceedings of this Academy for 1853. The specimen has been lost. The drawing of it so nearly resembles the representations of the molar teeth of the Crab-eating Seal, Lobodon carcinophaga of Gray, or the Stenorhynchus serridens of Owen, that it may be regarded as an indication of an extinct species of the same genus ".t The close resemblance of the figure to the tooth of *Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila., 1853, p. 377 (wood-out), t Extinct Mam. N. Amer., 1869, p. 416. 476 FAMILY PHOCHXffi. Lobodon carcinophaga is certainly unquestionable, but the his- tory of the tooth which served as the original of the drawing, in reference to the locality of its assumed discovery, seems not alto- gether satisfactory. Dr. Leidy discards its Miocene origin, but seems to have no doubt respecting its discovery at the locality named. Dr. Gray, in his synonymy of Lobodon carcinophaga, * says, " See Stenorhynchus vetus, Leidy, .... tooth, said to be found in the greensand of New Jersey", seemingly implying not only its close resemblance to Lobodon carcinophaga, but doubt as to the correctness of the assumed locality. In view of the possible extralimital origin of the tooth, I hesitate to formally include the species in the list of North American Pinnipeds.t EUROPE. — While fossil remains of Seals have been found so rarely in North America, not a single extinct species having been certainly determined, the Tertiary deposits of Europe, par- ticularly those of Belgium, have yielded abundant remains of * Cat. Seals and Whales, 1866, p. 10. tMr. Andrew Murray, in commenting (Geog. Distr. Mam., p. 124, 1866) upon this species (Leidy's Stenorhynchus vetus) observes, as follows: "Sir Charles Lyell tells us [Elements of Geology, sixth ed., London, 1865, p. 336] that that gentleman [Mr. Samuel R. Wetherill] related to him and Mr. Con- rad, in 1853, the circumstances under which he met with it, associated with Ammonites placenta, Ammonites Delawarensis, Trigonia thoracica, &c., and he adds that although the tooth had been mislaid, it was not so until it had ex- cited much interest, and been carefully examined by good zoologists There seems to be no reason to doubt that the tooth was found where Mr. Wetherill said it was, nor is there any question here of misplaced labels, but there is certainly room for doubting its determination, because we see where and how an error might easily enough have arisen. In the first place, it is referred to a living genus of mammals, and we know of no genus which has subsisted through so many cycles. The presumption is therefore against it on that score. In the next place, there is a certain resemblance between the teeth of Sharks and some Seals, and it is precisely in the genus Steno- rhynchus that the resemblance is most marked It is possible, therefore, that the supposed Seal's tooth may have been a very much rubbed and worn Shark's tooth ; and although Lyell says it was carefully examined by good zoologists, the only one of known competence whom he mentions as having had to do with it is Dr. Leidy, who did not see it, but described it from a drawing. The objections to the supposed mesozoic Seal's tooth, therefore, appear to be too well founded to require us to devote much time to a specu- lation founded upon its authenticity." Mr. Murray gives comparative views of Shark and Seal teeth, to show how close is the resemblance of the teeth of Stenorhynchus to those of certain Sharks, but if Mr. Murray had taken the trouble to consult the original figure of the tooth of S. vetus he would have seen, first, that it was not a "much worn and rubbed tooth", and, secondly, that it was not a tfiree-pointed tooth like those he figures, but a ^re-pointed tooth, representing Lobodon and not Stenorhynchus. FOSSIL REMAINS. 477 these animals, Professor J. P. Van Beneden having already indi- cated thirteen supposed species from the Anvers Basin alone. Quite a number of species have also been described from vari- ous localities in France, Germany, Italy, and the borders of the Black Sea. Various remains of Seals have also been obtained from the Quaternary, especially in the British Islands and in Nor- way, but all such prove to be closely allied to if not identical with species still existing in the neighboring or more northerly seas. No remains of Seals have been reported from beds older than the Upper Miocene, while the greater part have been obtained from deposits referable to the Pliocene. While a de- tailed account of the extralimital species of extinct Phocids is hardly required in the present connection, a brief resume of the subject may be of interest. This will be based mainly on the elaborate memoirs on this subject recently published by Van Beneden. * Until quite recently very few extinct species of true Pho- cids had been described, most of the remains attributed to this group by the earlier palaeontologists proving on later examina- tion to be mainly referable to Squalodont, Delphinoid, or Xiphoid Cetaceans. The two fragments considered by Cuvier to be Phocine were found by Blainville to be Sirenian. Of the vari- ous suppositive remains of Seals described by Blainville, Van Beneden claims that in one instance only do they belong posi- tively to this group, this being the foot preserved in the Museum of Pesth, described under the name Plioca halitschensis, which is said to somewhat resemble the corresponding part of the com- mon Plioca vitulina. H. von Meyer's Plioca rugidens turns out to be referable to Squalodon. The same author's Phoca ambigua is allied to Plioca vitulina. Pictet's genus Pacliyodon, Van Ben- eden says is Squalodont and not Seal, while the bones referred by the same author to Plioca ambigua, Van Beneden believes was not a fortunate reference. Staring's Phoca ambigua. Van Beneden refers to his own Palceophoca nysti. Some of the bones of Seals from various localities in France referred by Gervais to Pristiophoca occitana are thought by other authorities to be those of Delphinoid or Xiphoid Whales, while Van Beneden consid- ers the Phoca pedroni, Gervais, to be probably also Xiphoid. The Phoca pontica of Nordrnann is closely related to P. vitulina * See especially this author's magnificently illustrated work on the Fossil Pinnipeds of the Basin of Anvers, forming part one of volume one of the Annales du Muse"e royal d'Histoire naturelle de Belgique, 1877, where the his- torical portion of the subject is presented with considerable detail. 478 FAMILY PHOCID^. (from which it is said to differ in size), while his P. mceotica is allied to Monachus albiventer, of which latter GuiscardPs Plioca gaudini seems to have been the progenitor. In 1853, M. J. P. Van Beneden described an extinct species of Seal under the name Palceophoca nysti, based mainly on speci- mens from the vicinity of Anvers. In 1876 the same writer, in his memoir on "Les Phoques fossiles du Bassin d' Anvers",* added twelve species to those previously indicated, all from the environs of Anvers, making thirteen described by him from that locality. They are based usually on numerous specimens, con- sisting generally of vertebrae and the bones of the limbs and pelvis. They are generally more or less fragmentary, and the most characteristic parts of the skeleton, as the cranium and dentition, are not represented. These species were redescribed in greater detail the following year, and illustrated with a splen- did suite of plates, in which the more important specimens were figured of the size of nature, several views being given of each, t Five are from the Upper Miocene, and eight from the Pliocene. None of them depart very widely from existing types, although with one exception all are referred to extinct genera. One (Me- sotaria ambigua), Professor Yan Beneden thinks, presents char- acters indicative of Otarian affinities, and that this form prob- ably represented the Otaries in the Tertiary seas of Europe, but neither the description nor the figures seem to me to evince such an alliance. On the contrary, Mesotaria ambigua appears to be not remotely allied to the Cystoplwrince (see antea, pp. 219, 220). All the other species, so far as can be judged by their frag- mentary remains, exhibit affinities, more or less remote, with one or another of the species still existing in the European seas. The extinct species of this family considered by Van Beneden as fairly entitled to recognition, are the following : J 1. Mesotaria ambigua, Van Beneden. Anvers. Pliocene. Allied to Cys- tophora cristata, or at least referable in all probability to the Cysto- phorinoB. 2. Palaeophoca nysti, Van Beneden. Elsloo ; Boltringen ; Anvers. Plio- cene. Allied to Monachus albivenler. 3. Fristiophoca occitana, Gervais. Central France. Allied to Monachus albiventer. *Bull. de FAcad. roy. de Belgique 2me, se"r. 1, xli, No. 4, April, 1876. t Descriptions des osseinents fossiles des Environs d' Anvers, folio, 1877, with an Atlas of eighteen plates. = Ann. du Mus. roy. d'Hist. nat. de Bel- gique, tome i, preni. part. t The authority for the localities, geological age, and affinities (except in the case of Mesotaria) is M. Van Beneden. FOSSIL REMAINS. 479 4. Phoca gaudini, Guiscardi. Italy, from caverns. Allied to Monachus albiventer. 5. Phoca mceotica, Eichwald. Basin of the Black Sea. Allied to Mono- chus albiventer. 6. Phoca ambigua, H. von Meyer. Osnabruk. Tertiary. Allied to Phoca vitulina. 7. Platyphoca vulgaris, Van Beneden. Anvers. Pliocene. Allied to Erignathus barbatus. 8. Callophoca obscura, Van Beneden. Anvers. Pliocene. Allied to Phoca grcenlandica. 9. Gryphoca similis, Van Beneden. Anvers. Pliocene. Allied to Ha- lichcerus grypus. 10. Phocanella pumila, Van Beneden. Anvers. Pliocene. Allied to Phoca fcetida. 11. Phocanella minor, Van Beneden. Anvers. Pliocene. Allied to Phoca fcetida. 12. Phoca vitulinoides, Van Beneden. Anvers. Pliocene. Allied to Phoca vitulina. 13. Phoca pontica, Eichwald. Basin of the Black Sea. Allied to Phoca vitulina. 14. Phoca halitschensis, Blainville. Valley of the Danube. Allied to Phoca vitulina. 15. Monatherium delongii, Van Beneden. Anvers. Upper Miocene. So far as can be judged the genus Monatherium (known only from verte- brae) is allied to Monachus. 16. Monatherium aberratum, Van Beneden. Anvers. Upper Miocene. 17. Monatherium affinis, Van Beneden. Anvers. Upper Miocene. 18. Prophoca rousseaui, Van Beneden. Anvers. Upper Miocene. 19. Prophoca proxima, Van Beneden. Anvers. Upper Miocene. Al- though the genus Prophoca is a true Phocid, its affinities with any one of the existing types rather than with another are not apparent. It thus appears that each of the existing species is repre- sented by one or more allied forms among the extinct species, the greater part of the extinct forms, however, clustering about the Monk Seal (Monachus albiventer) of the Mediterranean, and the common Vituline or Harbor Seal (Phoca vitulina).* As * The nearest living affines of the extinct genera may be thus tabulated : Extinct. Living. Mesotaria, represented by, or allied to Cystophora. Pristiophoca, ) re esented b Or allied to Monachus. Palce.ophoca, S Callophoca, represented by, or allied to Pagophilua. Platyphoca, represented by, or allied to Erignathus. Gryphoca, represented by, or allied to Halichwru*. Phocanella, represented by, or allied to " Pagomys." Phoca vitulinoides, represented by, or allied to Phoca vitulina. Monatherium, represented by, or allied to Monachus. Prophvca, represented by, or allied to . 480 FAMILY Yan Beneden has remarked, the extinct species of PJiocidce pre- sent already the distinctive characters of the group ; the species, however, were more numerous, and they were of larger size.* The remains of Seals discovered in deposits of Quaternary age have all been referred to existing species j those from the Ter- tiary bear a strong resemblance to existing types, the genus Prophoca-j of the Miocene of Anvers, alone, having no very closely related existing representative. The materials on which are based many of the species above enumerated are so scanty, and in many cases so imperfectly preserved, that doubtless addi- tional specimens may show the necessity of somewhat reducing the number, while, on the other hand, others may be added. By far the greater part of the remains of Pinnipeds thus far known have been found at the single locality of Anvers, where not only most of the species have been found, but where prob- ably more than nine-tenths of all such remains have thus far been obtained. The Eoyal Museum of Belgium alone contains upward of five hundred specimens from this locality, which M. Yan Beneden- has referred to sixteen species and twelve genera. With these remains are associated those of Haliiherium, and of various types of Cetaceans. The whole series of the beds con- taining these fossils are regarded by some geologists as Pliocene, but by other good authorities the lower ones of the series are regarded as Upper Miocene. The great Tertiary sea, beneath whose waters these deposits were formed, covered the greater part of Holland, part of Germany, and extended to the coun- ties of Norfolk and Suffolk in England, over all of which region the waters prevailed till the close of the Tertiary epoch. As has already been shown, in North America few remains of Pinnipeds have been found, and these, with two exceptions, are all from the Quaternary, and are referable to existing species. The exceptions are the so-called PJioca wymani, based in part at least upon veritable Phocine remains from the Miocene of Eichmond, Yirginia, and the enigmatical Lobodon vetus, based on a tooth purporting to have been found at Burlington, New *"Nous finirons par cette observation qne si tous ces Thalassotk&riens pr6sentent deja les caracteres propres de leur groupe, la seule difference de quelque importance se rapporte a leur nombre qui si conside'rablement re'duit et a leur taille qui a notablement diminue'. ... A Pexception des casements recueillis dans la sable noir [tlie Miocene genus Prophoca'], tous les autres se rapportent a des especes qui rapellent celles qui vivaient encore dans nofcre hemisphere, depuis la Floe rat jusqu'au grand Phoque." — Descrip. des Ossem. fos. des Environs d' Anvers, pp. 85, 86. MILK-DENTITION. 481 Jersey, in beds of Cretaceous age. An error of horizon, if not of -locality, being admitted in case of the last named, it appears thus far that no traces of Pinnipeds have been met with in beds older than Miocene. MILK-DENTITION. In the Phocidce, as in the other Pinnipedia, the milk-teeth are very small, are perfectly functionless, and persist for only a short period beyond foetal life. As in the other Carnivores, the number of milk-teeth in the molar series is three, and their position is the same as that of the deciduous molars of the fissipede Ferce, standing respectively over the second, third, and fourth of the permanent set. The incisors and canines are each preceded by deciduous teeth, always minute, and generally absorbed prior to the birth of the animal, as are also, in most cases, the deciduous molars. It is consequently difficult to obtain dry specimens that retain the minute milk-teeth, they being usually partly or wholly (especially the very small in- cisors) lost in the preparation of the specimen, or by subsequent handling. Alcoholic or fresh specimens alone afford satisfac- tory material, and these are not often accessible. The milk- dentition of most of the northern genera of Phocids has, how- ever, been described, but I have met with no reference to that of any of the genera of the Stenorhynchince. As already stated, each incisor of the permanent dentition is preceded by a milk- tooth, and the number of temporary incisors thus varies in the different genera in accordance with the number of permanent ones. The Stenorhynchince will doubtless be found to afford no exception as regards the relative number and position of the deciduous teeth. Steenstrup, * in 1861, described and figured the milk-dentition of Erignathus barbatus and Phoca grcenlandica, and described also that of Phoca fcetida. Nordmann, f at about the same date, described that of Halichcerus, and in 18G5 the milk-denti- tion of Cystophora cristata was described and figured by Eein- * Mselketandsaettet hos Remmesaelen, Svartsiden og Fjordsaelen (Phoca barbata O. Fabr., Ph. gronlandica O. Fabr., og Ph. liispida Schreb.), og i An- ledning deraf nogle Bemserkninger om Tandsystemet hos to fossile Slaegter (Hycenodon og Pterodon). Af Professor Japetns Steenstrup. Vid. Medd. fra den naturh. Forening i Kjobhavn, 1860 (1861), pp. 251-264, pi. v. t " Palaeontologie Siidrusslands, iv Abth. vorgetr. in d. Finnl. Soc. d. Wiss., 1860, pp. 306-308." — The only copy of Nordmaun's work accessible to me is imperfect and unfortunately lacks the iv Abth. Misc. Pub. No. 12 31 482 FAMILY PHOCID^. hardt,* while Steenstrupt further discussed that of JErignathus barbatus. Flower,! in 1869, figured and described the rnilk- teeth of "Morunga proboscidea" (= MacrorMnus leoninus). So far as known to me the observations here cited embrace all the original descriptions of the milk-dentition of the Phocidce. While the number of the milk-molars is in each case three on each side, both above and below, their size, as well as that of the other deciduous teeth, varies in the different genera, being very small in Macrorhinus and Cystopliora, and larger in Phoca, Erig- nathus, and Halichcerus. Professor Flower, in describing the teeth of a f ratal specimen of MacrorMnus says: " The jaws con- tained a complete set of very minute teeth, viz. i. f , c. -J-, m. f , on each side, all of the simplest character. The incisors and canines were cylindrical, and open at the base. The upper canine, which was the largest tooth, and of which the whole of the crown and greater part of the root were calcified, measured in length 0.1" and in greatest thickness 0.04". The second upper incisor was about half this size, and the first still smaller. The molars consisted only of a rounded crown, about the size of a small pin's head, the roots were not calcified. As the crowns of teeth once calcified never enlarge in diameter, we may presume that these rudimentary teeth had attained their full dimensions, except perhaps as to the root of some of them." § Professor Reinhardt's description and figures of the milk-teeth of Cystophora cristata represent them as correspondingly small, except the last molar, which is broader and thicker than the others. With this exception they appear to be equally simple and rudimentary. The milk-teeth of •Erignatlms barbatus, as figured by Steen- strup, agree in number, relative size, and form very nearly with those of Phoca grcenlandica, as described and figured by the same author, with, however, one important discrepancy, namely, a large fourth, probably caducous, upper molar, many times larger and otherwise quite unlike the true milk-teeth. This has the appearance of being an abnormal or supernumerary * Om Klapmydsens ufodte Unge og dens Melketandsset. Af J. Keinhardt. Vid. Medd. f. d. Naturh. Forening i Kjobhavn, 1864 (1865), pp. 248-264. t Yderligere Bemserkninger om Mselketaiidssettet hos Bemmesselen (Phoca larbata). Ibid., pp. 269-274. tEemarkson the Homologies and Notation of the Teeth of the Mammalia. Journ. Anat. and Phys., vol. iii, 1869, pp. 270, 271, fig. 4. § Or, rather, had not the roots been already absorbed ? See remarks below uixlor Phoca fcctida. MILK-DENTITION. 483 tooth,* intermediate in size between the permanent and decid- uous molars. The true milk-teeth are I. |^ij, C. [—[, M. |=|; the upper are all much smaller than their representatives of the lower series, the canine and incisors forming merely minute cylindrical calcined points. The molars are also very small, consisting of little rootless dentinal caps, the middle one the larger, with indications of two roots. The lower molars are not only several times larger, but have conical, pointed crowns, and two long, distinct roots, especially the first and second. Steenstrup gives the milk-dentition of both Phoca grcenland- ica and P. fcetida as I. \^_\, C. ~-J, M. jj-"^. The lower molars and the second and third upper are distinctly two-rooted ; the upper, however, are many times smaller than the lower, the first upper consisting of merely -a minute rootless crown. Four fo3tal specimens of Phoca fcetida, collected by Mr. Lud- wig Kurnlien on the late Howgate Polar Expedition, show the upper, as well as the lower, molars to be all two-rooted, but through the process of absorption the anterior fang of the up- per molars early disappears, in one specimen the upper molars consisting of minute crowns, with an oblique posterior fang. The lower molars are several times larger than the correspond- ing teeth of the upper series, and are all distinctly two-rooted ; the third, or posterior, is much the larger, and is distinctly tricuspid, there being a well-developed secondary cusp on each side of the larger principal one. In the specimen in which the fangs of the upper molars have become partly absorbed, the ca- nines and incisors are wholly wanting. In the others the canines are present ; one has all the lower incisors, but only one of the upper incisors. Most of the incisors, both above and below, had, in the other examples, either been wholly absorbed, or were lost in the preparation of the specimens. The upper canines are directed horizontally forward, forming a large angle with the permanent .canines beneath them, and consist of small cylinders two-tenths of an inch long and about two-one-hundredths in thickness. The lower canines are somewhat larger, and are directed obliquely upward and forward. In Halichcerus, according to Nordmann, a foetal specimen gave the following formula: 1. 1£}^ °- rEi M- §5|- rj^he milk-molars * This is the view maintained by Reinhardt (Vid. Medd. f. d. Naturh. Forening f. 1864 (p. 259), aud to which Steenstrup (Ibid., pp. 269-274) seems to substantially accede. 484 FAMILY PHOCHXffi. stand respectively over the second, third, and fourth of the permanent set, those of the lower series being also much larger than those of the upper.* GENERAL HABITS AND INSTINCTS. The species of the family Phocidce agree, almost without ex- ception, in possessing strong social instincts and in being almost unsurpassed in then? affection for their young. Many of the species are gregarious, at least during the breeding season, while some associate at all seasons in large herds. They are, in gen- eral, patient and submissive creatures, and harmless to man, to whose power and love of gain doubtless not less than a million to a million and a half fall victims each year. The Crested Seal of the North Atlantic is one of the few species that will habitu- ally resist an attack, or whose power is in any degree dangerous. As regards their reproduction, the female, as a rule, brings forth but a single young one, and the period of gestation is supposed to range from nine to nearly twelve months. The Sea Elephants are well known to visit, for the purpose of reproduction, partic- ular breeding stations on land, assembling in large numbers at their favorite resorts, and, like the Otaries and Walruses, crawl up some distance on to sandy shores or rocky islands, to re- main for weeks without food and without visiting the sea. Others, like the common Seal (Phoca mtulina), select outlying rocky islands or rocky points of the mainland for their breed- ing stations, and never congregate in large numbers. The Green- land Seal (Phoca grcenlandica) is at all times gregarious, assem- bling in immense numbers in particular districts to bring forth its young on the ice-floes. The Caspian Seal (Phoca caspica) pos- sesses similar instincts, and is said to be always found in im- mense herds. While most of the species are confined to the neighborhood of shores or firm ice, others are almost pelagic, though rarely found far from floating ice. Seals are very fond of basking in the sunshine, and spend a large part of their time on sand-bars, rocks, or on the ice, accord- ing to the season, the species, or the locality. They are very voracious, their food consisting chiefly of fishes, but in part of crustaceans and mollusks. Nearly all the species, and in fact all the Pinnipeds, are known to swallow small stones, often in con- * This reference is based on HenseFs "Bericht iiber die Leistungen in der Naturgeschichte der Saugethiere wahrend des Jahres 1864," in Arch, fiir Naturg., 1861, ii, pp. 99, 100. GENERAL HABITS AND INSTINCTS. 485 siderable quantities, the purpose of which habit is still a matter of conjecture. Sailors, and even some intelligent naturalists, believe they serve as ballast, and some affirm that a larger quan- tity is swallowed when the animals are fat than when they are lean, and that when they are very fat they require them to give their bodies the proper specific gravity to enable them to remain easily under water. Whatever may be the cause, the strange fact rests on abundant and trustworthy evidence. Most species of Seals are strongly attracted by musical sounds, but whether their interest is merely that of curiosity or real fondness for such sound^ may be fairly judged to be an open question. That they possess a great deal of curiosity admits of no doubt. One of their most remarkable traits is the great length of time they are able to remain under water. Mr. E. Brown states that the average time is five to eight minutes, and that he never saw them remain below the surface for more than fif- teen minutes, but other observers give from twenty minutes to half an hour. Various theories have been offered in explana- tion of this remarkable power in a warm-blooded, air-breathing animal, but none seems satisfactory. It has by some been sup- posed to be due to the large size of the venous system of circu- lation 5 by others to venous sinuses in the liver and surrounding parts, which serve as reservoirs for the venous blood ; by others to the large size of the foramen ovale; while still others deem it to be wholly physiological and not structural. Some of the Arctic species have the habit of forming breathing-holes through the ice, through which they not only rise to breathe, but ascend to bask on the ice. These are circular, with smooth sides, and are kept open by constant use, and are believed to be made while the ice is forming. Other species keep near nat- ural openings formed by the winds and currents and never con- struct breathing-holes. Strange as it may seem, it is a well-established fact that the young Seals take to the water reluctantly and have to be act- ually taught to swim by their parents. The young of some species remain entirely on the ice for the first two or three weeks of their lives, or until they have shed their first or soft woolly coat of hair. Those that are brought forth on land, as in the case of the Elephant Seals, are, like the Otaries, timid of the water, swim at first awkwardly, and tire easily in their first efforts. Seals utter a variety of cries, from which they have derived 486 FAMILY PHOCID^. such various names as Sea-dogs, Sea-calves, Sea-wolves, etc. Some have a barking note, others a kind of tender bleat, or a cry more or less resembling that of a child. The cry of the young is usually more or less pathetic, while that of the adults is heavier and hoarser. None appear to produce the loud bark- ing or roaring so characteristic of most of the Sea-Lions and Sea-Bears. FOOD. The food of Seals is known to consist largely of fish, but some of the species are believed to subsist mainly upon mollusks and crustaceans, particularly the latter. Malmgren states explicitly that this is the food of the Rough and Bearded Seals, as he has found by an examination of their stomachs. The Harbor and Greenland Seals are supposed to subsist almost exclusively upon fish, of which they destroy enormous quantities. Mr. Carroll estimates that not less than three millions to four millions of Seals annually congregate around the island of Newfoundland, remaining there for a period of not less than one hundred and twenty days. Allowing that each Seal consumes only one cod- fish a day, they would each destroy during this interval not less than a quintal of fish, making in the aggregate some three mil- lions to four millions of quintals of codfish killed by Seals during about one-third of the year. Startling as this may seem, it is unquestionably a low estimate. Indeed, the destruction of these fish by Seals is believed to account, in part at least, for the a short catch" of codfish at the various fishing stations around the island. They, however, do not restrict themselves to codfish, but doubtless vary their fare as circumstances may favor, they being known to wage a furious warfare upon the white-fish. As long as white-fish are " in with the land," in passing down from the Labrador coast, " so sure will Seals of every descrip- tion be there." Late in autumn the white-fish always pass through the Straits of Belle Isle, followed by " all kinds of Seals known to ice-hunters." * Mr. Eobert Brown states that all of the different species of Seals "live on the same description of food, varying this at different times of the year and according to the relative abun- dance or otherwise of that article in different portions of the Arctic seas. The great staple of food, however, consists of various species of Crustacea which swarm in the northern seas. * Carroll, Seal and Herring Fisheries of Newfoundland, 1873, p. 18. ENEMIES AND MIGRATIONS. 487 During the sealing-season in the Spitzbergen sea I have inva- riably taken out of their stomachs various species of Gam- mar us (G. sabinij Leach , G. loricatuSj Sab., G. pinguis, Kr., G. dentatus, Kn., G. mutatus, Lilljeb., etc.), collectively known to the whalers under the name of * Mountebank Shrimps/ deriv- ing the name from their peculiar agility in the water. This 1 seals' food7 is found more plentiful in some latitudes than in others, but in all parts of the Greenland sea, from Iceland to Spitzbergen; I have seen the sea at some places literally swarm- ing with them. Again, in the summer in Davis's Strait I have found in their stomach remains of whatever species of small Fish happened to be just then abundant on the coast, such as the Mallotus arcticus, Salmo (various species), etc. I have even known them to draw down small birds swimming on the sur- face; but their chief food is Crustacea and Fish. They also feed on Medusa3 and Cuttlefish ( Squids) ." * That Seals vary their fare with an occasional gull or duck is attested by numerous observ- ers ; but birds form, of course, but an insignificant portion of their diet. Malmgren also refers especially to the occurrence in the stomachs of Erignatlius barbatus and other Seals of va- rious species of crustaceans and mollusks, and sometimes of fishes, t ENEMIES. Man is undoubtedly the Seal's chief enemy, but many fall a prey to the Polar Bear, and doubtless, also, — particularly in the case of the young — to sharks, and to that carnivorous Cetacean, the Orca. They are also greatly subject to the attacks of intes- tinal parasites. Many are also destroyed by the elements, thousands being sometimes ground to pieces by the ice. They are said to avoid rough water, but when amidst the ice-floes are frequently killed by the jamming together of the ice in a heavy sea. " At times during the spring, if .there is a heavy sea, the Seals are sure to mount the ice, and whilst on it, pro- vided it runs together, they are certain to be jammed", at which times many old Seals, as well as young, are destroyed.:): MIGRATIONS OF SEALS. The periodical movements of Seals have long been noticed, and it has been found that a proper semi-annual migration is * Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1868, p. 411 ; Man. Nat. Hist. Greenland, etc., Mammals, 1875, pp. 40, 41. t Arch. fiirNaturg., 1864, pp. 75-84. t Carroll, Seal and Herring Fisheries of Newfoundland, pp. 19, 20. 488 FAMILY PHOCIIXaE. common to several of the species. Others, however, are seden- tary. The common Harbor Seal (Phoca vitulina) is so strictly non- migratory that wherever it occurs at all it is reported to be found at all seasons. The Eough or Hispid Seal (Phoca fcetida) is to only a small extent, if at all, migratory, and the same is true of the Bearded Seal (Erignathus larbatus). On the other hand, the Hooded Seal (Cystophora cristata) and the Harp or Greenland Seal (Phoca grwnlandica) move southward in winter and northward in summer. Most Arctic explorers have noted these movements, which in point of regularity have been com- pared to migrations of ducks and geese and other boreal water- fowl. Their passage along the Labrador coast and arrival in the Straits of Belle Isle, and other portions of the Newfound- land coast, have long been a matter of record, as well as the periodical departure and return of certain species on the west coast of Greenland. The Greenland Seal especially makes long journeys in spring to its favorite breeding-grounds, and later disperses to other haunts. Drs. Koldewey and Pansch, in referring to the assembling in spring of this species in the icy seas westward of Jan Mayen and Spitzbergeu, observe as fol- lows: " The appearance of these Seals reminded us that we were now in the neighborhood of the Seal-catchers, that is, in that part of the northern icy seas where, from the end of March to the end of April, the Seals come in thousands to the smooth floating ice to cast their young ones. These i Seal-coasts' change their position somewhat every year, and range between 68° and 74° N. Lat., and from 2° to 16° W. Long. It is a highly interesting sight to see the Seals assembled from all quarters at this time. It is said that they not only come from the coasts of Spitzbergen and Greenland, but even swim in flocks from Nova Zeinbla." * Mr. H. Y. Hind, in referring to their movements along the eastern coast of North America, says that in autumn, before the ice forms, "they 'hug' the shore, either of Labrador or Newfoundland, penetrating into all the bays and never going far from land. During the colder winter months they strike into the Gulf, looking for ice-floes, on which they give birth to their young in March, and [where they] continue for two or three months. In May and June they congregate near the coasts, and return to the main ocean for the summer." t * German Arctic Exped., 1869-70, English ed., 1874, p. 61. tExpl. in the Interfor of the Labrador Peninsula, vol. ii, 1863, p. 202. MIGRATIONS. 489 The general subject of the movement of Seals along our northern Atlantic coast having been presented quite fully by Mr. J. C. Steavenson, I herewith subjoin a transcript of his ac- count, premising, however, that his remarks have a more lim- ited application to Seals in general than the writer appears to have supposed, they doubtless having reference mainly to the two species already mentioned as being preeminently mi- gratory. " Independently of his constant motion in pursuit of his prey, the migrations of the Seal are most extensive. During the summer and autumn numbers of these creatures are met with, scattered in small parties, in all parts of the Northern Ocean visited by the whalers and other fishermen, where they remain until the severity of the Arctic winter warns them to retreat southward. Mariners who have been beset amongst the ice, or for other reasons have passed the winter in these hyperborean seas, remark that few Seals are met with during the winter, and some of them chronicle the time at which they first ap- peared on their return. Our information with regard to their general motions is not limited to these somewhat vague records. The habits of the genus (for it consists of many species) are so visible that we must conclude the scattered Seals met with during the dark winter of the Pole are only stragglers [in reality, the non -migratory species] left behind when the main body moved southward. As the severity of the weather in- creases it is evident that, like swallows, an instinctive move ment must commence, communicated to and understood by the whole family, like a masonic sign, prompting a general assem- bly of the clans at some long-frequented, well-known spot of their wide domain, where, it is to be supposed, they enjoy their sport until the gathering is completed. At length the frost commences, and the army is set in motion. This proceeding is keenly looked forward to and watched by the inhabitants of the coast, whose interest is much involved in their passing visit, and who fail not to levy tribute in kind. A fisherman, posted as sentinel on some headland commanding an extensive sea- view, communicates to the hamlet the first indication of the approaching host, the vanguard of which invariably consists of small detachments of from half a dozen to a score of Seals ; such parties continue to pass at intervals, gradually increasing in frequency and numbers during the first two or three days of the exodus, by the end of which time they are seen in companies 490 FAMILY PHOCID^E. of one or more hundreds. The main body is now at hand, and during the greater part of the next two days one continuous, uncountable crowd is constantly in sight. The whole proces- sion coasts along at no great distance from the shore, pre- senting to an eye-witness a most extraordinary scene. In all quarters, as far as the eye can carry, nothing is visible but Seals — the sea seems paved with their heads. Some idea may be formed of the vast multitude when we consider the time occupied in passing, and the rate at which the animals are hurried along by the ceaseless, rapid stream which forms the highway of their long though expeditious voyage. The rear is brought up by small parties, such as formed the leading detach- ments. In one short week the whole host passes, consisting of many hundreds of thousands. The current of which these sagacious voyagers take advantage is the well-known polar current which proved so inimical to the success of our Xorth- West Passage discoverers, and which sets through Hudson's Bay, and sweeps the coast of Labrador in a south-east direc- tion j running at all seasons at the rate of several knots an hour, hurling with it, during the winter and spring, quanti- ties of ponderous field-ice, together with numerous icebergs of various size, and frequently of most grotesque shapes. By it the Seals continue their passage steadily on in one unbroken course until the island of Belleisle presents an obstacle — situ- ated in the entrance of the Straits of Belleisle, into which a branch of the current sets, carrying with it a portion of the force towards the Gulf of St. Lawrence. The main body con- tinue onward until they reach the Gulf Stream, on the banks of Newfoundland. Here they arrive about the end of Decem- ber or early in January, and halt for a time in the more still and warmer waters of that locality, resting until the time for bringing forth their young arrives ; nor is the rest of long duration. About the end of January it becomes necessary to turn northward. During the southerly migration no ice en- cumbered the way — all circumstances were favorable ; but now the new projected movement is undertaken under many im- pediments; the animals, heavy with young, must stein the strong current; the bed on which their snow-white cubs are to be laid is solid ice. Onward they struggle until they fall in with the immense continent of this material — one part of which is formed on the shores and a much larger portion hurried for- ward by the Polar Stream. This now covers the identical sea LOCOMOTION ON LAND. 491 along which they so recently passed, and is to be their home until the duties of the nursery are performed, and their sleek progeny are strong enough to accompany the herd. The de- tachments which we left on their way up the Straits of Belle- isle [have] met their own difficulties : the fishermen waylay them here most assiduously — net after net awaits the toiling emi- grants, which are turned to good purpose. Several thousands are taken at the many stations planted on all parts of the shore from Cape Charles to the Gulf of St. Lawrence. In the Gulf many of them pass the winter and bring forth on the ice formed near the shores of this sea ; a few of the young are taken by the inhabitants of the Magdalene and other islands ; but a con- siderable section of the original stock circumnavigate New- foundland, and join the great body on the banks. Those which winter in the Gulf of St. Lawrence quit their quarters in that sea about the end of June, and on their way down the Straits of Belleisle reward the watchful fishermen with a few additional thousands of their much-prized carcasses. These are now ac- companied by their young, all but as round and bulky as their parents. After clearing the Straits little more is seen of them. It is believed that, in order to avoid the adverse current, they make their passage north to their old summer haunts at a much greater distance from the land." * LOCOMOTION ON LAND. As first pointed out by Dr. Murie,t the Pinnipeds present three distinct modes of terrestrial locomotion. The common or Ear- less Seals are usually described as progressing belly- wise, by a wriggling motion of the body, with the hind-limbs directed back- ward and held in opposition, and the fore-limbs drawn close to the body. This seems to have been hitherto commonly consid- ered as the only mode of progression on land or ice possessed by any member of this group, f the Elephant Seal perhaps excepted. The plantigrade walk of the Otaries and the Walruses has of * J. C. Steavenson, in the "Field" of November 28, 1863; quoted in (and here transcribed from) the " Zoologist," vol. xxii, 1864, pp. 8873, 8874. tProc. Zool. Soc. London, 1870, p. 605, pi. xxxii. t Bell, writing of the Phocce in 1837 says, "Their movements on laud are ludicrously awkward. They make no use of their feet in terrestrial pro- gression, but throw themselves forward by plunges, the anterior part of the body and the posterior being alternately applied to the ground. In this way they make their way at a moderate pace along a tolerably even surface." — Hist. Brit. Quad, p. 257. 492 FAMILY late been repeatedly described, while their considerable power of locomotion on land has been known for a century. Dr. Murie, however, in 1870, described a mode of progression among the common Seals intermediate in character between that usually recognized as characteristic of these animals and that of the Otaries and Walruses. From observations made on, a living Greenland Seal or "Saddle-back" (Phoca grcenlandica) in the Gardens of the London Zoological Society, Dr. Murie has de- scribed this "third sort of land-movement," and given figures of the various attitudes assumed by this Seal, particularly when moving on land. The Greenland Seal, he says, " very often uses its fore limbs, placing these on the ground in a semigrasping manner, and by an alternate use of them drags its body along. The hind legs meantime are either trailed behind slightly apart, or with opposed plantar surfaces slightly raised and shot stiffly behind. On uneven ground, or in attempting to climb, a pecu- liar lateral wriggling movement is made ; and at such times, be- sides alternate palmar action, the body and the hind limbs de- scribe a sinuous spiral track." He also states that he has seen the Crested Seal (Cystophora cristata) assume similar attitudes, and says that in the Harp Seal (Phoca grcenlandica), as well as the Crested Seal, "the fore legs and paws, and, to a very mod- erate extent, the hind limbs are freely brought into action," while in the common Seal (Phoca vitulina) the "limb-append- ages on land are of slight subservience to progression, the fore paws only oc casionally being used among rocks." * Other observers report that other kinds of Earless Seals pos- sess a considerable power of locomotion. Michael Carroll, in his account of the Harp Seal, sayst that when Seals get "embayed" and cannot get into the water owing to the ice being jammed, "they begin to travel out in a direct line for the water. . . . Much depends upon the character of the ice they have to travel on, as to their rate of speed $ they travel principally by night. I have killed them with the hair and skin worn off the fore nip- pers and bleeding. Were it not for the fore nippers they could not mount the ice or travel over it. All kinds of Seals known in Newfoundland travel to that degree so as to overheat themselves j then the fur or hair is loosened and the skin becomes almost valueless. In a cool night Seals will average about one mile per hour. Much depends on the character of the ice they have to * Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1870, p. 606. t Seal and Herring Fisheries of Newfoundland, 1873, pp. 24, 25. LOCOMOTION ON LAND. 493 travel on j they travel by lifting themselves from off the ice on their fore legs or fore flippers and hitching their body after them with a kind of sidelong loping gallop. An old Seal when on level ice will outstrip a smart fellow in a distance of sixty yards, provided the Seal is ten or twelve feet ahead of him." This ac- count, though couched in rather untechnical language, indicates a speed and manner of progression in the common Phocine Pin- nipeds not as yet generally recognized, and certainly surprising from its rapidity. Scoresby also long since observed that although the Seals " cannot be said to walk, as they do not raise their bodies off the ground ; yet they shuffle along, especially over the ice, with sur- prising speed."* Mr. H. W. Elliott has recorded a similar mode and rate of pro- gression on land in the common Seal of Alaska (Phoca vitulina) that has not, to my knowledge, been noted by other observers. Says Mr. Elliott, " I desire also to correct a common error, made in comparing Phocidce with Otariidce, where it is stated that, in consequence of the peculiar structure of their limbs, in the former, their progression on land is i mainly accomplished by a wriggling, serpentine motion of the body, slightly assisted, by the extremities.' This is not so j for, when excited to run or exert themselves to reach the water suddenly, they strike out quickly with both fore feet, simultaneously lift and drag the whole body, without any wriggling whatever, from 6 inches to a foot ahead and slightly from the earth, according to the violence of the effort and the character of the ground ; the body then falls flat, and the fore-flippers are free for another similar action, and this is done so earnestly and rapidly that in attempting to head off a young nearhpah from the water I was obliged to leave a brisk walk and take to a dog-trot to do it. The hind feet are not used when exerted in rapid movement at all, and are dragged along in the wake of the body, perfectly limp. They do use their posterior parts, however, when leisurely climbing up and over rocks, or playing one with another, but it is always a weak effort, and clumsy. These remarks of mine, it should be borne in mind, apply only to the Phoca vitulina, that is found around these islands at all seasons of the year, but in very small num- bers." Mr. Elliott adds that he thinks this mode of locomotion on land will be found to characterize all the species of the genus PhocaJ * Account of the Arctic Regions, vol. i, p. 509. t Condition of Affairs in Alaska, p. 122. 494 FAMILY PHOCID2E. Mr. Lloyd relates several well-attested instances of Seals mak- ing long journeys on land, the most remarkable of which is the following : He says, " i During the winter of 1829,' so we read in Jagare Forbundets Tidskrift of 1832 — and the truth of the story is certified by the signature of several most respectable indi- viduals— < a young Gray Seal took to the land from the Skargard, near the village of Grono, and, striking into the forest in a southerly direction, passed, in its way, the hamlets of Sund and Wahlnas, the church and iron -forge of Leufsta, and the hamlets of Elinge and Fahlandbo. Near the last-named it met with a small river, then hard frozen over. This it followed for a while, but was unable to find an opening in the ice. It then took to the forest in a south-westerly direction to the Flo Lakes, in the par- ish of Tegelsmora, where it was also unsuccessful in obtaining access to water. Hence it proceeded south-east, crossing in its progress the Lake Wika, in the parish of Film, on the opposite side of which it ?.gain entered the forest, and finally entered the hamlet of Andersbo, situated about three (English) miles from Dannemora (the celebrated iron-mines), where it was overtaken by its pursuers and killed. The peregrinations of this Seal are believed to have occupied nearly a week, it being, as is imag- ined, without nourishment of any kind ; and during which period it must have gone over at least thirty (English) miles of country. The ground, it should be remarked, was then covered with a foot and a half, or more, of newly-fallen snow, which, no doubt, very greatly facilitated the animal's movements.' n * The Sea-Elephants (genus Macrorhinus) are well known to re- sort to the land for reproduction very much in the manner of the Otaries or Eared Seals, but I have met with no very clear statement of their manner of progression. Captain Scammon, in his history of the Sea-Elephant of the California coast (M. an- gustirostris, Gill) gives the following account of their power of movement on land : " When coming up out of the water they were generally first seen near the line of surf 5 then crawling up by degrees, frequently reclining as if to sleep -, again, moving up or along the shore, appearing not content with their last rest- ing-place. In this manner they would ascend the ravines, or 1 low-downs,7 half a mile or more, congregating by hundreds. They are not so active on land as the seals ; but when excited to inordinate exertion, their motions are quick, the whole body * The Game Birds and Wild Fowl of Sweden and Norway, 1867, p. 403. LOCOMOTION ON LAND. 495 quivering with their crawling, semivaulting gait, and the animal at such times manifesting great fatigue. Notwithstanding their unwieldiness, we have sometimes found them on broken and ele- vated ground, fifty or sixty feet above the sea."* In describing the " Leopard " Seal of the California coast ("Phoca pealeil Gill"=P. vitulina), the same author says: "Its terrestrial movements, however, are quite different from those of the Sea Lion, having a quick, shuffling, or hobbling gait, only using its pectorals to draw itself along with, while a small por- tion of the animal's belly alternately rests upon the ground, the posterior part of the body, including the hind nippers, being turned a little upward. The head and neck are slightly ele- vated, also, when the animal is in its land-traveling attitude, but the creature is not so erect as, nor does it present the imposing appearance of, the Sea Lion, in its habits upon shore." t No direct statement is made as to the extent of its land journeys, but one is led to infer that it is not often seen far from the water. From the foregoing it appears that the Phocine Seals gener- ally have considerable power of movement upon land, though using only the fore limbs in terrestrial locomotion; and that not only the Sea-Elephants, but the common Seals of the North At- lantic are capable of moving quite freely when out of the water ; and that their manner of progression at such times differs mainly from that of the other Pinnipeds in their using only the fore limbs, and in their not being able to raise the body fully from the ground or ice. The Walruses and the Otaries, as mentioned in the account of these animals, not only use their hind limbs as a means of locomotion on land, turning them freely forward, but move the fore limbs alternately, actually "stepping" with them, as one writer terms it, while the hind limbs are carried forward simul- taneously by arching the back and " hitching" them up beneath the body. In the Fur Seals, and in some of the smaller Sea Lions, the walk is not only plantigrade with all the feet, but the body is raised clear of the ground. The same is generally true also of the larger Sea Lions and the Walruses, but according to some writers the latter partly lose this power in old age, either from indolence, obesity, or decrepitude. The larger spe- cies appear to be simply less agile, both in the water and out, * Marino Mammalia, p. 117. t Ibid., p. 166. 496 FAMILY PHOCID^E. than their smaller affines, and do not voluntarily retire so far inland. SEAL-HUNTING. The pursuit of Seals for their commercial products, forms, as is well known, a highly important branch of industry, giving employment for a considerable part of each year to hundreds of vessels and thousands of seamen, as well as to many of the in- habitants of the Seal-frequented coasts of Newfoundland, Green- land, and Northern Europe. Although these animals are desti- tute of the fine soft coat of under-fur that gives to the Fur Seals their great economic importance, their oil and skins render them a valuable booty. Seals have been hunted from time immemo- rial, but until within the last hundred years their pursuit was limited to the vicinity of such inhabited coasts as they were accustomed to frequent. For nearly a century, however, a greater or less number of vessels have been constantly employed in their capture on the ice-floes of the Arctic seas, or on the uninhabited coasts and islands of the far North. This industry, therefore, plays an important part in the history of the species here under consideration, and is, moreover, of such high com- mercial importance as to render a somewhat detailed account of the general subject indispensable in the present connection. As all the species hunted in the northern waters belong to the North American fauna, the consideration of the subject involves other hunting-grounds than those geographically connected with the North American continent. Although the principal sealing-grounds are in the North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans, there were formerly other important sealing- stations on the coast of Lower California and in the Antarctic waters. Here, how- ever, the business was mainly limited (aside from the Fur-Seal fishery, already considered) to Sea-Elephant hunting, which has of late greatly declined in importance in consequence of the well-nigh practical extermination of the species hunted, through indiscriminate and injudicious over-hunting. Yet some notice of what Sea-Elephant hunting has been, as well as its present status, may not be out of place in the present general consider- ation of the subject. SEAL-HUNTING DISTRICTS IN THE NORTH ATLANTIC AND ARCTIC WATERS.— The principal "Sealing-grounds77 in the North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans are : (1) the West Greenland coasts ; (2) Newfoundland, the coast of Labrador, and the islands SEAL-HUNTING NEWFOUNDLAND DISTRICT. 497 and shores of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence, but especially the ice-floes to the eastward of these coasts ; (3) the Spitzbergen and Jan May en seas ; (4) Nova Zembla and the adjacent waters ; (5) the White Sea. In addition to these districts (6) the Cas- pian Sea affords an important seal-fishery. 1. West Greenland. — Along the West Greenland coasts seal- hunting is mainly prosecuted by the natives of the country, and is their chief means of support. Dr. Eink states that the average annual catch amounts to about 89,000 Seals. Of these 2,000 to 3,000, belonging mainly to the larger species, are con- sumed as food ; the remainder consist chiefly of Harp Seals (Phoca grcenlandica), but embrace many Einged Seals (Phoca fcetida), and Harbor Seals (Phoca mtulina). Eather more than one-half of the skins taken are exported, while the rest are used by the inhabitants of Greenland. The Greenlanders, hunting chiefly with the harpoon and kayak, or the rifle, are confined in their operations to the immediate vicinity of the coast.* 2. Newfoundland District. — Many Seals are taken at the Mag- dalen and other islands at the mouth of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence as well as along the shores of Newfoundland, in nets or with the gun, but by far the greater part are captured on the floating ice to the eastward of Newfoundland, to which sev- eral hundred vessels annually repair at the proper season, and where alone the yearly catch aggregates about half a million Seals. This, indeed, is the sealing-ground par excellence of the world, twice as many Seals being taken here by the Newfound- land fleet alone as by the combined sealing-fleets of Great Brit- ain, Germany, and Norway in the icy seas about Jan Mayen, or the so-called " Greenland Sea" of the whalemen and sealers. According to Charlevoix (see beyond, p. 554) thousands of Seals were taken along the shores of the Gulf of Saint Law- rence as early as the beginning of the last century, but a high authority on the subject — Mr. Michael Carroll,t of Bonavista, Newfoundland — states that the seal-fishery was not regularly prosecuted, at least in vessels especially equipped for the pur- pose, prior to the year 1763. As early as 1787 the business had already begun to assume importance, during which year nearly five thousand Seals were taken. Twenty years later (1807) * Danish Greenland, its People and its Products, pp. 129, 130. t Seal and Herring Fisheries of Newfoundland, 1873, p. 7. Misc. Pub. No. 12 32 498 FAMILY PHOCIIXS:. thirty vessels from Newfoundland alone were engaged in the prosecution of sealing voyages, and subsequently the number became greatly increased. In the year 1834 one hundred and twenty-five vessels, manned by three thousand men, sailed from the single port of St. John's $ two hundred and eighteen vessels, with nearly five thousand men, from Conception Bay, and nineteen from Trinity Bay, besides many others from other ports, making in all not less than three hundred and seventy- five, with crews numbering in the aggregate about nine thou- sand men.* To these are to be added a considerable number from Nova Scotia (chiefly from Halifax), and the Magdalen Islands. In 1857 the Newfoundland sealing-fleet exceeded three hundred and seventy vessels, their "united crews num- bering 13,000 men." The total catch of Seals for that year was five hundred thousand, valued at £425,000, provincial currency. t The business at this date seems to have attained its maximum so far as the number of men and vessels are concerned, the number of vessels subsequently employed falling to below two hundred, which has since still further decreased. Yet the num- ber of Seals annually captured has not apparently diminished, the business being prosecuted in larger vessels, which secure larger catches. According to statistics furnished by Governor Hill, C. B., of Newfoundland, to the home government, J it ap- pears that in 1871 the whole number of vessels employed in sealing was one hundred and forty-six sailing-vessels and fifteen steamers, manned by 8,850 men. The exports of Seal products for that year from Newfoundland were 6,943 tuns of oil, valued at $972,020, and 486,262 skins, valued at $486,262, the catch for the year being about 500,000 Seals, which were sold for the aggregate sum of $1,458,282. The single steamship " Commo- dore," of Harbour Grace, brought in 32,000 Seals, valued at £24,000 sterling. While the number of vessels employed in the Newfoundland Seal slaughter had at this time declined more than one-half, and the number of men engaged was one-third less, it appears that the annual catch was equal to that of aver- age seasons twenty years earlier. Prior to about 1866 the sealing-fleet consisted wholly of sail- ing-vessels, but since that date a small but steadily increasing * Bonnycastle, Newfoundland in 1842, vol. i, p. 159. t Carroll, Seal and Herring Fisheries of Newfoundland, p. 7. t Papers relating to. Her Majesty's Colonial Possessions, part ii, 1873, pp. 143, 145. SEAL-HUNTING JAN MAYEN SEALING-GROUNDS. 499 number of steamships have been added. In 1873, of the one hundred and seven sealing- vessels fitted out from the ports of Newfoundland, nearly one-fifth were steamers. Notwithstand- ing, however, this comparatively small number of vessels, the " catch n for that year is said to have been 526,000.* The number of vessels sailing from other provincial ports is usually small in comparison with the number from Newfound- land, and they are generally of smaller size.t 3. Jan May en or "Greenland'7 Seas. — The icy seas about Jan Mayen are the sealing- grounds par excellence of the English and continental seal-hunters. According to Moritz Lindeman, the chief sealing-district is a circular area four hundred miles in diameter, the central point of which is the island of Jan Mayen, but it varies somewhat in different years in consequence of the unstable position of the ice-fields. The point where the great- est slaughter occurs is a small area on the meridian of Green- wich, between 72° and 73° N. lat., about two hundred miles northeast of Jan May en .J In this limited district are taken an- nually about 200,000 Seals. Lindeman, in his history of the Arctic Fisheries,§ has sketched in considerable detail the general history of the whale- and seal- fisheries of the North Atlantic. From this exceedingly inter- esting and important memoir we learn that sealing was prose- cuted as early as 1720 from the ports of the Weser, and that in the year 1760 nineteen sailing-vessels from Hamburg took 44,- 722 Seals ; and that in 1790 the Hamburg fleet took 45,000. In 1850 twelve vessels returned with 48,800. Few statistics, how- ever, can be gathered respecting the early history of the seal- fishery, those given relating generally to the amount and value of the cargo rather than to the number of Seals taken. The ves- sels were engaged principally in the whale-fishery, pursuing, however, either Seals, Whales, or Walruses, as opportunity fa- vored. Lindeman gives a few detailed statistics relating to the * Carroll, Seal and Herring Fisheries of Newfoundland, p. 7. t In 1856, about five thousand Seals were taken by vessels from the Mag- dalen Islands ; in 1867, about three thousand two hundred, and the follow- ing year only about eight hundred and fifty. — Ann. Eep. of Depart, of Marine and Fisheries for 1868. t Peterm. Mittheil., Erganzungs heft Nr. 26, 1869, Taf. 1, 2. § Die Arktisehe Fischerei der Deutschen Seestadte 1620-1868. In Vergleich- ender Darstellung von Moritz Lindeman, Erganzungs heft Nr. 26, zu Peter- mann's Geographischen Mittheilungen, pp. vi, 118, mit zwei karten von A. Peterniann, 1869. 500 FAMILY PHOCID.E. capture of Seals in later years. The results of the seal-fishery for the year 1868, he states as follows : Takeu by 5 German ships 17, 000 Taken by 5 Danish ships 5, 000 Taken by 15 Norwegian ships 63, 750 Taken by 22 British ships 51, 000 making a total of 136,750, while 100,000 more were taken in Greenland. Great numbers are also killed about Nova Zembla by the Eussians, whose sealing-fleet in 1865 is said to have num- bered twenty-six vessels. According to Sporer, three hundred Seals were taken at Nova Zembla in three days in three nets.* Lindeman gives a tabular statement of the number of vessels engaged in seal-hunting from the ports of Southern Norway for the five years ending with 1868, together with their tonnage, size of the crews, value of the ships, number of Seals taken by each, etc., from which I compile the following : Year. Number of ships. Number of men. Number of Seals taken. Value in thalers. Young. Old. 1864 16 16 16 15 15 714 714 728 688 684 23,364 41, 758 39, 576 59, 931 49, 533 24, 723 18,724 8,106 23, 292 14,224 152, 000 172, 000 144, 000 247, 000 184,284 1865 1866 1867 1868 Prom the foregoing it appears that the number of Seals taken by the same fleet in different years is exceedingly variable, ranging from about 48,000 in 1864 to upward of 83,000 in 1867, and that while in 1864 more old Seals were taken than young ones, there were taken in 1866 five times as many young ones as old ones. In 1870, according to Captain Jakob Melsom,t of Tonsberg, eighteen vessels (three of them screw-steamships) from Southern Norway captured 55,375 young Seals and 30,- 390 old ones, or 85,765 in all. The greatest number brought in by a single vessel was 9,400. This year and the year 1867 are said by Captain Melsom to be the best years the Norwegian Seal- hunters had experienced up to that date. The British sealin g- vessels are mainly from D undee. Accord- ing to statistics given by Mr. Eobert Brown the number from *Petermann's Mittheil., Nr. 21, 1867. tPetermann's Geogr. Mittheil. 17 Band, 1871, p. 340. SEAL-HUNTING JAN MAYEN SEALING- GROUNDS. 501 this port varies greatly in different years, being only four in 1865, and twelve in 1868, but notwithstanding the fact that the number of vessels was three times greater in 1868 than in 1865, the catch was less than one-third as large as in 1865. Mr. Brown gives* the following statistics relating to the Dundee sealers : Tear. Number of vessels. Number of Seals taken. 1865 4 63 000 1866 7 58, 000 1867 11 56 000 1868 12 16, 670 1869 11 45 600 1870 9 90 450 1871t 6 62,000 In 1874, the Dundee sealers are said to have taken 46,252 Seals ;J in 1875, 45,295 Seals, valued at £27,026; and in 1876, 53,776 Seals, valued at £34,332. § The Spitzbergen sealing-fleet from British ports, says Mr. Brown, "meets about the end of February in Bressa Sound off Lerwick, in Zetland ; it leaves for the north about the first week in March, and generally arrives at the ice in the early part of that month. The vessels then begin to make observations for the purpose of finding the locus of the Seals, and this they do by crawling along the edge of the ice, and occasionally pene- trating as far as possible between 70° and 73° N. lat.; then continue sailing about until they find them, which they generally do about the first week of April. If they do not get access to them, they remain until early in May, when, if they intend to pursue the whaling in the Spitzbergen sea that summer, they go north to about 74° N". lat. to the 'old sealing/ or further still {even to 81° N.) to the whaling. Most of them, however, if not successful by the middle of April, leave for home to complete their supplies in order to be off by the first of May, to the Davis's Strait Whale fishery. . . . "The number of Seals taken yearly by the British and Con- tinental ships (principally Norse, Dutch, and German) in the *Man. Nat. Hist., Geol., etc., of Greenland, 1875, Mam., p. 68, footnote. t"Up to the llth of April," and hence including only part of the catch of that year. J. Geograph. Mag., vol. i, 1874, p. 386. §Baird's Ann. Eec. Sci. and Indust., 1876, p. 389. 502 FAMILY PHOCID^E. Greenland sea, when they get among them, will average up- wards of 200,000, the great bulk of which are young i Saddle- backs >, or, in the language of the sealer, 'white-coats'".* According to Lindeman (1. c., p. 81) the seal-hunters leave the ports of the Weser and the Elbe about the end of February, or, at latest, by the beginning of March, and reach the hunting- grounds about the third week of March, sailing to the north- westward between the Shetland Islands and Norway, and thence through the " funnel" (" Trechter ") of the " Spanish Sea", and eastward to Jan Mayen, varying their course according to the winds and the ice, reaching this rocky island in from eight days to four weeks, according to the favorableness of the sea- son, the steamships delay their voyages so as to reach the seal- ing-grounds at the same time as the sailing-vessels. About the 18th of March, as a rule, the " bay ice" ("pan-ice" of the English) begins to form, at about which time the ships reach this latitude. The bay-ice first takes the form of small round flakes, of the size of a tea-plate, varying in thickness from an inch to a foot. In it the ships find protection from storms, it considerably lessening the force of the sea, and serv- ing to keep down the waves. Where the bay-ice has formed the surface of the sea looks as if oil had been poured over it. The flakes increase in size, and if sharp cold ensues they become united the following day into masses six feet broad. The next two or three weeks are devoted to seal-hunting and seal-killing. TJiis is the time when the males and females are seeking their food of small fishes, mollusks, and crustaceans. Frequently no bay -ice forms, and then the Seals must be sought on the hard polar-ice. About the 22d to the 24th of March, the Seals resort to the ice and the females bring forth their young. Later they seek by preference for this purpose the somewhat firmer bay-ice. At the time of the birth of the young the males are found with the females, and sometimes two males to one female. As a rule the female has but one young, which, if she be not disturbed, she suckles for about seventeen to eighteen days. The young develop with extraordinary rapidity, and after three to four weeks are fat enough to yield a good booty. The whelping time continues till about the 5th of April ; four to five days later the males leave the "school" ("Stapel") or "shoal," and depart in a northeasterly direction. The females still remain *Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond. 1868, pp. 438, 439; Man. Nat. Hist,, etc., Green- land, Mam., p. 67. SEAL-HUNTING JAN MA YEN SEALING-GROUNDS. 503 for a short time with the young ; then they also go off in the direction taken by the males. The young, left to their fate, still remain some days without nourishment, and then also take to the water. If the weather be somewhat favorable, and especially if no snow is falling, immediately follows the "EnterfalP, as the destruction of the Seals upon the ice by the seal-killers (Kobbenschlagers *) is called.t The great destruction of Seals in the icy seas about Jan Ma- yen for many years prior to 1870 began to show its effects so strongly at this time as to raise grave fears for the results. At- tention was strongly drawn to the matter in 1871 by Captain Jakob Melsom, of Tonsberg, in an article published that year in Petermann's " Geographische Mittheilungen," entitled "Der Seehundsfang im nordlicheii Eismeere." In this memoir he discussed at length the immediate causes that led to the de- pletion, and suggested a remedy for it which has since been adopted, namely, an international agreement for a "close-sea- son n for the Seals. He traces the decrease in great part to the introduction of steamships into the sealing-fleets, and the too early arrival of vessels at the sealing-grounds. Captain Mel- som's paper throws so much light upon the general subject that I deem it of interest to give a translation of tjje more especially important portions of his memoir. Says Captain Melsom: " There is good evidence that steam- power is detrimental to the sealing business. Eespecting this point I will mention only the fact that steamships have it in their power to reach, nearly every year, the breeding- grounds of the Seals so early that the young are scarcely born before the mothers are killed. The young are then worthless ; the real capital, if I may so speak, — the old Seals, — is imprudently expended, and the profits are entirely lost. If in this way great numbers of old female Seals are destroyed without being re- placed by a proportionate number of young ones, every one can see what must be the rc^sult.f "It may be asked why the English, who are still our teach- ers in this field, have introduced steamships. This I willallow myself to answer. Until the year 1847 the competitors of the * The Germans very appropriately term the butchery of the young Seals upon the ice seal-slaughter ("Robben-schlag"), and the butchers seal- slaughterers (" Robbenschliigers"). t Petermann's Geogr. Mitth., Erganzungs heft Nr. 26, 1869, p. 81. t "It is well known that the Seal brings forth young only once a year, and only one at a time." 504 FAMILY PHOCID^E. English in seal-hunting in the Arctic Seas were some Danish and German vessels, which certainly were rarely an impedi- ment to these masters of the sea ; but now came also the Nor- wegians, led by Herrn Svend Foyn ; and however unskillful they may have been at first,* it was not long before they began to prove troublesome to their old teachers, and as the Norwe- gians some years later began to make use of the rifle, shoot- ing the full grown male Seal, they by this means — thanks to our good marksmen — were frequently more successful than the English themselves $ then it occurred to the latter that by the aid of artificial power they could triumph over the poor Nor- wegians who had only natural forces at their command : and ^oon floated colossi with powerful steam-engines and dingy Siiils upon the waves of the icy seas, terrifying alike the sailing- vessels and the Seals. "The English have yet another reason besides that already given for the introduction of steam-power, namely, that their voyages to Davis's Strait for Whales absolutely require the use of steam, this enabling them very easily to join in the catch in the northern ice-seas ; the ships, returning home at the close of the seal-catching season, discharging their cargoes, etc., then proceeding on the voyage to Davis's Strait, where they arrive in time to engage in whaling ; in this way they find employment for their steamships the greater part of the year. "It is my opinion that the above-mentioned reasons have led the English to employ steam in seal-hunting ; they surely saw the hurtfulness of it, but to the stronger belongs the lion's share as long as there is anything to have. Meanwhile the Germans, as well as the Norwegians, grew tired of competing with sailing- vessels against the English steamships, and therefore these na- tions built steamships in order to obtain an equal footing in this hitherto unequal struggle. • "The English are not at all blind to the fact that their golden time in the Arctic Seas is apparently over, for they well know that now in Norway, as well as in Germany, steamships are built for seal-hunting. I had evidence of this last winter in a conference with one of the before-mentioned [in an earlier part of his paper] English steamship captains ; it was not less in- * "I have heard that, as when Foyn for the first time participated in the hunt, the men carried the young Seals on board alive on their backs ; later they were conveyed on sledges drawn by four men, — all of which naturally gave great satisfaction to the practical Englishmen." SEAL-HUNTING JAN MAYEN SEALING-GROUNDS. 505 teresting that it at the same time indicated the business feeling of the English. " He urged me to try to unite the Norwegian and German shipowners in an agreement that in the future they would not take the young Seals before the 1st of April, till which time the females should remain undisturbed j he would then, on his part, endeavor to bring about a similar agreement on the part of the English shipowners. In passing, I will remark that this idea is a sound one, and that if the close-time should be extended till the 4th, or better still, till the 6th of April, it would be espe- cially favorable for the catch, and it will surely be necessary, sooner or later, to unite upon a preserve-law ; but the strange part of the matter is that the English never drew the rein so long as they were the only ones who employed steamships, but only when they feared that they should lose their supremacy. "As for the rest, it is still a precarious matter how to arrive at the agreement proposed by the Englishman. The Norwegi- ans must first be granted equal privileges with the English in the use of steam-power ; I doubt not that the English would then have not less reason to fear this agreement. Perhaps it will result in bringing about the advantage of a close-time, as already proposed by the Englishman. " There appeared some time since in Dammen's Journal an ac- count of the construction of two steamships built for use in seal- hunting, and it expresses great hope for the continuance of the same. The ice-sea fleet from here (Tonsberg) has considerably increased this year, and next year will be still further augmented. So far as I have thus far been able to determine, the ice-sea fleet from Southern Norway for the year 1872 will consist of eight- een sailing-vessels and eight steamships, besides one sailing- vessel and two steamships owned by foreigners, which ought to be equipped and manned here. I must call this for our -small share in a single field a great expansion j indeed, so magnificent that it is time to cry Halt ! " The last four fortunate years have unquestionably aroused so strongly the spirit of speculation that the less fortunate years which preceded them are meanwhile wholly overlooked or quite forgotten. If I mistake not, it is the same with the seal hunt- ing as with the herring fishery — it is periodical. " The catch of young Seals has considerably diminished dur- ing late years ; scarcely a doubt prevails as to that. If in spite of this the Norwegians in the last four consecutive years have 506 FAMILY PHOCID^E. obtained such favorable results, this good fortune is in part due to the fact that a considerable number of old Seals — owing to the peculiar situation of the ice — have sought refuge on the shores of the neighboring islands, where our accomplished marksmen with their improved rifles have killed great numbers. But to kill in this way year after year the old Seals means ultimately the destruction of the business ; and as a consequence of the in- creasing number of voyages, and the introduction of steam- power into the Norwegian sealing vessels, the hunt has become now more than ever a war of extermination instead of a judi- cious hunt. But the ice-sea voyages were during a series of years a great blessing to our country and especially to the poorer class of our people ; should we not then exert ourselves and do all in our power to preserve the same ? Should our ships go continually in the old track, visiting always the usual hunting places, and there continue the already long-waged war of exter- mination I Is it not high time that we went to the assistance of our less favorably situated countrymen of Northern Norway with one or two of our well-equipped and excellently adapted steam- ships, to aid them in their praiseworthy effort to discover new hunting-grounds, not only in the Kara Sea and on the shores of Nova Zembla, but also eastward of White Island (at the mouth of the Obi) along the coast of Siberia ? The rarely traversed stretch between Spitzbergen and Nova Zembla, to the north- ward, should especially be explored with great perseverance, where there is good hope that unknown land and good hunting places may be found, of which wealth one can now scarcely have a presentiment. "In order to prevent the loss of our ice-sea voyages and with them the capital that now is or may yet be invested in ice- sea ships, I venture to call the attention of my countrymen to the experiment here proposed, as I likewise pray for a hearing in reference to the before-mentioned proposition for a close-time for the Seals, not only on the part of the Norwegians, but also of the Germans and English. "I have read with great interest Mr. Carl Petersen's commu- nication < On our Hunting-fields in the Arctic Sea,' [' Uber unser Fangsfeld auf dem Eismeer'], and another in the 'Finmarks- post.? It appears from these articles that we are indebted to Consul Finckenhagen, of Hammerfest, for the extension of the hunting-field to Nova Zembla. His vessel, commanded by Captain Carlsen, of Tromso, took a new course and made a SEAL-HUNTING — JAN MAYEN SEAMNG-GROUNDS. 507 very fortunate trip, since which other hunting expeditions have been made, both from Tromso and Hammerfest. These enter- prising people may not only rejoice in the discovery of new hunting-grounds, but in the accumulation of a considerable amount of scientific information, as Professor Mohn, Director of the Meteorological Institute, of Christiania, can attest.* " Ought Southern Norway, which furnishes much more cap- ital than our friends in the North, and has in its proud Arctic fleet several steamships, look passively upon the praiseworthy efforts of our less favorably situated countrymen I "The Swedish Government again equipped last year two ships of war for an expedition into the Arctic waters — naturally for exclusively scientific purposes ; for the Swedes, who have no interest in the northern ice-seas, yet sacrifice large sums for the honor of their country and the advancement of knowledge. We can with relatively less expense not only bring honor to our own country, preserve our reputation for seamanship, and serve science, but can indulge the highest hopes of finding rich fields for the employment of our costly Arctic fleet, which per- haps in the old, it may be too quickly despoiled, hunting-fields will be without especially remunerative business." t From the foregoing it appears that the decrease of the Seals in the Jan Mayen seas, and the improvident slaughter that was yearly waged, had already begun to attract serious attention, as a threatening evil of no small magnitude. Captain Mel- som's strong protest seems not to have been without salutary effect. Subsequently the proposition for a close-time for Seals received more and more attention each year, not only in Nor- way but in Germany and England, with finally the happy result of an international agreement on the part of these countries favorable to the preservation of the Seals. As regards the general history of the subject it may be of interest to transcribe in the present connection a communication from Mr. Loveuskiold to Mr. Oolam, Secretary of the British "Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals", as pub- lished by Mr. Frank Buckland in " Land and Water," in the issue of August 28, 1875. This communication is of special intr rest, not only from its containing a report of a series of res- olutions adopted by the shipowners of Southern Norway re- specting a close-time, but also much statistical information *Geogr. Miith., 1870, pp. 194 et seq. ; 1871, Heft i, pp. 35 et seq., Heft iii, pp. 97 et seq., Heft vi, pp. 230 et seq. t Petermami's Geogr. Mitth., 17 Band, 1871, pp. 341-343. 508 FAMILY PHOCID^E. concerning the sealing business as carried on from the single port of Tonsberg, and especially as relating to the decline of the trade since 1871, foreshadowed in Captain Melsom's above- quoted paper. Says Mr. Lovenskiold : "I am sorry that I am not very familiar myself with the proceedings in Norway as to seal-fish- ing, and the protection of that trade. But as I have been hon- oured by an invitation to attend this meeting of the committee, I should think it the best way of giving the committee some knowledge of those proceedings to give you the substance of some resolutions, carried in a meeting of shipowners the 17th of February of this year [1875]. That meeting was kept at Tourberg [Tonsberg], a town in the southeastern part of Nor- way, the centre of the seal trade, and of the shipping concern- ing that trade. The contents of those resolutions is this : — " 1. A term should be fixed, within which the fishing of Seals in the Arctic Seas should be prohibited. (i 2. The 1st of April would be a suitable term for the begin- ning of the seal-fishing. The term of the beginning ought not to be fixed later than the 3d of April. The fishing should not be continued after the 5th of June. " 3. If the protection of the seals shall be of any use, it needs to be enforced by an international treaty, valid for all nations, engaged in shipping and fishing (all sea-faring nations). If such an international treaty can be concluded, we dissuade any protection. U4. Any violation by any ship, of the laws concerning the protection of the seals, should be punished with the confisca- tion of the whole cargo caught by that ship. " Those resolutions were carried, the three first ones by all votes but two, and the fourth one by all votes but three. u As it might be of interest for the committee to know the importance of the seal trade, carried on from Norway, I shall give you the following numbers in round figures : " In the fifteen years, 1860-74, the tonnage of the ships em- ployed in the seal trade from the southern part of Norway, by far the most important, has increased from 5,000 tons in 1860, to 9,000 in 1874. The value of the same ships has increased from £77,500 in 1860 to £175,500 in 1874. In those fifteen years the ships engaged in the seal trade caught together 624,000 young seals, and 376,000 old ones, or at an average per year of 41,600 young seals, and 25,000 old ones. The aggregate value SEAL-HUNTING JAN MAYEN SEALING-GROUNDS. 509 of the seals caught in those fifteen years was £650,000, or at an average per year of £43,350, and the aggregate net gain (sur- plus) of the trade for the shipowners was £62,200, or at an average per year of £7,150. " In the last three years from the same part of Norway were employed in the seal trade : — " 1872. Ten steamers and sixteen sailing-ships, with an aggre- gate tonnage of about 7,000 tons, and manned with 1,200 sailors. '" 1873. Sixteen steamers and eleven sailing-ships, with an aggregate tonnage of about 8,500, manned with 1,500 sailors. u 1874. Sixteen steamers and nineteen sailing-ships, with an aggregate tonnage of about 9,000 tons, and manned with 1,600 sailors. uln these three years all the ships together caught 142,500 young seals, and 128,000 old ones, or at an average per year of 47,500 young seals, and 42,700 old ones. " The value of the seals caught in three years, 1872-74, was £16,000, or at an average per year of £60,300 [sic]. The steam- ers engaged in the trade gave in those three years a net gain (surplus) for the shipowners of £9,500 5 the sailing-ships a loss of £27,500 ; steamers and sailing -vessels together a loss of £18,000. "I give you the numbers pursuant to a report in a Norwegian newspaper (Morgenbladt) of the 26th April this year. If you compare these numbers concerning the fifteen years (1860-74) and the last three years (1872-74), you will see that the catch- ing of the old seals has considerably increased, but that the catching of the young seals, although the tonnage and the value of the ships employed in the trade has been almost doubled, has only been maintained at the same rate, and that the small sur- plus of former years has been changed into a considerable loss in the last three years."* These statistics show the actual occurrence of what Melsom four years before clearly showed must happen under the then prevalent system of indiscriminate slaughter. With the rapid increase of the sealing-fleet was a corresponding decline in the profits of the trade, which soon changed to a considerable an- nual loss. The relatively small catch of young Seals, and the disproportionate increase in the number of old Seals killed show plainly the state of the business, and expose clearly the ruinous way in which it was prosecuted. As Melsom figuratively ex- * Land and Water (newspaper), August 28, 1875, p. 160. 510 FAMILY PHOCID-dE. pressed it, the real capital was being ruinously expended, and the profits had wholly disappeared. Steps were now, however, promptly taken to remedy the evil, but apparently years must elapse, even with the stringent ex- ercise of every precaution for the due preservation of the Seals, before the golden harvests of the previous decade can again be realized. In June, 1875, as appears by the British uLaw Eeport" for that year, the British government passed a statute known as the " Seal Fishery Act, 1875,"* which prohibits any British sub- ject from killing or capturing, or attempting to kill or capture, any Seal within the area included between the parallels of 67° and 75° north latitude, and the Greenwich meridians of 5° east longitude and 17° west longitude, under a penalty not exceed- ing £500 for each offense, one-half to go to the prosecutor. In this act the term " Seal " is defined as meaning " Harp or Saddle- back Seal, the Bladder-nosed or Hooded Seal, the Ground or Bearded Seal, and the Floe Eat, and includes any animal of the Seal kind which may be specified" by an u Order in Council" under the act. The beginning of the close-time was left to be determined by the Order in Council. The act was made opera- tive by the Queen in Council the 5th of February, 1876, the 3d day of April of every year being fixed as the time when Seals may first be captured. A few months later a similar act was passed by the Norwe- gian government, fixing the limits of the protected district by the same boundaries, and prescribing the same date for the be- ginning of the hunt. The penalty for the violation of the act is 200 to 10,000 crowns. The law received the King's signature the 28th of October, 1876, and was to become operative on the 25th of the following April, upon condition that the other in- terested governments agree to join with Norway in the enforce- ment of similar protective legislation.t * The following is a transcript of a portion of the act in question : " . . . The master or person in charge of or any person belonging to any British ship, or any British subject, shall not kill or capture, or attempt to kill or capture any seal within the area mentioned in the schedule to this act, or the part of the area specified in the order, before such day in any year as may be fixed by the order, and the master or person in charge of a Brit- ish ship shall not permit such ship to be employed in such killing or captur- ing, or-permit any person belonging to such ship to act in breach of this section. " t See Acts of 1876, Nos. 13 and 32. For copies of these acts I am indebted to Professor S. F. Baird, Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution. SEAL-HUNTING AT NOVA ZEMBLA, ETC. 511 I have been unable to determine whether similar legislative action has been taken by Germany, but in all probability such is the case, rendering the protective act a thoroughly interna- tional one so far as the three governments chiefly interested are concerned. 4. Nova Zembla and the Kara Sea. — Captain Melsom, as above indicated (antea, p. 506) believed, in 1871, that the Kara Sea and the shores of Nova Zembla offered new and profitable hunting- grounds for the Norwegian sealing-fleet, and relates that already several successful voyages had been made to Nova Zembla from Tromso and Hammerfest. According to Schultz, the Eussians, between the years 1830 and 1840, brought "rich cargoes of sal- mon or trout, of seals and walruses "from Nova Zembla, but he states that later "the product of the fisheries and of the chase diminished ; the animals left their usual places of abode and re- moved to others less accessible. The fishermen consequently ceased going to Novaya-Zemlya, so that in 1850 and 1860 only five vessels sailed for that group of islands. " The northern island of Novaya-Zemlya is most frequented by fishermen, while those who have strong and well-equipped ves- sels venture as far north as Matoschkine. The arrangements are made so as to arrive toward the end of June at Novaya- Zemlya, where the fishermen commence their work by hunting the seals and the walrus, and afterward devote themselves to fishing for the common trout, the variety called Salmo alpinus, which the Eussians call fgolets.?"* 5. White Sea. — Many Seals are taken in the White Sea, where they have been hunted by the inhabitants of the neighboring coasts since many hundred years. Now, as formerly, seal-hunt- ing is here mainly prosecuted by the Eussians. According to Schultz, the species chiefly hunted is the Phoca grcenlandica, which is killed on the ice. The hunt is carried on principally along the eastern shore (which is called the " Winter Coast"), and " in the bays of the Dwina andMezene, and on the coast of Kanine." During summer, or from May till September, these animals re- pair to the more remote Arctic Seas, but later make their appear- ance in the gulfs and bays of the Arctic Coast. They pair on the ice in the White Sea about the beginning of February, espe- cially in the Gulf of the Dwina, at which time the females give * Account of the Fisheries and Seal-hunting in the White Sea, the. Arctic Ocean, and the Caspian Sea. Rep. U. S. Com. of Fish and Fisheries, pt. iii, for 1873-74 and 1874-75, originally published (in French) at St. Petersburg in 1873. 512 FAMILY PHOCIDJE. birth to their young. The hunt on the " Winter Coast " begins at this time, and continues till the end of March. The chase extends over a district two hundred and thirty miles in length j here numerous huntsmen assemble " from the districts of Arch- angel, Pinega, and Mezene. The principal place of meeting, and at which generally two thousand huntsmen assemble, is called Kedy, and is located twelve < versts ? (about seven miles) from Cape Yoronov. The huntsmen have built at this place about one hundred huts, where there is constant excitement from Feb- ruary till the end of March, while during the rest of the year these huts are deserted. "About the middle of March, the young phocae are large enough to leave the ice and swim toward the open sea, whither the old ones do not follow them. They assemble in the Gulf of Mezene, where they rest on the ice and pair. The pieces of ice in the gulf are sheltered from the wind, and are not carried about by the waves, although they melt a little, especially dur- ing the rainy periods. " Numerous societies of huntsmen assemble in the beginning of April at the mouth of the river Koulo'i, in order to follow for several "weeks the chase of the phocae on the ice. They use sail- ing-vessels 22 feet long, with an iron-plated bottom. Every vessel is manned by several huntsmen, is completely equipped, and furnished with provisions and fuel. The huntsmen all leave the shore at the same time ; and having reached the floating ice, they draw their vessels on the ice, and there establish a vast encampment. The younger and more active huntsmen are sent out to reconnoiter. Provided with snow-shoes, they hasten in all directions to search for the phocae. As soon as they observe a flock, they advise the 'other huntsmen of the fact, and then all run towards the spot, drawing their boats after them. Hav- ing arrived within gunshot distance, the most expert are placed in the front Yank and commence the chase; for every shot must kill, and not merely wound, lest the cries of the wounded phocse frighten the whole flock and make them speed away. The ani- mals which are killed are then placed in the boats, and the huntsmen return to the shore — sometimes on the ice, sometimes in the open sea — to deposit there the result of the chase, and bring new provisions to the comrades who had been left there. "The huntsmen usually receive from their master, provisions and clothing for the whole season, and must give him in return half, or even two-thirds of all the animals which have been killed. SEAL-HUNTING—CASPIAN SEA. 513 The more hardened and expert a huntsman is, the larger is his share. Every society of twenty huntsmen elects a < starosta,' (the old one,) whose duty it is to guard the coast and prepare the food, without receiving for this a larger share than the other huntsmen. u On the western coast of the White Sea, (called the Terski coast,) the phocaa-chase is not as productive as on the eastern coast, because the pieces of ice, driven toward the north, float along the shore. Scarcely more than 15,000 < pouds ' (540,000 pounds) of phocae are caught there every year. "In these latitudes, the principal meeting-place of the hunts- men is sixteen 'versts' (about nine miles) north of the river Ponoi, and is called Deviataya. Huts are built here, and about five hundred huntsmen assemble, who form themselves into socie- ties. Every society is composed of a master and three hunts- men. While one of the members of the society remains on shore with his sleigh and his reindeer, the other three venture on the pieces of ice to discover the phocae, which are sleeping there. Every huntsman wears over his clothes a short cloak of reindeer skin, called 4 sovik,' and has on his feet large boots lined with fur. At the end of a long strap passed over his shoulder he draws a small boat, weighing 20 kilograms. A game-bag with provisions is attached to his belt. His gun on his shoulder, and having in his hand a long stick, with an iron point, he rapidly and skillfully advances, by means of his snow- shoes, over the vast fields of snow and ice. He acts as guide, and his two comrades follow him in single file, drawing their boat after them. When they have arrived at an expanse of water where phocaB are swimming, two of the huntsmen fire, while the third pushes the boat into the water in order to take up the dead animals, which he hoists into the boat by means of a boat-hook. " The chase commences early in the morning, and the hunts- men do not return to their hut till evening ; a flag hoisted on the shore indicating to them its position." 6. Caspian Sea. — Strange as it may seem, the Caspian Sea, — an inland brackish lake, with no natural communication with the oceans, and quite far removed from any other considerable body of water — is the seat of a sealing industry only second in im- portance to that of the so-called " Greenland " or Jan May en Seas. Many more Seals are taken here than Dr. Rink reports the annual catch to be in Greenland, and the number is rather Misc. Pub. No. 12 33 514 FAMILY PHOCHXffi. more than half as large as that taken by the combined sealing fleet of Western Europe in the icy seas about Jan Mayen. The number of skins annually taken during the six years ending with 1872 is given by Schultz as follows : in 1867, 131,723 $ in 1868, 150,947 ; in 1869, 128,701 ; in 1870, 137,030 ; in 1871, 90,468; in 1872, 156,759, or a yearly average of about 130,000. The species here hunted is the Plioca caspica of Mlsson, which by some authors has been regarded merely as a synonym of Pkoca vitulina. Its habits, however, indicate a species quite distinct. It is said to be from three to six feet long, and to weigh from 72 to 144 pounds. They gather in large herds on the shore, where thousands are sometimes killed in a single hunt. In 1873 M. Schultz, in his report upon fishing and seal- hunting in the Caspian Sea, described in considerable detail the habits and haunts of the Caspian Seal, and the methods employed for its capture. He says, " The seals love the cold j and, in summer, they seek the deep sea, leaving it in the au- tumn for their favorite place of abode, the northeastern basin of the Caspian Sea, which is the portion first covered with ice, and where the ice breaks up latest. Numerous herds of seals gather on pieces of floating ice, to rest or to pair. The pairing season lasts from the end of December till January 10. The female every year gives birth to one young, seldom to two. The young have a shining white, silky fur, but after ten days it be- comes coarse and turns gray. Then the tender solicitude of the mother ceases, for the little one has to go into the water and swim. Seals that are one year old have gray fur, speckled with black spots. "The seal is hunted down the western coast of the Caspian Sea, at the mouths of the Volga and the Ural, and in its south- ern part, especially on the islands of the Gulf of Apcheron. "The principal meeting-places of seal-hunters are on the seven islands situated north of the Peninsula of Mangyshlak, called the ' Seals' Islands/ on account of the large number of these animals found there. Other islands also abound in pho- cse. Thus there have been years when about 40,000 seals were killed on the island of Peshno'i, before the mouths of the Ural, and, in 1846, 1,300 were killed in one night. "The seals are hunted in three diiferent ways: they are killed with clubs on the islands where they gather ; or they are shot with guns ; or they are caught in nets. The first-men- tioned way is the grandest, and yields the best results. SEAL-HUNTING CASPIAN SEA. 515 "The great meeting-place of the huntsmen is Koulali, the largest of the Seal islands, having a length of thirty -five itself, whilst its outermost end has no other fastening than a small stone of just sufficient weight to keep it in its place, that is, sunk in the deep water beyond. At other times the reverse is the case. The inner end of the net is attached to the < Skal-Sten* by a mere thread, whilst its outer extremity is secured to the bottom by a heavy stone. In either case the inner or outer end of the net is left in a measure free, so that when the seal strikes it, the meshes on all sides may more readily collapse about the animal, and the more violently it struggles the more inextricably will it be fixed in the toils. "The < Stand-Nat ? is usually set in the evening, and taken up again at a pretty early hour on the following day. If placed near a it should 'be to leeward, because the seal usually mounts the stone on the weather side at night, and in the morning takes to the water in the opposite direction. The chances, therefore, are that in making its plunge into the sea, more especially if its movements be quickened by a blank shot, which is often fired for the purpose, it will be made captive. " It occasionally happens that the seal is taken in the net of an evening when about to mount the < Skal-Sten,7 as prior to so doing it is in the frequent habit of making several circuits round the stone for the purpose of ascertaining if all be safe, and should it not observe the net, it runs its head into one or other of the meshes. " The < Stand-Nat/ it should be observed, ought not to be set unless the weather be fine, for if the wind and waves beat on the rock, seals will not take up their night quarters there. To lure these animals into the net, various expedients are resorted to. Bright lights, as is known, greatly excite their curiosity. A fire is therefore made on the shore, or on a rock, in rear of the 4 Skal-Sten/ which has the effect of attracting them to the spot ; and as a further inducement, their olfactory nerves are tickled by the fumes of bones and other strong-scented sub- stances, which are cast into the flames. At other times Kutar, or seal-cubs, are tied to a line within the net, the cries of which often attract old ones. . . . " The * Stand-Nat ' would appear to be a very destructive engine. We read of as many as fourteen seals having been taken at a single 'haul.7 It is chieflj' the young ones, however, that are made prisoners. The old ones, let the night be dark as 526 FAMILY PHOCIDJ3. pitch, would seem by scent or otherwise to discern the toils ; arid even should they get entangled in the meshes, their strength is such, especially in the case of the Grey Seal, that it must be a very strong net to retain them within its folds. Odman tells us, indeed, that they at times carry away the net altogether. ' A man of my acquaintance/ he goes on to say, * related to me that he once captured an old seal with portions of ten different nets attached to its body, which was, however, finally secured by the eleventh. On flaying the animal, a part of one of the nets was found to have grown into the skin, and a considerable portion of the others were in a state of decomposition.7 When within the folds of the net, the struggles of the seal are most violent, and as it constantly endeavors to i go ahead7, never to retrace its course, it soon becomes so entangled that the captor has difficulty in disengaging it. What with the animaPs great exertions, however, in its endeavors to escape, and the want of air, it soon becomes exhausted, and when taken eut of the water is often found quite dead." On the coast of Newfoundland larger nets than those above described are used. Mr. Carroll says: "A seal-net is usually fifty fathoms long and seventeen feet deep. The twine they are made of is about three times the size of salmon-net twine j it will require sixty pounds of such twine to make a seal-net. The net is made on an eight and a half inch card." Each net requires twenty pounds of good cork cut into oval pieces, pointed at each end, seven inches long and two and a half inches wide at the widest part. These are placed one fathom apart on the head rope. The net, with all its attachments, will weigh about two hundred pounds.* The manner of using these nets, or " seal-frames,'7 is thus described by Mr. Eeeks: " Three long nets of strong seal twine are required to construct a frame. One net is firmly secured by anchors parallel with the shore, and at such a distance that the remaining nets, placed one at each end, will just reach the shore, thus forming a kind of oblong figure, the longest net being on the outside. If in the spring, when the Seals migrate from the westward, the net nearest that point is sunk to the bottom ; but if in the fall, when the Seals migrate in the reverse direction, — the shores of the island running nearly IS". E. and S. W., — the eastern net is sunk. Two men are required to con- stantly watch the nets. As soon as a herd of Seals has been * Seal and Herring Fisheries of Newfoundland, p. 35. METHODS OF CAPTURE — SEAL-NETS. 527 seen to cross the sunken net the top of it is immediately raised to the surface of the water by means of a pulley, and so fast- ened in that position ; the men then commence shouting and firing off guns loaded only with powder, to keep the Seals under water and cause them to l mesh ' in the nets ; otherwise they would spring over the nets and escape. When it is seen that no Seals rise to the surface the men launch their boats into the pound and take the Seals from the nets, most of them being drowned, while the others have to be killed. " As soon as the Seals are got on shore the net is again sunk, and the men, or others employed for the purpose, occupy them- selves * pelting,' or skinning, the Seals until another herd is impounded. In a successful season as many as eighteen hun- dred Seals have been captured in one of these frames."* In the Caspian Sea the nets, instead of being anchored to the shore, are suspended from boats at a considerable distance from land, as has already been fully described in the account of the Caspian Sea Seal-hunting quoted from Schultz (anted,, p. 516). Lloyd also states that in Norway, in winter, when the sea is frozen over, the seal-nets are set under the ice. " Small circu- lar holes at stated intervals are first cut in the ice, and after- wards the hauling lines attached to the net are passed, by means of long and forked poles, from the one aperture to the other." t A similar use of nets in Seal-catching prevailed in Lake Baikal a century and a quarter ago. Bell, writing in 1762, describes the process as follows : "The seals are generally caught in winter, by strong nets hung under the ice. The method they use is, to cut many holes in the ice, at certain distances from one another, so that the fishermen can, with long poles, stretch their nets from one hole to another, and thus continue them to any distance. The seals not being able to bear long confine- ment under the ice, for want of air, seek these holes for relief, and thus entangle themselves in the nets. These creatures, indeed commonly make many holes for themselves, at the set- ting in of the frost." f According to Dybowski, nets are still employed for the cap- ture of Seals beneath the ice in Lake Baikal, but apparently in a somewhat different manner. He states that strong nets, * Zoologist, 2d Ser., vol. vi, p. -2542. tThe Game Birds and Wild Fowl of Sweden and Norway, p. 423. t John Bell, Travels from Saint Petersburg in Russia to various parts of Asia, vol. i (Edinburg ed. of 1788), p. 320. (An earlier Glasgow edition was published in 1763.) 528 FAMILY PHOCnXffi. made of horse-hair, are inserted through the Seals' breathing- holes in the ice, and that in these nets the Seals, in attempting to reach the surface, become imprisoned.* Mr. Lloyd describes and figures another kind of net used in the capture of Seals, which he calls the "Ligg-Nat". His de- scription of the "Ligg-Nat", borrowed, as is his figure, from Linnet is as follows: — "It is attached to two wooden frames, one at each end, which are secured to the bottom of a ' Skal- Sten.? To the upper bar of the innermost of the frames is fast- ened a long line reaching to the shore. When one pulls at this line, the net is brought to the surface, but when the line is slack- ened, it sinks to the bottom. The net, whilst there, is altogether unseen, and the seal, unsuspicious of danger, creeps up, there- fore, on to the 'Skal-Sten7. When the peasant sees that it is asleep, he pulls gently at the line, which brings the net to the surface, and surrounds the stone in the manner of a quadrangu- lar fence. The animal, on awakening from its slumber, casts itself headlong into the water, but cannot extricate itself from the toils before the man, with his harpoon or other implement of destruction, reaches the spot and puts an end to its exist- ence." { 3. TJie Seal-Box. — Mr. Lloyd also describes another ingenious device for the capture of Seals, used in Norway and Sweden. He says it is called the "Skal-Kista", or Seal-box. "In princi- ple it is the same as the so-called Watten- Giller, the expedient commonly adopted to catch rats and mice, viz., a l balance-board/ .placed across a tub of water. It is constructed of logs, and square in form, as seen in the above diagram [referring to a fig- ure of the " Skal-Kista"], and is sunk in the water up to the let ter Y [about the basal third being submerged]. Large stones are afterwards heaped up around and about it, especially at both ends, so as to make it resemble a 'Skal-Sten' as much as possi- ble. The trap-door T consists of an oblong flat stone, or of plank ends, and swings on an iiun bar, the extremities of which rest on the side- walls of the ' Skal-Kista ? itself. To prevent the trap- door T from falling too low there is a spring or stop, so that on the pressure ceasing it at once resumes its horizontal position. This device, as will be readily understood, is covered with sea- * Arch, liir Anat. u. Phys., 1873, p. 124. t Reisen durch Oeland imd Gothland, etc. Aus deni schwedischen iiber- setzt. Halle, 1764, pp. 203, 204, pi. 1, fig. 6. t Game Birds and Wild Fowl, etc., pp. 424, 425. METHODS OF CAPTURE — SEAL-HOOK; " SKRACKTA". 529 weed, and when, therefore, the seal, tired of contending with the waves, seeks in all innocence to rest its wearied limbs on what it takes to be a rock, the trap-door swings on its axle, and the yawning gulf beneath presently receives the poor animal ; and as the aperture through which it falls is at once closed again, the trap is in readiness to receive others of its comrades who may allow themselves to be similarly beguiled." * 4. The Seal-Hook. — In certain parts of the Norwegian coast, and probably elsewhere in Scandinavia, the writer last quoted tells us that Seals are captured by means of barbed hooks, and he depicts the manner of their use. The hooks, he says, quot- ing from Rosted, should be made of tough iron or steel of at least the thickness of one's finger, with shanks some eighteen inches in length. These are fastened by a half-hitch to a strong horse-hair or hempen line, which is stretched completely around the base of a "Skal-Sten" or Seal Eock, to which its ends are firmly attached. The hooks are set at low water, and in mod- erate weather, for in stormy weather the Seals do not usually repair to the rock. At half-ebb of the following tide the rock should be reconnoitered with a telescope. " If any of these ani- mals are then observed to be lying on it, a blank shot (when the boat has approached sufficiently near) should be discharged, which will at once arouse them from their slumbers, and cause them to plunge headlong into the sea, in their progress to which one or more of the company are commonly * brought up by the run'; for though, when "ascending the and on the evening of the following day the number secured reached 2,171. In the course of a few days the crew of the " Hudson"* completed their cargo, numbering altogether 5,400 young Seals, which yielded 620 tuns of oil. This, with the skins of the Seals and one Whale ("em risen"), brought 23,983 thalers, gold. The same writer thus describes the "Seal-coasts"' and the hunt. Under the heading "Die Kobbenkuste, der Eobben- schlag." he says : — " The district of the Seal-hunt, if we may so term the butchery of the most patient and submissive of animals, embraces the immensely large area of 6,000 to 8,000 square miles, and though called • coast ' is really no coast, but sea and ice-fields. In this area one comes upon immense herds of Seals, which, according to Teaman's account, are often twenty to thirty Eng- lish miles broad. The English call such herds • Seal's- weddings ' or i Seal-meadows.' The commander, peering through his spy- glass from the * crow's nest' first discovers the herds of Seals. He shouts the order • Over all ! ' The crew costume themselves for the slaughter, their suit consisting of gray linen. Into a leathern belt fastened around the body they stick the skinniug- kuife. Each provides himself with ropes and a seal-club, the latter implement consisting of a strong sticfc or shaft, having an iron point, a hammer and hook. Soon the boats are lowered and the men rush into them, and with a loud • Holulu!' start for the ice. The killing of the Seals upon the ice begins. When the Seals are dead, the skin, together with the fat or blubber, is removed from the body with the skiuning-knife. The cabin- boys ('Schiffsjuugen') and later all the men draw the skins of 542 FAMILY PHOCIDJE. the i dogs/ as the Seals are called in Greenland parlance, with ropes to the ship, where the so-called doctor (or barber) receives them, counting them as soon as they come in at the Flenssgat.* The rest of the animal, termed the l, Swedish. Steen-Eobbe, Norwegian. Seehund ; Gemeine Seehund ; Gefleckte Seehund; Robbe ; Seekalb, German. Phoque; Phoque commune ; Veau-marin ; Loup-marin; Chien-marin ; French. Seal; Common Seal ; Harbor Seal; River Seal ; Bay Seal ; Land Seal ; Fresh- water Seal; Sea-Calf; Sea-Cat; Sea-Dog, English authors and Eng- lish local names. Selchie; Selch (Scotland) ; Tangfish (Shetland); Rawn (Hebrides). Native Seal ; Banger ; Dotard, Newfoundland sealers. EXTERNAL CHARACTERS. — Color variable. Above, usually yellowish-gray, varied with irregular spots of dark brown or black ; beneath, yellowish- white, usually with smaller spots of dark-brown. Sometimes uniform brownish-yellow above, and somewhat paler below, entirely without spots ; or uniform dark- gray above, and pale yellowish- white below, everywhere unspot- ted. ^Not unfrequently everywhere dark-brown or blackish, varied with irregular streaks and small spots of yellowish- brown; the head wholly blackish from the nose to beyond the eyes ; the lips and around the eyes rusty-yellow. Length of male, 5 to 6 feet; of female, somewhat less. Young at birth uniform soiled- white or yellowish- white, changing to darker with the first moult. The variations in color are almost endless, ranging from uni- form yellowish-brown to almost uniform dark-brown, and even nearly black, with, between these extremes, almost every pos- sible variation, from dark spotting on a light ground to light EXTERNAL CHARACTERS. 563 spotting on a dark ground. The markings vary in size from very small spots to large, irregular patches and streaks. The more common color is brownish-yellow, varied with spots and iiili3!j|i!!i!li!|l patches of darker, but not unfrequently the general color is blackish, more or less varied with spots, patches and streaks of lighter. The lower surface is generally thickly marked with small oval or roundish spots, smaller and less confluent than 564 PHOCA VITULINA HARBOR SEAL. those of the upper surface. Specimens from Denmark and the Atlantic coast of North America are indistinguishable from those from Lower California, Washington Territory, and Alas- ka. Specimens from the Pacific coast present the same wide range of color- variations, and precisely the same phases as those from the shores of the Atlantic. Captain Scammon gives the weight of two adult females from the Strait of Juan de Fuca, as 56 and 60 pounds respectively. Mr. Michael Carroll gives the weight of adults (sex not stated) as 80 to 100 pounds. Mounted specimens, apparently adult, vary in length from three to five feet. Scammon says that on the Pacific coast it u never exceeds six feet in length," and gives the length of the two above-mentioned females as respectively from "tip of nose to tip of tail" 3 feet 8 inches and 3 feet 10 inches. Mr. Paul Schumacher gives the length of a " female Marbled Seal," sent to the Museum of Comparative Zoology from Santa Barbara Island, California, as 6 feet from tip of nose to the end of the hind flippers, which would make the length to the end of the tail about 5 feet 6 inches. Lilljeborg gives the total length to the end of the hind flippers as 5 feet 8 inches (Swedish) or 1740 mm. Bell says, " Length of adult from three to five feet", \uthors generally give the length as from 3 to 6 feet. I find the^lengthof an adult (disarticulated) skeleton to be about 4 feet, or 1225 mm., while Lilljeborg gives the length of the skeleton as 5 feet 1 inch or 1530 mm. In the large series of skins and skulls I have examined very few were marked for sex, and I find nothing explicitly stated by authors in relation to sexual difference in size. Unlike the Phoca fcetida, P. grcenland-ica, and most other Pho- cids of the northern waters, the first coat is shed before or soon after birth, but as to the exact time at which it is cast authori- ties disagree. Mr. Bartlett, in describing a young Seal of this species (wrongly identified at the time as Phoca foetid a), born in the Garden of the London Zoological Society June 8, 1868, says : " It was born near the edge of the water, and in a few minutes after its birth, by rolling and turning about, was com- pletely divested of the outer covering of far and hair, which formed a complete mat, upon which the young animal lay for the hour or two after its birth".* *Proc. Zo.ol. Soc. Lond., 1868, p. 205. DISTINCTIVE CHARACTERS. 565 It is sometimes stated that the foetal coat is retained for four or five days after birth, but other writers affirm that it is shed at the time of birth. Mr. Kumlien, in his MS. notes * on this species, says that the Esquimaux affirm that the "young remain in the white coat but three or four days, differing greatly in this respect from Payomys fcetidm." DISTINCTIVE CHARACTERS. — The common Harbor Seal, the Kinged Seal, and the Harp Seal, during its earlier stages, are not always certainly distinguishable by color, and are appar- ently not easy to determine by any other external characters, save one, that have yet been pointed out. The Kinged Seal (Phoca fcetida) can always be recognized by the length of the first digit of the nianus, which slightly exceeds all the others. When adult, and in the flesh, they must each present well- marked external differences, not only in color but in proportions and form. P. fcetida is the smallest of the three, while the Harp Seal (P. grcenlandica) is the largest, and when adult, is easily distinguished by coloration alone. P. mtulina, judging from the skeleton, is a comparatively robust form, with a large head, broad nose, and rather short limbs. The others are more slender, with a narrower and more pointed nose, and a smaller and more delicately shaped head. By the skull, or by any of the principal bones of the skeleton, particularly of the limbs, they can be easily distinguished, as will be shown by the fol- lowing rather extended osteological comparisons, with the ma- terial for which I am fortunately well provided. As is well known, P. vitulina is easily distinguished from the other species of Phoca above named by its heavy dentition, the molars especially being very broad and thick, closely crowded together and set obliquely in the jaw, whereas in both P. fcetida and P. grcenlandica the teeth are very small, normally implanted, and separated by well-marked diastema. They also *Mr. Ludwig Kumlieu, naturalist of the "Howgate Polar Expedition" (1877-78), kindly placed at my service his report, while in manuscript, on the mammals collected and observed by him in and near Cumberland Sound, from which the extracts given in the following pages as from Mr. Kumlien's "MS. notes" were takeu. A year later, and as these pages are passing through the press, his full report has appeared as " Bulletin No. 15" of the United States National Museum, under the title "Contributions to the Natural History of Arctic America, made in connection with the Howgate Polar Expedition, 1877-78. By Ludwig Kumlien. Naturalist of the Expedi- tion." Washington: Government Printing Office. 1879. 8vo, pp. 179. The account of the Seals occupies pp. 55-64. 566 PHOCA VITULINA HARBOR SEAL. have the cingulum smooth, while in P. vitulina it is more or less distinctly beaded (sometimes striated) on the anterior por- tion of the inner side, especially in early life, and on the three anterior teeth. In old age, however, this feature often becomes wholly obliterated. The oblique position of the teeth in the jaw evidently results from their large size, the space for their reception being too short to permit of their standing end to end in the usual manner. Their large size also results in, or neces- sarily accompanies, a considerable modification of the whole facial portion of the skull, which is greatly thickened and broadened, in comparison with the same part in the other above- mentioned species. Passing to the palatal region, P. vitulina and P. fcetida present an essential agreement, the posterior nares in both being rather abruptly narrowed posteriorly ; the hind border of the palatines is deeply hollowed, and the narial septum is imperfectly developed at its posterior border. In P. fcetida it remains wholly unossified behind the palato-maxillary suture, except the buttress-like extensions along the narial roof and floor, and ossification of the septum is carried but little further in P. vitulina. In P. grcenlandica, however, the septum is fully and even heavily developed to the very end of the squarely truncated hind border of the palatines, dividing verti- cally the posterior narial opening, which is scarcely at all con- tracted, into two distinct passages. Its transverse breadth is nearly twice its vertical width, while in P. vitulina these dimen- sions are nearly equal. The auditory bulla3 differ considerably in form in each of the three species here compared. In general form they have in each the outlines of a nearly equilateral triangle, but the sides are set in each at a different angle relatively to the transverse axis of the skull. In P. fcetida the anterior border is nearly parallel with the plane of this axis ; in P. vitulina the two form an acute angle, while in P. grcenlandica they form nearly a right angle. The anterior face of the bullse is nearly plane in P. fcetida, strongly hollowed in P. grcenlandica, and slightly so in P. vitulina. In both P. fcetida and P. grcenlandica the lateral ex- tension forming the lower border of the meatus auditorius is depressed and swollen or rounded below, forming an abruptly constricted neck to the bulla proper, but in P. vitulina it slopes evenly from the highest part of the bulla and terminates in a uniformly tapering triangular point. The facial portion of the skull, as already intimated, is broad DISTINCTIVE CHARACTERS. 567 and heavy in P. vitulina^ to give room and support for the thick strong teeth ; in P. foetida it is short and narrow, and uniformly tapering; in P. grcenlandica the muzzle is narrow, rather lengthened and attenuated. The teeth of the molar series in P. vitulina are relatively about two and a half to three times larger than in either of the other species. In respect to other characters of the skull, the orbital fossae are relatively larger in P. foetida than in either of the others, with the inner wall more deeply excavated, and the zygomatic border rather angular (sometimes very markedly so) instead of regularly convex. P. vitulina differs still further in the greater development and inward curvature of the malar process of the zygomatic arch. Another striking difference is seen in the gen- eral contour of the upper surface of the skull, which in P. vitulina is rather sharply convex, with (in old males) the ridges formed for the attachment of the masseter muscles closely approxi- mated along the median line, or sometimes actually meeting to form a low, broad, incipient sagittal crest, while in both P. grcenlandica and P. fcetida the whole top of the skull is nearly flat, and the ridges for the attachment of the masseter muscles form a thickened line at the edge of the skull where the lateral and dorsal surfaces meet at a rather sharp angle. The lower jaw in P. vitulina is very heavy and short ; the syrnphysis is very short, behind which the rami abruptly bow outward and widely diverge ; the rami are very thick, with the axis of expansion nearly vertical, and there is no inward cur- vature of the inferior border. In P. groenlandica the lower jaw is very slender with a rather long symphysis ; the rami are very thin and broad, the inferior borders of which curve inward so as to nearly or quite meet for one-third of the length of the jaw, or nearly as far back as the last molar, while the plane of verti- cal expansion is very oblique. The lower jaw in P. fcetida quite nearly resembles, in general form, that of P. groenlandica. In P. vitulina the vertical diameter of the ramus just behind the last molar is only about two and a half times greater than the transverse is at the same point, while in P. groenlandica it is fnlly four times greater. P. vitulina also differs from the others by the abrupt angle formed by the ascending ramus.* * As will be noticed later (infra, p. 573) the lower jaw in P. vitulina varies greatly in form and stoutness with age, and probably also with sex. In the foregoing comparison the lower jaw of a very old male P. vitulina has been compared with others corresponding in age and sex of P. groenlandica and P. fcetida. 568 PHOCA VITULItfA — HARBOR SEAL. Without going into a detailed comparison of the bones of the general skeleton, a few points may be briefly noticed. The scapula has nearly the same general outline in both P. vitu- lina and P. foetida, but differs widely from that of P. groenlan- dica, mainly through the great development of the posterior upper portion of the blade, which is greatest in P. vitulina. In other words the scapula in P. grcenlandica is less " sickle-shaped r than in the others owing to the greater development of the pre- scapular portion and the less development of the post-scapular part. In P.fcetida the infra-acromial portion is much elongated, so that although the scapula is much smaller than in P. vitulina, its length is greater. In P. fcetida the length to the breadth* is as 1 to 0.847 ; in P. minima, as 1 to 1.155 ; in P. grcenlandica as 1 to 0.908. The width of the post-scapular fossa to the whole breadth is, in P. foetida, as 0.577 to 1 ; in P. vitulina as 0.609 to 1 ; in P. groenlandiea as 0.664 to 1. The bones of both the fore and the hind limbs vary considera- bly in size and form with each species, but only the difference in the relative length of the several segments of the limb, com- pared with its whole length, will be here noted. In both fore and hind limbs the second segment is relatively much shorter in P. vitulina than in either P. fcetida or P. grcenlandica ; in P. grcenlandica the pes is relatively much lengthened while the manus is of the same length as in P. vitulina. The proportion- ate length of the femur to the tibia varies as follows : in P. fce- tida the femur to the tibia is as 1 to 2 ; in P. vitulina as 1 to 1.8 ; in P. grcenlandica as 1 to 2.3. The proportionate length of the femur to the pes is as 1 to 2.7 in P. fcetida, I to 2.4 in P. vitulina, and 1 to 2.9 in P. grcenlandica ; of the femur to the whole limb, respectively, 1 to 5. 7; 1 to 4.3; 1 to 6.2. This difference is mainly due to two elements of variation, — the shortness of the tibia in P. vitulina and the great length of the pes in P. grcenlandica. The ratio of the pes to the whole limb, however, is nearly con- stant, being as follows : in P. fcetida, 1 to 2.14 ; in P. vitulina, 1 to 2.16 ; in P. grcenlandica, 1 to 2.13. P. vitulina presents another noteworthy point of difference from its allies in the relative shortness of the pelvic bones, which is directly proportionate to that of the tibia and radius, or second limb segments. In both P. vitulina and P. grcenlandica the length * The supra-scapular epiphysis is in each case omitted from the compari- son, and only the scapulae of adults of comparable ages are employed. DISTINCTIVE CHARACTERS. 569 of the pelvis is precisely that of the tibia, being respectively 200 mm. and 255 mm. P. fcetida presents a different ratio, due not to the shortness of the pelvis so much as to the great length of the tibia, the tibia measuring 190 mm. and the pelvis 170 mm. Xot only is the dentition exceptionally heavy in P. vitulina, but the whole skull is ponderous, in striking contrast with the light thin skull of either of the other species. In other words, P. vitulina is a big-headed, short-bodied, and short-limbed spe- cies. While the linear dimensions of old male skulls fully equal or somewhat exceed the same measurements of equally old male skulls of P. grcenlandica, the length of the limbs, and also the entire skeleton, is much less, as shown by the following measurements : * Species. Length of the — Skull. Fore limb.* Hind limb. Whole skeleton. Phoca vitulinat Millimeters. 220 210 163 Millimeters. 499 550 534 Millimeters. 582 677 450 Mittimeteig. 1,225 1,630 1,308 Phoca foetidaj Including scapula. t Adult male. J Adult female. The fore limb, as well as the total length of the animal, is even actually shorter than in P. fostida, although the latter is a much smaller animal. The ratio of the length of the skull to the length of the whole skeleton in the three species in ques- tion is as follows : in Phoca vitulina, as 1 to 5.6 ; in Phoca green- landica, as 1 to 8 ; in Phoca fcetida, as 1 to 8.6. Measurements (in millimeters) of the principal parts of the skeletons of these three species are presented in the following table, from which it will be seen that the shortness of the caudal vertebrae in Phoca vitulina is also a noteworthy point. This is due in part * The largest skull of P. vitulina in a series of ten measures 223 mm. in length and 144 mm. in extreme breadth, while the largest skull of P. groen- landica in a series of twelve measures 228 mm. in length and 133 mm. in breadth. No other in the series, however, exceeds a length of 220 mm. or a breadth of 128 mm., old skulls of P. vitulina averaging the longer, with the breadth very much greater. 570 PHOCA VITULINA — HARBOR SEAL. to the small size of these vertebrae, but in part to their reduced number.* Measurements of the principal parts of the skeleton in Phoca vitulina, Phoca green- landica, and Phoca fasticta. Principal parts. j f Phoda fcetida. Length of the skull 220 210 163 Length of the cervical vertebras. ......... ..... ... ' 210 240 200 Length of the dorsal vertebra) 445 510 410 216 255 190 Length of the sacral vertebra) 1 120 100 100 Length of the caudal vertebra) ... 230 317 245 Length of the scapula . ...... .. 135 152 137 Length nf thf* hrmp«5#N^£ S i 5 s 5 a '89aoq IBB^X ^ 8 : S8 jo prc> jo "Bflrxijui jo J9paoq JBp9 PU9 O!* •trnraBq •8890oad 93^1X130119^11 JO 9"p9 .lO UIOJJ 90UB^8I(J ; ' TOOJJ 90UB58IQ jo oSpo UTOJJ 9.im?j8i79. On the coast of Massachusetts they occur in considerable numbers about the mouth of the Ipswich Kiver, where I have sometimes observed half a score in sight at once. They are also to be met with 'about the islands in Boston harbor, and along the eastern shore of Cape Cod. Captain N. E. Atwood states that they are now and then seen at Provincetown, and that in a shallow bay west of Eainsford Island "many hundreds" may be seen at any time in summer on a ledge of rocks that becomes exposed at low water, t Further northward tl^ey become more numerous, particularly on the coast of Maine and the shores of the Gulf of Saint Law- rence, Newfoundland and Labrador, and are also common on the shores of Davis?s Strait and in Greenland, where, says Di\ Eink, "it occurs here and there throughout the coast," and is likewise t'o be met with at all seasons of the year. Mr. Kurnlien says it is one of the "rarer species" in the Cumberland watersr but its exact northern limit I have not seen stated. On the European coasts it is said to occur occasionally in the Mediterranean, and to be not rare on the coast of Spain. It is. more frequent on the coasts of France and the British Islands^ and thence northward along the Scandinavian peninsula is the * Letter dated Trenton, N. J., Dec. 26, 1878. tSee Bull.Mus. Comp. Zool., vol. i, p. 193. GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION. 587 commonest species of the family. It also extends northward and eastward along the Arctic coast of Europe, but late ex- plorers of the Spitzbergen and Jan Mayen Islands do not enu- merate it among the species there met with. Malmgren states distinctly that it is not found there,* and it is not mentioned by Von Heuglin nor by the other German naturalists who have re- cently visited these islands. From its littoral habits its absence there might be naturally expected. It is also said by some writers to occur in the Black and Caspian Seas, and in Lake Baikal, but the statement is seriously open to doubt, as will be shown later in connection with the history of the Einged Seal. On the Pacific coast of North America it occurs from Southern California northward to Behring's Strait, where it seems to bean abundant species. I have examined specimens from the Santa Barbara Islands, and various intermediate points to Alaska, and from Plover Bay, on the eastern coast of Siberia. The extent of its range on the Asiatic coast has not been ascertained. If it is the species referred to by Pallas under the name Phoca canina, and by Temminck, Yon Schrenck, and other German writers under the name Phoca nummularis, as seems probable, it occurs in Japan and along the Amoor coast of the Ochots Sea. Von Schrenck speaks of it, on the authority of the natives, as entering the Amoor Kiver.t The late Dr. Gray referred a specimen from Japan to his "Halicyon richardsif which, as al- ready shown, is merely a synonym of Phoca vitulina. It thus doubtless ranges southward along the Asiatic coast to points nearly corresponding in latitude with its southern limit of dis- tribution on the American side of the Pacific. The Harbor Seal not only frequents ,£he coast of the North Atlantic and the North Pacific, and some of the larger interior seas, but ascends all the larger rivers, often to a considerable distance above tide- water. It evjen passes up the Saint Law- rence to the Great Lakes, and has been taken in Lake Cham- plain. DeKay states, on the authority of a Canadian news- paper, that a Seal (in all probability of this species) was taken in Lake Ontario near Cape Vincent (Jefferson County, New York) about 1824, and adds that the same paper says that In- dian traders report the previous occurrence of Seals in the same lake, though such instances are rare.f Thompson gives two in- * Wiegm. Arch, fur Naturg. 1864, p. 84. t Reisen im Amoor-Lande, Bd. i, p. 180. t New York Zoology, pt. i, 1842, p. 55. 588 PHOCA VITULINA HARBOR SEAL. stances of its capture in Lake Champlain ; one of the specimens he himself examined, and has published a careful description of it, taken from the animal before it was skinned.* They are also known to ascend the Columbia River as far as the Dalles (above the Cascades, and about two hundred miles from the sea), as well as the smaller rivers of the Pacific coast, nearly to their sources. Mr. Brown states that " Dog Eiver, a tributary of the Columbia, takes its name from a dog-like ani- mal, probably a Seal, being seen in the lake whence the stream rises." t HABITS. — The Harbor Seal is the only species of the family known to be at all common on any part of the eastern coast of the United States. Although it has been taken as far south as North Carolina, it is found to be of very rare or accidental occur- rence south of New Jersey. Respecting its history here, little has been recorded beyond the fact of its presence. Captain Scammon has given a quite satisfactory account of its habits and distribution as observed by him on the Pacific coast of the United States, but under the supposition that it was a species distinct from the well-known Phoca mtulina of the North At- lantic. Owing to its rather southerly distribution, as compared with its more exclusively boreal affines, its biography has been many times written in greater or less detail. Fabricius, as early as 1791, devoted not less than twenty pages to its his- tory, based in part on his acquaintance with it in Greenland, * His record of the capture of these examples is as follows : "While several persons were skating upon the ice on Lake Champlain, a little south of Burlington, in February, 1810, they discovered a living Seal in a wild state which had found its way through a crack and was crawling upon the ice. They took off their skates, with which they attacked and killed it, and then drew it to the shore. It is said to have been 4-J- feet long. It must have reached our lake by way of the Saint Lawrence and Riche- lieu. . . ."—Nat. and Civil Hist? of Vermont, 1842, p. 38. "Another Seal was killed upon the ice between Burlington and Port Kent on the 23d of February, 1846. Mr. Tabor, of Keeseville, and Messrs Morse and Field, of Peru, were crossing over in sleighs when they discovered it crawling upon the ice, and, attacking it with the butt end of their whips, they succeeded in killing it and brought it on shore at Burlington, where it was purchased by Morton Cole, Esq., and presented to the University of Ver- mont, where its skin and skeleton are now preserved. ... At the time the above-mentioned Seal was taken, the lake, with the exception of a few cracks, was entirely covered with ice." — IBID., Append., 1853, p. 13. tProc. Zool. Soc. Lond., 1868, p. 412, footnote. HABITS. 589 and partly on the writings of preceding authors ; * and much more recently extended accounts of it have been given by NiLsson and Lilljeborg, but unfortunately for English readers the first of these histories is written in Danish and the other in Swedish. It has, however, been noticed quite fully by Bell, Macgillivray, and other British authors, while lesser and more fragmentary accounts of it are abundant. On the New Eng- land coast, as elsewhere, it is chiefly observed about rocky islands and shores, at the mouths of rivers and in sheltered bays, where it is always an object of interest. Although rang- ing far into the Arctic regions, it is everywhere said to be a sedentary or non-migratory species, being resident throughout the year at all points of its extended habitat. Unlike most of the other species, it is strictly confined to the shores, never re- sorting to the ice-floes, and is consequently never met with far out at sea, nor does it habitually associate with other species. On the coast of Newfoundland, where it is more abundant and better known than at more southerly points, it is said to bring forth its young during the last two weeks of May and the early part of June, resorting for this purpose to the rocky points and outlying ledges along the shore. It is said to be very common along the shores of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence and of Newfound- land in summer, or during the period when the shores are free from ice, but in winter leaves the ice-bound coast for the re- moter islands in the open sea. It is at all times watchful, and takes great care to keep out of reach of guns. Still, many are surprised while basking on the rocks, and fall victims to the seal-hunters, while considerable numbers of the young are cap- tured in the seal-nets. They are described as very sagacious, and as possessing great parental affection. Mr. Carroll states that when an old one is found on the rocks with its young it will seize the latter and convey it in its mouth so quickly to the water that there is not time to shoot it ; or, if the young one be too large to be thus removed, it will entice it upon its back and plunge with it into the sea. The same writer informs us that this species is a great annoyance to the salmon-fishers, boldly taking the salmon from one end of the net while the fisherman is working at the other end. It is also troublesome in other ways, since whenever the old ones get entangled in * Fabricius appears to have exhaustively presented its literary history, his references to previous authors, in his tahle of synonymy, occupying nearly four pages. 590 PHOCA VITULINA HARBOR SEAL. the strong seal-nets they are able to cut themselves free, a feat it is said no other Seal known in Newfoundland will do. This species is known to the inhabitants of Newfoundland as the " Native Seal," in consequence of its being the only species found there the whole year. The young are there also called "Kangers," and when two or three years old, — at which age they are believed to bring forth their first young, — receive the name of "Dotards." Here, as well as in Greenland, the skins of this species are more valued than those of any other species, owing to their beautifully variegated markings, and are especially val- ued for covering trunks and the manufactures of coats, caps, and gloves.* Mr. Brown informs us that the natives of the eastern coast of Greenland prize them highly " as material for the women's breeches," and adds "that no more acceptable present can be given to a Greenland damsel than a skin of the 'Kassigiak,' as this species is there called." The Green- landers also consider its flesh as "the most palatable of all < seal-beef '".t According to Mr. Eeeks, the period of gestation is about nine months, the union of the sexes occurring, according to the testi- mony of the Newfoundlanders, in September. J Only rarely does the female give birth to more than a single young. This agrees with what is stated by Bell and other English authors respect- ing its season of procreation. Eespecting its general history, I find the following from the pen of Mr. John Cordeaux, who, in writing of this species, as observed by him in British waters, says : " The Seal (Phoca mtu- Una) is not uncommon on that part of the Lincolnshire coast ad- joining the Wash. This immense estuary, lying between Lin- colnshire and Norfolk, is in great part occupied with large and dangerous sand-banks, intersected by deep but narrow chan- nels. At ebb the sands are uncovered $ and at these times, on hot days, numbers of Seals may be found basking and sunning themselves on the hot sands, or rolling and wallowing in the shallow water along the bank. Sometimes a herd of fifteen or twenty of these interesting creatures will collect on some favorite sand-spit ; their chief haunts are the Long-sand, near the centre of the Wash; the Knock, along the Lincoln coast; and the Dog's-head sand, near the entrance to Boston Deeps. In the * Carroll, Seal and Herring Fisheries of Newfoundland, 1873, pp. 10, 11. tProc. Zool. Soc. Lond., 1868, pp. 413, 413. t Reeks (Henry), Zoologist, 2d ser., vol. vi, 1871, p. 2541. HABITS. 591 first week of July, when sailing down the Deeps along the edge of the Knock, we saw several Seals ; some on the bank ; others with their bodies bent like a bow, the head and hind feet only out of the water. They varied greatly in size, also in color, hardly any two being marked alike ; one had the head and face dark colored, wearing the color like a mask; in others the upper parts were light gray ; others looked dark above and light below, and some dark altogether The female has one young one in the year; and as these banks are covered at flood, the cub, when born, must make an early acquaintance with the water. In most of the Phocidce.the young one is at first covered with a sort of wool, the second or hairy dress being gradually acquired ; and until this is the case it does not go into the water. This, however, does not appear to be the case with the common Seal, for Mr. L. Lloyd says (I believe in his i Game Birds and Wild Fowl of Norway and Sweden/ but I have not the book to refer to) that the cub of the common species, whilst still in its mother's womb, casts this wooly covering ; and when ushered into the world has acquired its second or proper dress. * If this is the case, it fully accounts for the cub being able to bear im- mersion from the hour of its birth. The Seal, if lying undis- turbed and at rest, can remain for hours without coining to the surface."! I am informed by competent observers that on the coast of Maine they assemble in a similar manner on sand bars, but take to the water before they can be closely approached. Mr. Kumlien (in his MS. notes) observes: "The so called * Fresh- water SeaP of the whalemen is one of the rarer species in the waters of Cumberland Sound. They are mostly met with far up in the fjords, and in the fresh water streams and ponds, where they go after salmon. They are rather difficult to cap- ture, as at the season when they are commonly met with they have so little blubber that they sink when shot. . . . The adult males often engage in severe combats with each other. I have seen skins so scratched that they were nearly worthless. In fact, the Eskimo consider a 'Kassiarsoak7 (a very large * A statement to this effect is also made by Mr. Carroll, but Mr. Robert Brown affirms, on the authority of Captain McDonald, that in the Western Isles of Scotland the young are "born pure white, with curly hair, like the young of Pagomys fcetidus, but within three days of its birth begins to take Phocids, the young when born are covered with a white or yellowish- white coat of rather soft, woolly hair, which is changed in about four weeks for the sparser, harsher, and darker livery of the adults. The younger animals, however, are grayish or yellowish brown, darker along the middle of the back, and marked irregularly with small dusky spots, the mar- * Fauna Ofyer Sveriges och Norges, i, pp. 683, 684. t Archiv fur Naturg., 1864, pp. 83, 84. 604 PHOCA FQETIDA RINGED SEAL. bled coloring usually characterizing the adults not being at- tained till the second or third year. The sexes vary in size, as already noted, the female being considerably the smaller. This difference of size is well shown in the measurements of the skulls given below. Aside from the skull of the female being smaller than that of the male, its structure is weaker, the sur- face less roughened for the attachment of muscles, the muzzle narrower, the teeth smaller, and the lower jaw much slenderer. In the series of skulls collected by Mr. Kumlien, which were carefully marked for sex, the old males have an average length of about 186 mm., and an average breadth of about 115 mm., while the same dimensions in the old females are respectively 168 mm. and 108 mm. In genera], skulls of the same sex and of corresponding ages Tary considerably in details of structure and proportion, but the only purely individual variations worthy of special com- ment are exhibited in the teeth, which are surprisingly variable in respect to size, and in the number and shape of the acces- sory cusps. That these variations are not due to age and the accidents of attrition is shown by the fact that they are as well marked when the teeth first cut the gum as at later stages. The last upper molar is especially variable in size and in the prominence of the cusps, the accessory cusps being sometimes well developed and again almost wholly obsolete. The last upper molar has usually only two points, the posterior of which is small, but there is occasionally another still smaller on the an- terior inner border of the tooth. Generally the other upper molars have each three cusps, of which the anterior is the smallest, and frequently is wholly obsolete on the second molar when the third, fourth, and fifth molars are each 3-pointed. Frequently, however, all the upper molars, except the first, are 4-pointed, while in a nearly equal percentage of the skulls ex- amined the molars are all only 2-pointed, or all, except the third, which may be 3-pointed. Sometimes the third or fourth upper molar is 3-pointed, while the others are 2-pointed.' In one skull all are 3-pointed, including even the first. The lower molars are less subject to variation in respect to the number of points, they being almost invariably 4-pointed, except the first, which is usually 3-pointed. The chief varia- tion I have noticed is that the fifth is sometimes only 3-pointed, like the first, while the first is sometimes 4-pointed, like the others. The size and shape of the cusps vary greatly, being INDIVIDUAL AND SEXUAL VARIATION. 605 sometimes thick and short and again slender and- very long These variations are all as strongly marked in the young killed: a few days after birth as in the adult, showing that the varia- tion in the number and shape of the cusps is not due to pecu- liarities of wearing. In the 3-pointed teeth two accessory cuspa are developed behind the principal one, while in teeth with four points there is also a small accessory cusp in front of the prin- cipal one. Tn one instance a first lower molar has two minute points placed in front of the principal one, there being a (purely supernumerary) cusp on the outer anterior border of the tooth. In the males the teeth average (in linear dimen- sions) about one-eighth larger than in the females; but the size varies so much in individuals of the same sex that the teeth, are as large in some females as in some males. 606 PHOCA FCETIDA RINGED SEAL. ^ s s s § s s •98BO-UIB.iq JO q^plAi ^B9;B9X9 •aennq jo '89JBU JoiJB^UB jo q^pB9ag; in «o ui »n >a •o 10 <«* '89uoq « %> 'sauoq IBSB^J aou^sod ^B uot§9J pug jo 9q^ jo •rpiraBq pjoSA'j9^d jo pn9 o^ gd mojj gouB^eig; oq. •Bnuo^tpuB 8n^B9ta 04 93[[ix Caspian Sea (see anted, pp. 514-517) that these animals are preeminently gregarious, and resort, at certain seasons, to favorite localities on the shore in immense herds, to bask in the sun. The pairing season occurs about the beginning of January, and the young are brought forth on the ice. In halrits the Caspian Seal thus differs notably from the Ringed Seal, which never resorts to the land in vast herds. "As translated in Rep. U. S. Com. Fish and Fisheries, pt. iii, 1873-4 and 1874-5, pp. 92, 93. * Archiv fur Anatomie, Physiologie und Weissenschaftliche Medicin, Jahr- gang 1873, pp. 109-125, pi. ii, iii. COMPARISON WITH ALLIED SPECIES. 611 the same dimensions in exceptionally large old male skulls of P. fcetida to be 186 mm. and 115 mm. The width at the mastoid processes in the Baikal Seal, however, is only 100 mm.,* against 112 mm. in P. fcetida. A very strongly marked difference is ob- servable in the relative length of the facial portion of the skull in the two species, this being very much narrower and longer in the Baikal Seal than in .the other, this, of course, involving a corresponding narrowness of the nasal bones and the palatal region. The vertical height of the skull is also much less than in P. fcetida. Without going further into details, it may be suf- ficient to state that the skull of the Baikal Seal is characterized by great attenuation in every part, with great expansion of the orbits. In dentition and in the general form of the palatal re- gion there is a close agreement with the Einged Seal, the Baikal Seal being, in a word, a slender form of the Phoca fcetida type. It also differs notably in coloration, being apparently never spotted. According to Dr. Dybowski, the adults are silvery- brown ("silberbraunlich") above, and dingy silvery-brown ("schmutzig silberbraun") below ; in the younger animals the silver-brown color has a whitish lustre ; in the newly-born young the thick, long wool-hair is silvery- white. The length of the full-grown animal is given as 1,300 mm. While it is pretty clear that the Caspian Seal and the Baikal Seal are both specifically distinct from the Einged Seal, and that neither of them has any near relationship to Phoca mtulina, the points of difference between the two first-named are not so evident. In coloration the Caspian Seal appears to not differ greatly from the Einged Seal; both consequently differ sim- ilarly in color from the Baikal Seal, namely, in being spotted, while the latter is con color. On the other hand, the Caspian and Baikal Seals agree in being considerably larger than the Einged Seal, and in the skull being narrower in proportion to its length, with the upper surface more convex. The Baikal Seal, however, appears to be distinguished by the greater atten- uation of the facial region coupled with a much greater expan- sion of the zygomatic arches. The peculiar features of coloration presented by the Baikal Seal have been given with uniformity since the time of Steller,} who first made them known. Schreber's short description, * Estimated from Dybowski's figure. • t Besckreibmig von dem Lande Kamtschatka, 1774, p. 108. 612 PHOCA FCETIDA RINGED SEAL. as 192 mm., and their average breadth as 118 mm., which I find founded on that of Steller, is as follows : " Er ist einfarbig, silberweiss vom Harren, so gross als der genieine." He further says: "Man findet ihm in den beiden sibirischen Landseen Baikal und Oron, die weit von deni Ocean entfernt sind und mit demselben durch keinem Fluss Gemeinschaft haben.a Ob er vom dem gemeinen wesentlich verschieden sei, ist mir uicht bekannt." * Nilsson refers to a specimen supposed to have come from Lake Baikal as being "Braungrau einfarbig mit flasserer Farbung an den untern Korpertheilen". Eadde says its color is "scho'n grau (fast stahlgrau)" on the back, becoming lighter on the sides, and yellowish-gray beneath, t "a Steller, a. o. » * Saugth., iii, 310. — The above is Schreber's account in full. t PHOCA (PUSA) SIBIRICA, Allen ex Gmelin. Baikal Seal. The Seal [of Lake Baikal], BELL, Travels from St. Petersb. in Russia to diverse parts of Asia, "i, 1768, 261"; ibid., i, 1788, 320. Die virte Sorte Seehunde, STELLER, Bescbreibung von dem Lande Kamtschatka, 1774, 108. Der sibirische Seehund, SCHREBER, Saugth., iii [1776?] 310 (ex Steller). Phoca vitulina, /3, ERXLEBEN, Syst. Beg. Anim., 1777, 588 (ex Steller et Schreber). Phoca vitulina, y, sibirica, GMELIN, Syst Nat., i, 1788, 64.— KERR, Anim. King., 1792, 124. 2 Phoca annellata, NILSSON, Arcb. fiir Naturg., 1841, 312 (in part). Phoca annellata, KADDE, Reisen im Siid. vom Ost-Sibiriens, i, 1862, 296 (in part, — only tbe Baikal specimen). Phoca baicalensis, DYBOWSKI, Arch, fiir Anat. u. Phys., 1873, 109, pll. ii, iii (skulls of adult and young). This species was apparently first mentioned by Bell (as above cited), in 1763, who refers to its habits, but gives no account of its characters. It was quite fully described by Steller in 1774, and was first formally intro- duced into systematic zoology by Schreber about two years later, whose account is based wholly on S teller's. It was cited as a variety of Phoca vitu- lina by Erxleben in 1777, and named as a variety of that species by Gmelin in 1788. Nilsson described a skin and an imperfect skull under Phoca annel- lata in 1837, but thought it might prove to be a distinct species, and, more- over, was not certain whether or not his specimen came from Lake Baikal. Radde, the first naturalist after Steller who described the Baikal Seal, from an authentic specimen, referred it unhesitatingly to Phoca annellata (=fcetida). The single skull on which his observations were based he stated to be that of a female about three or four years old, but his figures of it show it to have been much younger, the principal sutures being rep- resented as unobliterated. He found it to be considerably smaller than COMPARISON WITH ALLIED SPECIES. 613 From a geographical stand-point there is no a priori reason for their identity, they occupying entirely distinct drainage basins, which have had no connection since comparatively re- mote geological times. Their geographical position, indeed, considered in relation to the present distribution of their nearest allies, as well as to their peculiar environment, is one of the most interesting facts in their history. The Baikal Seal is an inhabitant of a fresh-water lake, while the waters where the other finds a home are only to a slight degree salt. Neither of these remote interior seas has had any recent connection with the Polar Seas, where alone the nearest affines of these Seals are now found. If their oceanic connection was south- ward (as was most likely that of the Caspian Sea), at the remote either of his skulls of Pkoca fcetida, but its small size is explainable on the ground of its immaturity. He himself states that his specimen of the Baikal Seal weighed in the flesh only "3iPud" (126 pounds), while the weight of the Baikal Seal, as he says he was informed by the Seal-hunters, ranges from "8 zu 10 Pud" (288 to 360 pounds). Radde's evidently erro- neous estimate of the age of his specimen is pointedly noticed by Dr. Dy- bowski, who, in referring to the fact of young Seals being often mistaken for old ones, adds, " wie es G. Radde gethan hat, der ein 7-8 monatliches jimges Thier fiir ein 3-4 jiihriges ausgiebt."* In 1873 Dybowski described the species with admirable fullness, including its external and cranial characters, giving figures of an adult and a young skull, together with a detailed account of its external characters, of not only the adult but young of various ages. He, moreover, was the first to positively claim its specific distinctness, and it is an open question whether Ms name baicalensis ought not to supersede Gmelin's long previously imposed name sibirica. According to Dybowski, these Seals are pretty common in Lake Baikal, but there is rarely opportunity for observing them in summer. The native hunters informed him that they are often seen and shot in the months of July and August on the rocky southwest shore, by lying in wait for them behind rocks. It is during these months that the rutting time occurs, and the young are born in January and February, so that consequently the period of gravidity must be reduced to about six or seven months. The young are said to depend for sustenance exclusively upon the mother's milk for about four months. The lake becomes closed with ice in January, and from that time till the middle of May — a period of about four months — the Seals remain wholly under the ice, but have their breathing-holes through which they obtain air. About the end of March or beginning of April, af- ter the deep snows have become melted by the sun, the hunters seek out these breathing-holes by means of dogs especially trained for the purpose, and capture the Seals in nets placed in the breathing-holes. — Arch, fur Anat. ft. Phys., 1873, pp. 121-125.— See further Bell's account of their capture about the middle of the last century, already cited (anted, p. 612). * Arch, fur Anat. u. Phys., 1873, p. 122. 614 PHOCA FCETIDA RINGED SEAL. time when these basins formed a part of the great Tertiary sea, of which the Mediterranean and connected interior waters are now the greatly diminished remnants, whence came the stock from which these two allied species of Seal are the descendants? Are we to look for an ancestor in Phoca foetida, or in some allied extinct species, from which came not only these species but also their present northern ally ? As shown by the researches of Van Ben eden, Seals were abundant in the Pliocene seas of Southern Europe, and among them were forms more or less nearly re- lated to each of the existing types, his genus Phocanella being the early representative of the modern Phoca fcetida. GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION. — Although the Ringed Seal is a well-known inhabitant of the Arctic Seas, of both hemispheres, the southern limit of its distribution cannot be given with cer- tainty. Wagner * records specimens from Labrador, which is the most southern point on the eastern coast of North America from which it seems to have been reported. It is not enumerated by Jukes or Carroll as among the species hunted by the Newfound- land sealers,t nor is it mentioned by Gilpinf as occurring in Nova Scotia. Its occasional presence here and in the Gulf of Saint Lawrence is doubtless to be expected. Further northward, and especially along the shores of Davis's Straits and Greenland, its abundance is well attested. It has also been found as far north as explorers have penetrated, having been met with by Parry as high as latitude 82° 40'. J. C. Boss states that it is * Schreber's Saugt., vii, 1846, p. 31. t Professor Jukes says four species are known on the coast of Newfound- land, namely, the "Bay Seal" (Phoca vitulina}, the Harp Seal (Phoca grcen- landica), the Hooded Seal (Cystophora cristata), and the "Square Flipper" (probably Halichwrus grypus). The first he did not see on the ice among the Seals pursued by the sealers. The second is the one that forms the principal object of the chase. The third seems not to be numerous, but occurs occa- sionally out on the ice-floes with the Harp Seals. The fourth is referred to as very rare, and as being larger than the Hooded Seal. Not one was heard of or seen that season. He supposes it may be the Phoca barbata. — Excur- sions in Newfoundland, vol. i, pp. 308-312. Carroll states that the species of Seal that are taken on the coiist of New- foundland are the " Square Flipper Seal " (probably Halichverus grypus), the '•Hood Seal" (Cystophora cristata), the " Harp Seal " (Phoca grcenlandica), and the "Dotard" or "Native Seal" (Phoca vitulina). — Seal and Herring Fisheries of Newfoundland, 1873, p. 10. t The species given by Gilpin as found on the coast of Nova Scotia are the Harbor Seal (Phoca vitulina), the Harp Seal (Phoca grwnlandica), the Gray Seal (Halichoerus grypus), and the Hooded Seal (Cystophora cristata). GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION. '615 common on both sides of the Isthmus of Boothia, where it forms the chief means of subsistence to the inhabitants during eight or nine months of the year.* It is common in Iceland, and Malm- gren and Yon Heuglin state it to be numerous at Spitzbergen. The last-named author gives it as abundant in summer in the Stor-Fjord and its branches, in Hinlopen Strait, and in the bays of the northwest coast of Spitzbergen, occurring in great herds as well as singly, in the open water along the shores and in the openings in the ice-floes. He states that it is also numer- ous about Nova Zernbla, where great numbers are killed for their skins and fat.t It is a common species on the coast of Finland, and further eastward along the Arctic coast of Europe and doubtless also of Western Asia.f It is also a common in- habitant of the Gulf of Bothnia and neighboring waters, and also of the Ladoga and other interior seas of Finland. It is said by Blasius to extend southward along the coast of Middle Europe to Xorth Germany, Ireland, and the British Channel. Professor Flower has recorded its capture on the coast of Nor- wich, England, and it undoubtedly occurs at the Orkneys and the Hebrides, where it is supposed to be represented by the species known there as "Bodach" or " Old Man". A specimen was also taken many years since on the coast of France, but here, as on the shores of the larger British Islands, it can occur as merely a rare straggler.§ Its fossil remains have been reported * Ross's Sec. Voy., App., 1835, p. xix. t Reise iiack deni Nordpolarmeer, Th. iii, p. 50. tin an account of Professor Nordenbkj old's late Arctic voyage, published in " Nature" (vol. xxi, p. 40, Nov. 13, 1879), it is stated that Phoca foctida "was caught in great numbers, and along with fish and various vegetables forms the main food of the natives" at Ca,pe Serdze (about 120 miles from Behring's Straits), the point where the " Vega " wintered, this and the Polar Bear being the only marine mammals seen. § Respecting the southern limit of the habitat of this species in Europe, Professor Flower has the following : " Nilsson speaks of it as being found on all the Scandinavian coasts, and as having been met with as far south as the Channel, on the strength of specimens in the Paris Museum from that locality ; but he was unable to find any proofs of its having been met with on the coast of England. Nor have I been able to discover any positive evi- dence that it can, at the present day, be reckoned a British species, although there is little doubt that it must occasionally visit our shores, where its occurrence would be easily overlooked." — Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., 1871, p. 510. Collett, contrary to the testimony of Nilsson, excludes it from the mam- malian fauna of Norway, and states that he does not know of an authentic instance of its capture on the Norwegian coast. — Bemcerkninger til Norges Pattedyrfauna, 1876, p. 57, footnote 2. 616 PHOCA FCETIDA RINGED SEAL. by Professor Turner as having been found in the brick clays of Scotland. It appears also to be a common species in the North Pacific, there being specimens in the National Museum, unques- tionably of this species, from the coast of Alaska, and from Plover Bay, on the Siberian side of Behring's Strait. Its southern limit of distribution along the shores of the North Pacific, on either the American or the Asiatic side, cannot at present be given. Judging from its known distribution in other portions of the Arctic waters, there is no reason to infer its absence from the northern shores of Eastern Asia and West- ern North America. GENERAL HISTORY AND NOMENCLATURE. — The earliest notices of this species in systematic works are based on the brief account given by Cranz in 1765, but there appear to be still earlier references to it by Scandinavian writers. As, however, they involve no questions of synonymy, and may in part relate to the Gray Seal (Halichcerus yrypus), they call for no special re- mark, in the present connection. The "Gra Sial" of Linne's "Fauna Suecica" (1747), however, was referred by Otto Fabri- cius, in 1791, to Phoca fcetida, but recent writers, notably Lillje- borg, have assigned it to Halichcerm grypus, but Linne's account seems to be too vague to be positively identified, although it later became the basis of Gmelin's Phoca mtulina botnica. As already noticed, the early technical history of the species is based on the brief notice of it published in 1765 by the Dan- ish missionary, Cranz, who, in his " Historie von Gronland," re- ferred to it under its native or Eskimo name Neitsek. He says it is not very different from the Attarsoak (Phoca grcenlandica of systematists) "in size or color, only that the hair is a little browner or a pale white, nor does it lie smooth, but rough, bristly, and intermixed like pig's hair."* Pennant, in 1771, in his " Synopsis of Quadrupeds," called it the Rough Seal, and paraphrased Cranz's description, adding thereto the conjec- ture : u Perhaps what our Newfoundland Seal-hunters call Square Phipper". In 1776 it was enumerated in the introduction to Miil- ler's "Zoologia3 Danicse Prodroinus" (p. viii), in a list of Green- land animals supplied by Otto Fabricius after the main body of the work had been printed, where it first receives a systematic name, being there called Phoca fcstida. No description is given, but its supposed Icelandic and Greenlandic names are appended, namely, " I. Utselr. Gr. Neitsek, Neitsilek," but unfortunately the * English edition, 1767, vol. i, pp. 124, 125. GENERAL HISTORY AND NOMENCLATURE. 617 Seal called Ut-Selur by the Icelanders proves to be Halichcerus grypus. It thus happens that the first technical name of the species, as well as some of its earliest vernacular names, relates in part to the Gray Seal. At about the same time (certainly not earlier) it was described by Schreber in the third part of his " Saugthiere" as Der rauhe Seehund, his description being based entirely on Cranz's and Pennant's. No Latin name is given in the text, but on the plate appears the name Phoca hispida. The date of the publication of the fasciculus containing Schreber's descript;on and figure cannot be definitely determined, but con- temporary evidence indicates that it must have appeared during the year 1776,* as it is cited by Erxleben in a work published the following year, who adopts Phoca hispida for the name of the species. But Erxleben's first reference is to the "Long- necked Seal" of Parsons, whose diagnosis of which Erxleben cites in full. The Long-necked Seal, however, is some indeter- minable species of Otary. But all of Erxleben's other refer- ences, with one exception (for here uUtselr"is again cited), are pertinent, and his diagnosis is evidently based on the Neitsek of Cranz. Three years later (1780), Fabricius, in his " Fauna Grcenland- ica," gave the first adequate description of the species, under the name Phoca fcetida, and quoted Phoca hispida as a synonym. Eleven years later (1791), in his celebrated memoir on the Green- laud Seals, he reverts to the name hispida, conceding it priority, but on what ground is not apparent. The case is thus a peculiar one, and has already received attention at the hands of numer- ous writers, the matter having been quite recently very fully discussed by Professor Flower, t Although Flower favors the adoption of hispida, he admits that u There is nothing either in Schreber's description or figure to identify the species j and it has since been thought (as by A. Wagner in his continuation of Schreber's work, 1846) [*] to refer to a totally distinct animal, viz, Halichcerus grypus." He says, further, "Although it may still be a matter of opinion which of these names ought to be * The date on the title-page of the "Dritter Theil" is 1778 ; the two pre- ceding parts are both dated 1775. The Seals occupy the first pages of the third part. t Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., 1871, pp. 507-510. [* Gray, apparently following Wagner, referred, both in 1850 and in 1866, Schreber's Phoca hispida to Halichoerus grypus, while at the same time he re- ferred Lesson's Phoca schrebein, avowedly = Phoca hispida. Schreber, to his Cal- locephalits fwtidiis !] 618 PHOCA FCETIDA RINGED SEAL. adopted, it appears to me that, on the whole, preference should be given to hivpida, on account of priority 5 for although the earliest descriptions under this name are very meagre and in- accurate, they are avowedly founded on the Neitsek of Cranz, the appellation by which this Seal is known to the Greenland ers to this day, according to Mr. E. Brown,* and are therefore in- tended for this species, and especially because Fabricius, in 1790 [1791], definitely adopted the name, withdrawing that of fcetida. I am further strengthened in this opinion," he con- tinues, " by finding that those eminent Danish naturalists Steen- strupt and Keinhardtf both use hispida when speaking of this Seal." As regards use, although good authorities have adopted hispida, by far the greater number of writers, including equally eminent authorities, among them Lilljeborg and Collett among recent Scandinavian writers, adopt fcetida. The question is cer- tainly pretty evenly balanced. Granting, however, that the in- troduction of the two names was practically simultaneous, and that fcetida, as first given, was unaccompanied by a description, while hispida had this backing, it is admitted that neither the description nor the figure is of any value in determining what species was intended, and that the Greenland name ^eitsek is the only clew to what was meant. Just this clew, backed by the best authority — Fabricius himself — we have also in the case of fcetida, while the first real description (in "Fauna Grcenland- ica," 1780) of the species was given under this name, and eleven years before the species was recognizably described under the name hispida (by Fabricius in 1791). Fabricius gave as his reasons for withdrawing the uame/eefaY7« and adopting hispida that the latter was not only an appropriate name but also the oldest, although he ascribes the name hispida to Erxleben. It would seem, however, that he really adopted the name from Pen- nant, considering Pennant's name " Bough Seal" a strict equiva- lent of Phoca hispida.^ The name fcetida appears certainly to be most characteristic. * " 'On the Seals of Greenland/ P. Z. S., 1868, p. 414." t" ' Melketandssettet hos Remmesseleu, Svartsiden, og Fjordsaeleu (Phoca larbata, O. Fabr., Ph. gronlandica, O. Fabr., og Ph. hispida, Schr.)/ Vid. Medd. f. d. Naturh. Forening, 1860. Kjobh. 1861, s. 251-261." J " ' Om Klapmydsens uiodte Norge og dens Melketandsaet/ Naturh. Foren. Vidensk. Meddelelser, 1864." § As being of interest in this connection I submit the following rendering of Fabricius's opening paragraph of his history of the Fiordsjel : "This, next to the Black-side, is the species which is most numerously met with in Green- land. 1 give to it the Danish name Fiordstel, because it keeps mostly in the HABITS, PRODUCTS, AND THE CHASE. 619 Another name of considerable prominence in connection with this species is anndlata of Nilsson, proposed by him in 1820 for Scandinavian representatives of the species, because he did not feel sure of their identity with Greenland examples. This name was adopted later by various writers for a species sup- posed to be distinct from the Phocafcetida of Greenland, notably among whom are Wagner and Eadde, while Giebel held both fcetida and hispida as synonyms of annellatal The name discolor, introduced in 1824 by F. Cuvier as that of a new species, was later abandoned by its author, and never ob- tained currency except with a few compilers. Lesson, in 1828, characteristically changed it to frederici, and at the same time renamed Schreber's hispida, calling it schreberi. HABITS, PRODUCTS, AND HUNTING. — The Binged Seal is preeminently boreal, its home being almost exclusively the icy seas of the Arctic Eegions. Its favorite resorts are said to be retired bays and fjords, in which it remains so long as they are filled with firm ice; when this breaks up they betake them- selves to the floes, where they bring forth their young. It is essentially a littoral, or rather glacial species, being seldom met with in the open sea. From its abundance in its chosen haunts it is a species well known to Arctic voyagers, and fre- quent reference is made to it in most of the narratives of Arctic Explorations. These notices are, however, mostly inci- dental and fragmentary, no one having given a detailed and connected history of the species. I am, therefore, gratified to be a,ble to present, in addition to excerpts from various more or less well-known sources, much fresh information kindly fur- fjords and rarely goes out to sea. In my Fauna Gronlandica I called it Phoca foutida because it lias a stronger stink than the other species. It Was pre- viously mentioned under this name, first in my report quoted in Muller's Prodromus (Zool. Dan. Prodr., p. viii). It was then regarded as a new spe- cies, as I found it not in Linne" ; he either did not recognize ifc or did not dis- tinguish it from the common Seal (Phoca vitulina), for at most he only re- garded it as a variety of this under the name Gra-Sjal (Faun. Suec., p. 2, under Spec. 4). But Pennant, however, gave it as a distinct species, with the name Rough Seal (Syn. Quadr., p. 341, u. 261); afterwards Schreber called it Der rauhe Seehund (Siiugth. III. Th. p. 312), and Erxleben Phoca, hispida (Syst. Regn. Anim. p. 589), which name Gmelin (Syst. Nat., p. 64) has retained. This name is suitable and a very good one for this species on account of its hair, and, although this is also found in the Klapmydsen (Phoca leonina, Linne"), so are some other characters ; wherefore I do not now hesitate to prefer the name hispida before fcetida, especially as it is the oldest, although the stench is so characteristic." — Skrirter af Xat:irhistorie-Sel8- kabat, Iste Bind, 2det Hefte, 1791, pp. 74, 75. 620 PHOCA FOSTIDA RINGED SEAL. nished me by Mr. Ludwig Kumlien, naturalist of the recent Howgate Polar Expedition. His observations, made chiefly during several months spent in Cumberland Sound,* are sub- stantially as follows : " This Seal is very common in all the fjords and bays, from Hudson's Straits, northward, along Cumberland Island, to the extreme head of Cumberland Sound ; on all the outer islands about Cape Mercy, and on the west coast of Davis Straits. I have seen skins from Lake Kennedy that I could not distin- guish from those found in Cumberland Sound. This Seal was never noticed more than a few miles from land ; was not met with in the pack-ice, nor on the Greenland coast, except far up the fjords. This was in July and August j but I am informed that they become more common toward autumn, and are found in considerable numbers some distance from land; they are less common here, however, than on the west coast In the Cumberland waters they are resident and do not migrate at all unless much disturbed, and then they merely seek a more secluded locality. On the Greenland coast they appear to mi- grate up the ice-fjords in summer but to be more generally dis- tributed at other seasons. " The Ketsick, as this species is called by the Cumberland Es- kimo, shows a decided predilection for the quiet, still bays and fjords, seldom venturing far from land. They are the only Seal caught through the ice in winter, and are consequently the chief and almost sole dependence of the Eskimo for food, fuel, light, and clothing. The skins of the adults are made into summer clothing, while the young are in great demand for un- der garments and for trousers. Children often have entire suits made of the skins of the young in the white coat. Such cloth- ing looks very beautiful when new, but they are new but for a few days, and after this they are repulsive enough. The fe- males were found enceinte in the latter part of October, and a foetus nearly ready for birth was taken from the uterus Jan- uary 16. It was 2 feet from the end of the nose to the end of the hind flippers. It was so doubled in the uterus, however, as to occupy a space hardly a foot in length ; the hind flippers were turned forward on the tibise ; the fore flippers hugged the * What Mr. Kumlien's opportunities were for the study of this species may l>(3 inferred from the fact that among the spoils brought with him on his return are skulls, skins, and skeletons, ranging from the foetal to the adult stage, to the number of about fifty specimens. HABITS, PRODUCTS, AND THE CHASE. 621 sides, and the head was bent over on the neck and inclined to one side. " In a large fjord, known as the greater Kingwak, the tide runs so swiftly at one locality that it never freezes for a space varying from ten to one hundred acres; here the Netsick gather in considerable numbers all winter, and it is a favorite resort for such Eskimo as are fortunate enough to possess a gun. Being but a. few miles from our winter harbor, almost daily excursions to these tide rifts were made by our Eskimo hunters. After the 1st of March very few pregnant females were killed at this place, they having by this time chosen the localities for having their young. Those killed after this date were all adult i Tigak,7 or old stinking males. "It was interesting to observe that the young — yearlings and some two-year-olds, and such as had not yet arrived at maturity — were seldom if ever killed in this open water, but lived in colonies by themselves. When an Eskimo finds a number of atluks (breathing-holes) near together he always marks the place by raising little mounds of snow near the holes, for he knows that here is a colony of young animals, which have better skins and meat than the old ones, and are, moreover, much easier to capture. I have counted nearly sev- enty of these atluks on a space of two acres. " When a pregnant female has chosen the place where she is to have her young she makes an excavation from six to ten feet in length under the snow, and from three to five feet wide, the height varying with the thickness of the snow covering ; the atluk is at one extremity of this excavation, and in such a po- sition that it is always a ready channel of retreat in case of danger. "The first young were found in the Cumberland waters during the first days of March ; still, I have taken a foetus from the mother in the middle of April. The most profitable time for hunting the young Seal is during the month of April. After this date they have shed so much that the skins are nearly worthless till the hispid hair has got to be of the proper length, when they are considered as the prime article and sec- ond only to the young of Calloceplialus vitulinm in quality. "The first young one that had begun to shed was takeii April 15. I have seen examples that were nearly or quite des- titute of the white coat, but still not having the next coat in sight. Such specimens were found to have a very tine coat of 622 PHOCA FOETID A RINGED SEAL. the new hair, but so short as not to be perceptible except on close examination, yet showing the exact location and distribu- tion of the dark and light markings ; the skin at this time is very black and often much scratched, probably by the mother in trying to make the young one shift for itself. " I often examined the stomachs of young ones, as well as of adults, but till after they had begun shedding the white coat, and were in all probability twenty-five to thirty days old, I found nothing but the mother's milk. After they begin to shift for th -mselves their food, for a time at least, consists of Gam- mari of different species. "Before the young begin to shed the white coat they are from 23 to 36 inches from the nose to end of flippers ; the aver- age the season through, from a good series of measurements, was about 30 inches "They weigh at birth from four to six and one-half pounds, but the young grow at an astounding rate, becoming exceed- ingly fat in a few days. The blubber on the young a few days old is almost white and thickly interspersed with blood-ves- sels ; it is not fit to burn. "There is usually but one young at a birth, still twins are not of rare occurrence, and one instance came under my ob- servation where there were triplets, but they were small, and two of them would probably not have lived had they been born. " The season for hunting the young at latitude 67° north be- gins about the middle of March and continues until the latter part of April. The first two weeks of April are the most pro- ductive, as later the hair is apt to be very loose, and many even have large bare patches on them. When the season fairly opens the Eskimo hunter leaves the winter encampment with his family and dog team for some favorite resort of this Seal ; he soon constructs his snow hut and is as well settled as if it had been his habitation for years ; for the Seals he catches bring him and his family food and fuel, and snow to melt for water is always plenty, so that his wants are easily supplied, and he is contented and happy. " The manner of hunting the young Seal is to allow a dog to run on ahead of the hunter, but having a strong Seal-skin line about his neck, which the Eskimo does not let go of. The dog scents the Seal in its excavation, which could not have been de- tected from the outside by the eye, and the hunter by a vigor- ous jump breaks down the cover before the young Seal can , AND THE CHASE. 623 % reach its atluk, and if he be successful eiiongh to cut off its retreat it becomes an easy prey ; otherwise he must use his sealing-hook very quickly or his game is gone. It sometimes happens that the hunter is unfortunate enough to jump the snow down directly over the hole, when he gets a pretty thor- ough wetting. The women often take part in this kind of seal- ing and become quite expert. The children begin when they are four or five years old ; the teeth and flippers of their first catch are saved as a trophy and worn about the little fellow's neck ; this they think will give him good luck when he begins the next year. "There exists a considerable spirit of rivalry among the mothers as to whose offspring has done the best, size, etc., con- sidered $ this runs to such a high pitch that I have known some mothers to catch the Seal and then let the child Mil it, so as to swell the number of his captures. "Some of the Eskimo hunters, belonging to the 'Florence/ brought as many as seventy at one load. They were kept frozen, and we almost lived on the meat during the season, and learned to like it very much. " Some of the Hispid Seals pup on the ice, without any cov- ering at all ; six instances of this nature came under my obser- vation, and they were all young animals. The young exposed in this manner almost always become the prey of foxes and ravens before they are old enough to take care of themselves. "As the season advances and the young begin to shed their coats the roof of their igloo is often, or perhaps always, broken down, and the mother and young can be seen on sunny days basking in the warm sunshine beside their atluk. The mother will take to the water when the hunter has approached within gunshot, and leave the young one to shift for itself, which gen- erally ends in its staring leisurely at the hunter till suddenly it finds a hook in its side. A stout Seal-skin line is then made fast to its hind flippers and it is let into the atluk ; it of course makes desperate efforts to free itself and is very apt to attract the attention of the mother, if she is anywhere in the vicinity. The Eskimo carefully watches the movements of the young one, and as soon as the mother is observed, begins to haul in on the line ; the old one follows nearer and nearer to the surface, till, at last, she crosses the hole at the proper depth and the deadly harpoon is planted in her body and she is quickly drawn out. If the mother has seen the hunter approaching the atluk, how- ever, she will not even show herself. 624 PHOCA FCETIDA RINGED SEAL. "I have never known of an instance where they have at- tempted to defend their offspring from man. I once saw a raven trying to kill a young Seal, while the mother was making frantic but very awkward attempts to catch the bird in her mouth. " When the young first assume the coat of the adults (about the time the ice begins to loosen) they seem possessed of a vast amount of curiosity, and while swimming near the land, as they almost always do, can be lured within gunshot by whist- ling or singing. They would often play about the schooner, diving underneath and coming up on the opposite side, appar- ently enjoying it hugely. They delight to swim among the pieces of floating ice in the quiet bays. The young and year- lings of this species are often found together in small bands. " The adult females will average four feet and a half to the end of the flippers. Such specimens are probably from four to seven years old. The males are a little larger. There is great variation in the skulls, but the sexes can readily be distinguished by the skull alone, the males having a longer and narrower head, with the ridges more prominent. "It is only the adult males (called i Tigak J = Stinker, by the Eskimo) that emit the horribly disagreeable, all-permeatingr ever-penetrating odor that has suggested its specific name. It is so strong that one can smell an Eskimo some distance when he has been partaking of the flesh ; they say it is more nourishing than the flesh of the females, and that a person can endure great fatigue after eating it. If one of these Tigak comes in contact with any other Seal meat it will become so tainted as to be repulsive to an educated palate; even the atluk of the Tigak can be detected by its odor. [*] "The food of the adults consists largely of different species of crustaceans, and during winter especially they subsist to a [* Respecting the foetid odor emitted by this species, Dr. Rink observes as follows : " It derives its scientific name from the nauseous smell peculiar to certain older individuals, especially those captured in the interior ice-fjords, which are also on an average perhaps twice as large as those generally occurring off the outer shores. When brought into a hut and cut up on its floor, such a seal emits a smell resembling something between that of assafcetida and onions, almost insupportable to strangers. This peculiarity is not notice- able in the younger specimens or those of a smaller size, such as are gen- erally caught, and at all events the smell does not detract from the utility of the flesh over the whole of Greenland." — Danish Greenland, its People and its Products, p. 123.] HABITS, PRODUCTS, AND THE CHASE. 625 considerable extent upon fish. I have found in them the re- mains of Cottus scorpiusj C. grcenlandicus, Gadus agce (com- monly), and Liparis vulgaris. During the time the adults are shedding, and for nearly a month previous, I could detect nothing but a few pebbles in their stomachs; they become poor at this time, and will sink when shot in the water. " The milk is thick and rich, and is sometimes eaten by the natives. The excrement looks like pale, thickly-clotted blood. " Albinos are sometimes found, of which the Eskimo tell mar- velous stories, one being that when they rise to breathe in their atluks they come stern first, and in fact they think such ani- mals have their breathing apparatus on the posterior end of the body. I imagine this originated from a native once harpooning an albino in its atluk and finding his harpoon fastened in one of the hind flippers. A hairless variety of this Seal is some- times caught, which the Eskimo call Okitook. I have seen one such skin; it had a few fine curly hairs scattered over it, but they were different in texture from the ordinary hair. I do not know if the specimen otherwise differed from the ordinary Seal. " Toward spring, when the sun is shining brightly, these Seals can be seen in all directions basking on the ice. Although to all appearance asleep, they manage to wake up regularly every few minutes to make sure that there is no danger about. "At this season it is a favorite method of the Eskimo to hunt them by crawling flat on his belly toward the Seal, and, when discovered, to imitate the movements of the animal, and to advance only when the Seal looks in the opposite direction ; in this manner they often approach so close as to be able to push them away from their atluks. " This Seal is of some commercial importance, the Scotch whalers often buying from the natives during the winter a thou- sand skins. These are brought with the blubber, and often cost the purchaser not over three to seven cents apiece, and this mostly in tobacco, trinkets, or ship-stores. To encourage them to procure more skins, they are furnished with a cheap breech- loading gun and a few hundred cartridges, which they soon waste, and then their guns are of course worthless. At the rate both young and adults are slaughtered at the present day, they will soon become so scarce that there will not be enough to sup- ply the wants of the natives." * * Copied', with slight verbal changes, from Mr. Kmnlien's MS. notes, since published iii "Bull. U. S. Nat. Mus.," No. 15, pp. 55-61. Misc. Pub. No. 12 40 626 PHOCA FGETIDA RINGED SEAL. In addition to the account of the Bough or Binged Seal given by Mr. Kuinlien — which is by far the most important single con- tribution to its history I have met with — I quote the following. Mr. Eobert Brown, in his account of the Mammals of Greenland, says: "They delight to live in retired bays in the neighbor- hood of the ice of the coasts, and seldom frequent the open sea. In the Greenland and Spitzbergen Seas they chiefly live upon the floes in retired situations at a considerable distance from the margin of the ice. Dr. Wallace observed them for a considerable time in the months of June and July, between E". lat. 76° and 77°, in possession of a large floe, part of which was formed of bay ice, where they had their i blow-holes7 (theatluk of the Danes) ; his ship lay ice-bound for nearly three weeks, at about three miles from this large floe, and hence he had con- siderable opportunity of observing them. They passed the greater portion of their time apparently asleep beside their holes ; and he never saw them all at one time off the ice, unless alarmed by parties from the ship or by the Polar Bear. When the ice slackened away and the sheets of open water formed around the ships, the Seals used to swim near them ; and occa- sionally at these times a few were killed. In the water they are very cautious, swimming near the hunter, gazing on him as if with feelings of curiosity and wonder ; but on the ice beside their blow-hole it is almost impossible for the hunter to ap- proach them, so much are they on the alert and so easily alarmed. In Davis's Strait it especially feeds about the base of icebergs and up the ice-fjords* The great ice-fjord of Jak- obshavn is a favorite haunt of theirs ; the reason for this pre- dilection is apparently that their food is found in such localities in greater abundance. The bergs, even when aground, have a slight motion, stirring up from the bottom the Crustacea and other animals on which the Seals feed; the native, knowing this, frequently endangers his life by venturing too near the iceberg, which not unfrequently topples over upon the eager Seal-hunter." * Dr. Kane thus describes their behavior when basking on the ice. Writing under date of May 20 he says: a The seal are out upon the ice, one of the most certain signs of summer. They are few in number, and very cautious. We notice that they invariably select an open floe for their hole, * Brown, Proc. Zool. Soc. Loud., 1868, pp. 414, 415; Man. Nat. Hist., Geol., etc., of Greenland, Mammals, pp. 44, 45. HABITS, PRODUCTS, AND THE CHASE. 62 T and that they never leave it more than a few lengths. Their alertness is probably due to their vigilant enemy, the bear. .... The first act of a seal, after emerging, is a careful survey of his limited horizon. For this purpose he rises on his fore nippers, and stretches his neck in a manner almost dog- like. This maneuver, even during apparently complete silence, is repeated every few minutes. He next commences with his hind or horizontal nippers and tail a most singular movement, allied to sweeping, brushing nervously as if either to rub some- thing from himself or from beneath him. Then comes a com- plete series of attitudes, stretching, collapsing, curling, wag- ging $ then a luxurious, basking rest, with his face toward the sun and his tail to his hole. Presently he waddles off about two of his own awkward lengths from his retreat, and begins to roll over and over, pawing in the most ludicrous manner into the empty air, stretching and rubbing his glossy hide like a horse. He then recommences his vigil, basking in the sun with uneasy alertness for hours. At the slightest advance up goes the prying head. One searching glance, and, wheeling on his tail as on a pivot, he is at his hole, and descends head fore- most." * Dr. Eichardson describes this species as being less cautious and less active than the Harbor Seal, observing that it is " easily surprised either on land or water, and is moreover a sol- itary and lazy animal, being wont to lie basking in the sun in place of hunting after its prey, and thus being often found lean from want of nourishment." t They appear, however, to behave quite differently under different circumstances; at least the ac- counts of authors on these points are more or less at variance. Thus Captain J. C. Ross states : " In the month of May, the Eough Seal, with its young, lie basking in the sun close to holes in the ice, and are at that time very difficult to approach ; but the natives imitate both their cry and action so exactly as to deceive the animals until they get sufficiently near to strike them with their spear. Fabricius says it is the most heed- less of all the Seals, as well on the ice as in the water. From our experience we would certainly give them a very different character, for none of our sportsmen were ever able to get suf- ficiently near to shoot them. The natives of Boothia say they * Grinnell Exp., 1854, pp. 375, 376. t Parry's Second Voyage, App., p. 333. 628 PHOCA FCETIDA RINGED SEAL. are not in their prime until the third year, and we never heard them complain of the offensive smell, which their more fastidi- ous brethren in Greenland are said to dislike so extremely." * Malmgren states that even the young, when lying on the icer are extremely difficult to kill, for they go immediately into the water on the first view* of the hunter, while, .on the contrary, he observes, the young of the Gray Seal (Halichcerus grypus) has such a terror of the water while it wears its woolly coat that it scrambles out on to the ice as soon as it is thrown into the water, t The habits of the Einged Seal, as observed in European waters, seem to agree with what has already been related re- specting their life-history in Davis's Strait and Cumberland Sound. Malmgren, for example, states that the females bring forth their young on the western coast of Finland on the ice near the edge of great openings between the 24th of February and the 25th of March, or at the time given by Fabricius and later writers for the same event on the coast of Greenland, and in no respect does their mode of life appear to differ in the icy seas about Spitzbergen from what has already been related. The Kinged Seal is of far less commercial value than the Harp Seal, but in this respect may be considered as holding the second rank among the northern Phocids. Brown states that "it is chiefly looked upon and taken as a curiosity by the whalers, who consider it of very little commercial importance and call it i Floe-rat.'" Von Heuglin, however, states that many thousands are annually taken by the sealers for their skins and fat, in the vicinity of Nova Zembla and Spitzbergen. It is of the greatest importance, however, to the Esquimaux and other northern tribes, by whom they are captured for food and clothing. Mr. Brown informs us that it forms, during the latter part of summer and autumn, u the principal article of food in the Danish settlements, and on it the writer of these notes and his companions dined many a time ; we even learned to like it and to become quite epicurean connoisseurs in all the qualities, titbits, and dishes of the well-beloved Neitsik ! The skin," he continues, " forms the chief material of clothing in North Greenland. All of the ol noUot dress in Neitsik breeches and jumpers j and we sojourners from a far country soon en- * Ross's 2d Voy., App., p. xx. t Arch, fur Naturg., 1864, p. 83. HABITS, PRODUCTS, AND THE CHASE. 629 cased ourselves in the somewhat hispid but most comfortable nether garments. It is only high dignitaries like l Herr Inspck- tor? that can afford such extravagance as a Kassigiak (Callo- cephalus vitulinus] wardrobe ! The Arctic belles monopolize them all." * Rink states that the number annually captured in South Greenland has been calculated at 51,000. t Capt. J. C. Boss states that the Esquimaux wholly depend upon it for their winter food, and Von Schrenck alludes to the great importance of this animal to the natives of Amoor Land. Although the methods of capture employed by the Eskimo have already been to some extent described, I transcribe the fol- lowing from Captain Boss, who says: " . . . when all other animals have retired to a more temperate climate the Seal is sought by the Esquimaux, whose dogs are trained to hunt over the extensive floes of level ice, and to scent out the concealed breathing-holes of the Eough Seal. So soon as one is discovered, a snow wall is built around it, to protect the huntsman from the bitterness of the passing breeze ; where, with his spear uplifted, he will sit for hours until his victim rises to breathe, and falls an easy sacrifice to his unerring aim. In this manner a party of thirty hunters killed 150 of these animals during the first two months they remained in our neighborhood ; the fishery for ten or twelve miles around was then completely exhausted; so they broke up into various smaller parties and dispersed in various directions." J Dr. Eihk states that the Ketsek is " stationary throughout the coast" of Danish Greenland. "Only stray individuals of this species", he observes, "emigrate to the main drift-ice of Baf- fin's Bay in July, and return to the coast when the first bay-ice is forming in September, or occasionally appearing whenever the weather has been stormy. But the chief stock, whose favor- ite haunts, as has been described, are ice fjords, does not seem to leave the coast at all. It is almost exclusively this seal that is captured as and by means of the ice-nets." § * Proc. Zool. Soc. Loud., 1868, p. 417 ; Nat. Hist., Geol., etc., Greenland, Mam., p. 45. t Danish Greenland, etc., p. 123. t Ross's 2d Voy., App., p. xix. § Danish Greenland, etc., p. 123. 630 PHOCA GRCENLANDICA HARP SEAL. PHOCA (PAGOPHILUS) GBCENLANDICA. Falricius. Harp Seal. PJtoca grcenlandica, FABRICIUS, Miiller's Zool. Dan. Prod., 1776, viii ; Fauna Grcenl., 1780, 11 ; Skriv. Nat. Selsk., i, 1790, 87, pi. xii, fig. 1 (skull).— ERXLEBEN, Syst. Reg. Anim., 1777, 588. — GMELIN, Syst. Nat., i, 1788, 64.— KERR, Anim. King., 1792, 125.— SHAW, Gen. Zoo!., i, 1800, 262.— DESMAREST, Nouv. Diet. Se. Nat., xxv, 1817, 576; Mam., 1820, 245, 376.— "NiLSSON, Skand. Faun., i, 1820, 370; Kongl. Vet. Akad. Handl., Stockholm, 1837,—"; Arch, fur Na- turg., 1841, 314; Skand. Faun. Daggdj., 1847, 288.— " TIIIENEMANN, Reise ini Norden von Europa," etc., i, 1824, 104, pi. xiv (ad. male), pi. xv (ad. female), pi. xvi (male of two years), pi. xvii (male of one year), pi. xviii (young eight days old), pi. xix (skull), pi. xx (digestive organs), pi. xxi (attitude in swimming). — RICHARDSON, Parry 's2d Voy., SuppL, 1825, 336.— HARLAN, Faun. Arner., 1825, 109.— GODMAN, Am. Nat. Hist., i, 1826, 343.— GRAY, Griffith's An. King., v, 1827, 177, pis. xci, xcii. — J. C. Ross, Parry's 3d Voy., 1828,191; Ross's 2d Voy., Append., 1835, xx.— FISCHER, Synop. Mam., 1829, 238, 576.— BELL, Brit, Quad., 1837, 269; ibid., 2d ed.,, 1874, 252, figg., animal and skull. — MACGILLIVRAY, Brit. Quad., 1838, 209, pi. xix.— HAMILTON, Amphib. Carniv., 1839, 156, pi. viii.— BLAINVILLE, Ost6og., Phoca, 1840-1851, pi. v (skull), pi. ix (dentition). — JUKES, Excurs. in Newfoundland, i, 1842, 309. — SCHINZ, Synop. Mam., i, 1844, 482.— WAGNER, Schreber'sSaugt., vii, 1846, 21, pi. Ixxxv A.— GIEBEL, Siiugeth., 1855, 136.— BLASIUS, Na- turgs. Wirbel. Deutschl., i, 1857, 255, figg. 140, 141.— NORDMANN, Vit. Medd. Naturh. Forening, 1860 (1861), 25.— MALMGREN, Ofv. af Kongl. Vet. Akad. FSrhl., Stockholm, 1863, 139; Arch, fur Naturg., 1864, 78. — VON MIDDENDORFF, Sibirische Reise, iv, Th. 2, 1867, 934.— FLOWER, Journ. Anat. and Phys., iii, 1868, 270, fig. 3 (milk-dentition). — QUENNERSTEDT, Kongl. Svens. Vetensk. Akad. Handl,, vii, No. 3, 1868, 12, pi. i, fig. 1.— "KINBERG, Ofv. af Kongl. Vet. Akad. Forhl., Stockholm, 1869, 13," (fossil, Sweden).— MURIE, Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., 1870, 604, pi. xxxii (attitudes and terrestrial locomotion). — VON HEUGLIN, Petermann's Geogr. Mitth., 1872, 30. — LILLJEBORG, Fauna ofver Sveriges och Norges Ryggrads- jur., 1874, 690.— TURNER, Journ. Anat. and Phys., ix, 1874, 168 (Brit. Isl.).— COLLETT, Bemser£. Norges Pattedyrf., 1876, 58.— RINK, Danish Greenland, its People and its Products, 1877, 124, 430. — DAWSON, Canad. Nat., 2d ser., viii, 1877, 340 (fossil, Postpliocene k clays, near Ottawa, Canada). — ALSTON, Faun. Scotland, Mam., 1880, 14. Cdllocephalus yrcenlandicus, F. CUVIER, Mem. du Mus., xi, 1824, 186, pi. xii,. fig. 2 ; Diet, des Sci. Nat., xxxix, 1826, 546.— LESSON, Man. deMam.,. 1827, 197. BIBLIOGRAPHY. 631 PagopMlus grcenlandicus, GRAY, Cat. Seals Brit. Mus., 1850, 25, fig. 8; Cat. Seals and Whales, 1866, 28, fig. 8; Zoologist, 1872, 3333, 3336 (British Coast, accidental) ; Hand-List of Seals, 1874, 6, pi. iv. — GILL, Proc. Essex Inst., v, 1866, 12.— PACKARD, Proc. Bost. Soc. Nat. Hist., x, 1866, 271.— BROWN, Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., 1868, 340, 416.— REEKS, Zoologist, 1871, 2541.— VAN BENEDEN, Ann. du Mus. roy. d'Hist. Nat. du Belgique, i, 1877, 20 (geogr. distr.). — MALM, Goteborgs och Bohusliins Fauna Ryggradsjuren, 1877, 144. Phoca (Pagophilus) groenlandica, VON HEUGLIN, Reisennach dem Nordpolar- meer, iii, 1874, 51. Phoca groenlandica var. nigra, KERR, Anim. King., 1792, 125. Phoca oceanica, LEPECHIN, Act. Acad. Petrop., i, 1777 (1778), 295, pll. vii, viii. — DESMAUEST, Mum., 1820, 242, 275. — FISCHER, Synop. Mam., 1829, 238.— HAMILTON, Amphib. Carniv., 1839, 162, pi. viii*. Callocephalus occanicus, LESSON, Man. de Mam., 1827, 196. u Phoca semilunaris, BODDAERT, Elen. Anim., 1785, 170." Phoca albicauda, DESMAREST, Marnm., Suppl., 1822, 839 (locality unknown). Phoca lagura, G. CUVIER, Oss. foss., 3d ed., v, 1825, 206 (young, " Terra Neuve"). — FISCHER, Synop. Mam., 1829,238 (same). — BLATNVILLE, Oste'ogr., Phoca, 1840-1851, pi. ix (dentition). — SCHINZ, Synop. Mam., i, 1844, 483. — GAIMARD, Voy. en felande, Atlas, 1851, pi. xi, fig. 6 (skull). Callocephalus lagura, F. CUVIER, Diet, des Sci. Nat., xxxix, 1826, 546. — GRAY, Griflith's An. King., v, 1827, 177. Phoca mulleri, LESSON, Diet. Class. d'Hist. Nat., xiii, 1828, 413. Phoca desmaresti, LESSON, Diet. Class. d'Hist. Nat., xiii, 1828, 416 (=P. albicauda, Desm.). Phoca pilayi, LESSON, Diet. Class. d'Hist. Nat., xiii, 1828, 416 (=P. lagura, G. Cuv.). Phoca dorsata, PALLAS, Zoogr. Rosso- Asiat., i, 1831, 112. ? Phoca albini, ALEXANDRA, Mem. Acad. Torino, ii, 1850, 141, pi. i-iv (skeleton). Phoca annellata, GAIMARD, Voy. en Islande, Atlas, 1851, pi. xi, fig. 9. Swart-8iidef EGEDE, Det gamle Gr0nlands uye Perlustration, 1741, 46, fig. Blackside Seal, ELLIS, Voy. to Hudson's Bay, 1748, plate facing p. 134. Attarsoak, CRANZ, Hist, von Gronl., i, 1765, 163. Fadeselur, OLAFSEN, Reise durch Island, i, 283, ii, 42. Schwarzseitige Seehund, SCHREBER, Saugt., iii, 310. Harp Seal, PENNANT, Syn. Quad., 1771, 342 ; ibid., 1793, ii, 279, pi. xcix. Phoque a croissant, BUFFON, Hist. Nat., Suppl., vi, 1782, 325. Harp Seal, SAXBY, Zoologist, 1864, 9099 (Shetland).— CARROLL, Seal and Herriug Fisheries of Newfoundland, 1873, 15. Gron landsjdl, S wedish. Gronlandsdl, Sulryg, Svartside, Norwegian. Svartside, Danish. Gronlands-Itobbe, Sattel-Eobbe, Grb'nlandische Seehund, German. Phoque a croissant, French. Harp Seal, Greenland Seal, Saddleback, WhUecoats (young), English. Eioluk, Cumberland Eskimo (KUMLIEN). 632 PHOCA GRQENLANDICA HARP SEAL. EXTERNAL CHARACTERS. — Adult Male. — General color whitish or yellowish- white, nose and head to behind the eyes black ; chin and throat usually with black spots. A broad, lunate spot of black on the sides, extending from the shoulders nearly to the tail, generally broadest anteriorly where the two. bands unite on the median line ; narro vver, and sometimes in- terrupted, posteriorly, but usually again meeting on the hinder portion of the back, thus forming an ellipsoidal figure. These black bands usually begin over or a little anterior to the shoul- ders, and extend backward to the end of the tail. There are also, generally irregular spots of black on the hind limbs. Length about 5 to 5J feet, rarely, it is said, attaining the length of 6 feet. Adult Female. — Similar in general color to the male, but with the black markings indistinct or wholly absent. Size about one-fourth less. Young. — The new-born young are white or yellowish-white, sometimes pale golden, the pelage soft and woolly. This, after a few weeks, gives place to the coarser, harsher pelage of the adult, and the color becomes pale-gray, darker on the head and lighter below, often with small, dusky spots on the dorsal sur- face. In the second and third years the general color remains the same, but the spots become larger and darker. In the fourth year, in the males, the spots are still larger, and begin to coa- lesce ; the head becomes black, and the saddle-shaped mark on the sides begins to be clearly distinguishable, but the mature pattern of coloration is said to be not fully developed till the fifth year. Few Seals* vary so much in color with age as the Harp Seal. This was long since mentioned by Cranz, who says : "All Seals vary annually their colour till they are full grown, but no sort so much as this [the Attarsoalc] , and the Greenlanders vary its name according to its age. They call the foetus iblau ; in this state these are white and woolly, whereas the other sorts are smooth and coloured. In the 1st year 7t is called Attarak, and 't is a cream-colour. In the 2d year Atteitsiak, then 'tis gray. In the 3d Aylcldolc, painted. In the 4th MilaJctok, and in the 5th year Attarsoalc. Then it wears its half-moon, the signal of maturity."! Fabricius states that it is called during the first year Atdrak, * Probably parallel variations occur in Histrioplioca fasciata. tHist. of Greenland, English ed., vol. i, 1767, p. 124. EXTERNAL CHARACTERS. 633 and later in the same summer (after the first moult), Ataitsiak, by which name it is also called during the first winter ; the sec- ond year it is called UtoMitsiak ; the third year Aglektok or Aglektungoalt, and in the winter Agleldytsidk ; the fourth year it retains the same name Agletok, also varied to Aglektorsoak, "but after the fourth moult takes the name Millaktok. Later it is called Atarsodk.* « Skrivter af Nattirh.-Selskabet, Bind i, Hefte 1, 1790, pp. 92-94. 634 PHOCA GRCEXLANDICA HARP SEAL. Dr. Rink states that at the present day the Greenlanders, as well as the Europeans, divide the "Saddle-backs" into four or five different classes according to their age, but that in familiar language they only distinguish by different names the full-grown animals from the half- grown ones, the latter being called " Blue- sides ".* The young, when first born, are called by the Newfoundland Sealers " White-Coats"; later, during the first moult, "Ragged- Jackets"; when they have attained the black crescentic marks they are termed " Harps ", or " Sadlers ", and also "Breeding Harps"; the yearlings and two-year-olds are called " Young Harps "or "Turning-Harps", and also "Bedliiners" (or "Bel- lamers ", also spelled " Bedlamers "). The older and some recent writers state that the mature pattern of coloration is not at- tained till the fifth year, while Jukes, Brown, Carroll, and others state that it is acquired in the third or fourth year. There is- also a diversity of statement respecting the sexual differences of color in the adults, some writers affirming that the sexes are alike, while others state that the female is without the harp- mark, or has the dark markings of the male only faintly indi- cated. Mr. Carroll says : "The reason why they are called harp seals, or l sadlers,7 is, the male seal, as well as the female, has a dark stripe on each side from the shoulders to the tail, leaving a muddy white stripe down the back. The male harp seal i& very black about the head as well as under the throat. . . , The female harp is of a rusty gray about the head and white under the throat." Both Jukes and 'Reeks, however, refer to- the absence of the harp-mark in the female. Mr. Brown, in his account of the Seals of Greenland, has given a very full account of the changes of color resulting from age and sex, and, in default of a sufficient series of specimens, and of personal experience, I transcribe his observations, as present- ing the most explicit and detailed statement available. He says: . "It seems to be almost unknown to most writers on this group that the male and female of the Saddleback are of different colours ; this, however, has long been known to the Seal-hunters. Male. — The length of the male Saddleback rarely readies G feet, and the most common length is 5 feet, while the female, in gen- eral, rarely attains that length. The colour of the male is of a tawny grey, of a lighter or darker shade in different individuals, * Danish Greenland, its People and its Products, p. 124. . EXTERNAL CHARACTERS. 635 on a slightly straw-coloured or tawny -yellowish ground, having sometimes a tendency to a reddish-brown tint, which latter colour is often seen in both males and females, but especially in the latter, in oval spots on the dorsal aspect. The pectoral and abdominal regions have a dingy or tarnished silvery hue, and are not white, as generally described. But the chief character- istic, at least that which has attracted the most notice, so much as to have been the reason for giving it several names, from the peculiar appearance it was thought to present (e. g. i Harp Seal,' < Saddleback/ &c.), is the dark marking or band on its dorsal and lateral aspects. This * saddle-shaped ' band commences at the root of the neck posteriorly, and curves downwards and backwards at each side superior to the anterior flippers, reaches downwards to the abdominal region, whence it curves back- wards anteriorly to the posterior flippers, where it gradually dis- appears, reaching further in some individuals than in others. In some this band is broader than in others and more clearly im- pressed, while in many the markings only present an approxi- mation, in the form of an aggregation of spots more or less isolated. The grey colour verges into a darker hue, almost a black tint, on the muzzle and flippers ; but I have never seen it white on the forehead as mentioned by Fabricius. The muzzle is more prominent than in any other northern Seal. "Female. — The female is very different in appearance from the male ; she is not nearly so large, rarely reaching 5 feet in length, and when fully mature her colour is a dull white or yellowish straw-colour, of a tawny hue on the back, but similar to the male on the pectoral and abdominal regions, only, perhaps, somewhat lighter. In some females I have seen the colour totally differ- ent ; it presented a bluish or dark-grey a.ppearance on the back, with peculiar oval markings of a dark colour, apparently im- pressed on a yellowish or reddish-brown ground. These spots are more or less numerous in different individuals. Some Seal- hunters are inclined to think this a different species of Seal from the Saddleback, because the appearance of the skin is often so very different and extremely beautiful when taken out of the water, yet as the females are always found among the immense flocks of the Saddleback, and as hardly two of the latter females a,re alike, but varying in all stages to the mature female, and on account of there being no males to mate with them, I am inclined to believe with Dr. Wallace that these are only younger female Saddlebacks. The muzzle and flippers of 636 PHOCA GROENLANDICA HARP SEAL. the female present the same dark-chestnut appearance as in the male.77 Iii respect to the color of the young, and to changes of color with age, he observes : " (a) The colour after birth is a pure woolly white, which gradually assumes a beautiful yellowish tint when contrasted with the stainless purity of the Arctic snow ; they are then called by the sealers i white-coats,7 or * whitey-coats 7 j and they retain this colour until they are able to take to the water (when about 14 or 20 days old).77 At this time the color <•(/?) . begins to change to that of a dark speckled and then spotted hue ; these are denominated ' hares ' by the sealers. (Y) This colour gradually changes to a dark bluish colour on the back, while on the breast and belly it is of a dark silvery hue. Young Seals retain this appearance throughout the summer and are termed 'Bluebacks7 by the sealers of Spitzbergen/Aglektok7 by the Greenlanders, Blaa-siden by the Danes. (3) The next stage is called Millaktok by the Greenlanders. The Seal is then approaching to its mature coat, getting more spotted, &c., and the saddle-shape band begins to form, (e) The last stage (in the male to which these changes refer) is the assumption of the halfmoon-shaped mark on either side, or the ' saddle 7 as it, is called by the northern sealers. "I consider that about three years are sufficient to complete these changes. This is also the opinion held in Newfoundland, though the Greenland people consider that five years are nec- essary. I wish, however, to say that these changes do not pro- ceed so regularly as is usually described, some of them not last- ing a year, others longer, while, again, several of the changes are gone through in one year ; in fact, the coats are always gradually changing, though some of the more prominent ones may be retained a longer and others a shorter time. It would require a very careful and extended study of this animal to decide on this point, which, owing to their migrations, it is impossible to give. After all, these changes and their rapidity vary accord- ing to the season and the individual, and really will not admit of other than a general description.77* Dr. Rink gives the weight of a full-grown Saddleback of me- dium size as 353 pounds, the skin and blubber weighing 116 pounds, the blubber alone in winter amounting to 80 pounds, *Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., 1868, pp. 417-420 ; Man. Nat. Hist., Geol. and Phys. of Greenland, etc., 1875, Mam., pp. 45-49. — Compare alse vouHeugliu, Reisen nach dem Nordpolarmeer, etc., 1874, pp. 53-54. SEXUAL AND INDIVIDUAL VARIATION. 637 while in summer it is scarcely 24 pounds. Carroll,, however, gives .a much larger weight. He states that " when they are in full flesh the weight of a male Harp Seal varies from 700 to 800 pounds," and that "when prime" the skin and fat alone will weigh 200 pounds, and the same parts of a female 125 pounds. He gives the weight of a Harp Seal when born as 6 to 8 pounds, according to the age of the mother. At fifteen days old he says- the " skin and fat will weigh 40 to 45 pounds," and the carcass, after the fat is taken off, about 15 pounds. When thirty days old the weight of the skin and fat he says is only 30 pounds, and at nine months old not more than 40 pounds, but at twelve months is 90 pounds •; the young Seals, as stated by other ob- servers, losing much of their fat on being left by their mothers to secure their own food, although the general size continues slowly to increase. SEXUAL AND INDIVIDUAL VARIATION, AND VARIATIONS DE- PENDENT UPON AGKE. — The variations in size and color depend- ent upon sex and age having been already noted, little remains to be said in the present connection beyond a brief reference to the skull. Here the age and sexual variations appear to be strictly parallel with those already described in Phoca fcetida. The purely individual variation is also similar in character, except, so far as can be judged from the small series of skulls before me, the variations in the teeth are less marked. The subjoined table of. measurements of skulls indicates the range of variation in size and other features. None of the skulls are positively marked for sex, but there seems to be little difficulty in distinguishing the sex by the smaller size, weaker structure, narrower muzzle, and the much weaker dentition in what may be doubtless safely assumed to be the female, since very old skulls, strictly comparable as respects age, vary in just these points. Female skulls appear to rarely exceed, or even quite attain, a length of 200 mm., while old males range from about 210 mm. to 228 mm. 638 PHOCA GRCENLANDICA HARP SEAL. f j9Aioj jo m.iJaa'i I > « « ^ in us o o oo oo o ^•B lilies jo ^qJJiaq ^sa^ajf) | c ^98a9A8UB^'S9JBUJOIJ9^UBJOq^pB9aa S 8 £ § g § ^n^T^^'8^Bnjoija;nBjoq^pB9Je: I S § § '§3 8 §5 '89X611 xoT.Tijsorl j0 qipyo.iff « co co M K> co • • • a r£nBot^9A's9JBu.ioi.i9}8odjoq}pB9je; ssss^a:::::: ° I cx> o os os o oo '89UOq IB8BJI I U5 '89troq IBSB^J; uj^^^iocp:::::: ^ •sauoq IBSB^[ |383coi*3:::||: }J JOU9^80d ^B IlOlSai TB^BTBd JO qWIM I . 8. *'-« "»«?.••.: >» i eq^ jo jgpaoq ,IBJO9AB 9q^ jo d jo pu9 draojj9ouB;sta; •seaooxd piona^S o^ QSUIXBUI osoocogoTjt ; ; ; ; ; ; -J9^tn jo 9§pa joua^aB mojj aonB^siq SSS^-i^!^i ; ; ; ; ; ; •snuo^Tpti'B sn^Baai o^ 93^1x801 SS3J2SS'''"'' S ooo-^Hcocob-:-:':: ^ 0:95.111 jo 93pa Joua^nB raooj OOHB^SIQ; | ® >» t- «o !!!!!! • g •tpiuiBq pioS^.ia^d jo pua o^ a3jnXBin |SHJ3S§5§3J2 : • "• '• • to 89889oojd pto^BBoi ^-B T^pBaaa ^32§33::i::: ^ _^, «t to»_ *. S '. i ! i "'. i i i f '. T & ^ I ~: i : : : % Si co co *~ GENERAL HISTORY AND NOMENCLATURE. 639 GENERAL HISTORY AND NOMENCLATURE. — The Harp Seal, like the Crested Seal, presents characters, at least in the male sex, that readily attract the attention of even the casual ob- server— the one by its " saddle" or "harp-mark" of black on a light ground, the other by its inflatable hood. Accordingly both were mentioned by various early writers, but notably by Egede, Ellis, and Crauz, and the indications they gave of their existence enter into the technical history of the species, forming as they do the basis of the first systematic names. Erxleben described the species in 1777, under the name Phoca grcenlandica, his de- scription being founded mainly on information previously made public by Cranz. Fabricius, however, had already designated the species by this name the previous year, but the only clue he furnished to the species meant consists merely in his citing its Icelandic and Greeulandic names. In 1773 Lepechin de- scribed and figured the species under the name Phoca oceanica, between which and grcenlandica there is thus almost a question of priority.* Although Fabricius in 1790 correctly referred Le- pechin's species to Phoca grcenlandica, it has since frequently fig- ured in the works of compilers as a distinct species, although his figures and description t clearly indicate its relationship. Boddaert, in 1785, added another synonym by renaming the species semilunaris, while Desmarest, in 1822, described what is believed to have been a young individual of this species under the name Phoca albicauda. G. Cuvier, in 1825, also de- scribed a young specimen as Phoca lagura, this name having for a time considerable currency as that of a veritable species. Lesson, in 1828, made here his usual contribution of synonyms- by deliberately changing names previously given for those that better suited his fancy, at his hands the Phoca grcenlandica of authors becoming Phoca miilleri, and the two nominal species previously mentioned as based on young specimens becoming respectively Phoca desmaresti and Phoca pilayi. In 1831 the species was again intentionally renamed dorsata by Pallas, who quotes as synonyms of dorsata both Phoca grcenlandica and * Lepechin is usually quoted at 1777, but his paper appears not to have been published till the following year, thus giving Erxlebeu's name one year's priority, and Fabricius's two. t Lepechin gave the incisive formula as £, — "In maxilla suprriori inci- sores IV"; "in maxilla inferior! incisores modo IV." As suggested by Fa- bricius nearly a century ago, in the first case "IV" is evidently a lapsus for VI. (See Fabricius, Skrivter af Naturhistorie-Selskabet, Bd. i, Hf. 1, 1790, p. 97, footnote.} 640 PHOCA GRCENLANDICA— -HARP SEAL. Phoca oceanica. Gaimard, in 1851, simply through malidentifi- cation, referred examples of the present species to Phoca annel- lata. Of the nine synonyms of this species one is nearly contem- poraneous with the tenable name, and under the circumstances of its occurrence was unavoidable; live are due to deliberate, intentional, and needless change of names; two are based on immature examples, and one is the result of malidentification. GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION. — Although the Harp Seal has a circumpolar distribution, it. appears not to advance so far northward as the Einged Seal or the Bearded Seal ; yet the icy seas of the North are preeminently its home. It is not found on the Atlantic coast of North America in any numbers south of Newfoundland. A few are taken at the Magdalen Islands, and while on their way to the Grand Banks some must pass very near the Nova Scotia coast. Dr. Gilpin, however, includes it only provisionally among the Seals that visit the shores of that Province. It doubtless occasionally wanders, like the Crested Seal, to points far south of its usual range, as I find a skeleton of this species in the collection of the Museum of Comparative Zoology, bearing the legend "Nahant, Mass., L. Agassiz". I have at times felt doubtful about the correctness of the as- signed locality, as this seems to be the only proof of the oc- currence of this species on the Massachusetts coast. I have, however, recently been informed by Dr. C. C. Abbott, of New Jersey, that a Seal, described to him as being about six feet long, white, with a broad black band along each side of the back, was taken near Trenton, in that State, during the winter of 1878-79. This description can of course refer to no other species than Phoca grcenlandica, and as it comes from a wholly trustworthy source it seems to substantiate the occasional oc- currence of this species as far south as New Jersey. Yon Heug- lin gives it as ranging "in den amerikanischen Meeren siid- warts bis New York," * but I know not on what authority. The Harp Seals are well known to be periodically exceed- ingly abundant along the shores of Newfoundland, where, dur- ing spring, hundreds of thousands are annually killed. In their migrations they pass along the coast of Labrador, and appear with regularity twice a year off the coast of Southern Greenland. Capt. J. C. Eoss states that in Baffin's Bay they *Reisen nach clem Nordpolarmeer, p. 50. MIGRATIONS AND BREEDING STATIONS. 641 keep mostly uto the loose floating floes which constitute what is termed by the whale fishers 'the middle ice? of Baffin's Bay and Davis Straits." He says he never met with them in any part of Prince Begentf s Inlet, but states that they are reported by the natives to be very numerous on the west side of the Isthmus of Boothia, but that they are not seen on the east side.* They are well-known visitors to the shores of Iceland, and swarm in the icy seas about Jan Mayen and Spitzbergen. They also occur about Nova Zembla, and Payer refers to their abundance at Franz Josef Land.t They occur in the Kara Sea, and along the Arctic coast of Europe. Malmgren, Lillje- borg, and Collett state that it is of regular occurrence on the coast of Finmark, where it occurs in small numbers from Oc- tober and November till February. Although reported by Bell and others as having been taken in the Severn, and by Saxby f as observed at Baltasouud, Shetland, the capture of a speci- men in Morecombe Bay, England, reported by Turner § in 1874, Mr. E. E. Alston says is "the first British specimen that has been properly identified." || The distribution of this species in the North Pacific is not well known. Pallas (under the name Phoca dorsata) records it from Kamtschatka, where its occurrence is also affirmed by Steller. Temminck mentions having examined three skins ob- tained at Sitka, but adds that it was not observed by "les voy- ageurs neerlandais " in Japan. In the collections in the National Museum from the North Pacific this species is unrepresented, the species thus far received from there being the following four, namely : Phoca mtulina, PJwcafcetida, Erignaihus barbatus, and Histriophoca fascista. MIGRATIONS AND BREEDING STATIONS. — The Saddleback, although found at one season or another throughout a wide extent of the Arctic seas, appears to be nowhere resident * Ross's Second Voyage, App., p. xxi. tNew Lands within the Arctic Circle, 1877, p. 266. | Mr. Henry L. Saxby, writing under date of Baltasound, Shetland, March 14, 1864, says, "Several Harp Seals are now to be seen in the deep shel- tered voe at Baltasound. This species can scarcely be considered very rare here, but it is said to occur in bad weather, and certainly the present visit forms no exception to the rule, the wind having for some days been blow- ing heavily from N. E., accompanied by sleet and snow." — Zoologist, vol. xxii, 1864, p. 9090. § Journ. Anat. and Phys., vol. ix, 1874, p. 168. l| Zool. Rec., 1874, p. 10; Fauna of Scotland, Mam., 1880, p. 14. Misc. Pub. No. 12 41 642 PHOCA GRCENLAND1CA- — HARP SEAL. the whole year. Its very extended periodical migrations re- late apparently to the selection of suitable conditions for the production of its young, and occur with great regularity. Where it spends portions of the year is not well known, while, on the other hand, it may be found with the utmost certainty at particular localities during the breeding season. Its most noted breeding stations are the ice-floes to the eastward of Newfoundland, and in the vicinity of Jan May en, at which lo- calities they appear early in spring in immense herds. The Seals seen about the shores of Greenland in autumn and early winter are supposed by most writers to pass the breeding- season in the seas to the eastward of Jan Mayen, but doubt- less a very large proportion of the Seals of Hudson's Straits and neighboring waters to the northward, if not also of Baf- fin's Bay, really move southward along the Labrador coast to the Newfoundland waters, since herds of migrating Seals are regularly observed in autumn to pass in this direction; besides, it is hard to conceive of any other origin for the immense num- bers that resort to the ice-floes off the coast of Southern Lab- rador and Newfoundland to bring forth their young. As has been long well known, the Greenland Seal visits the shores of Greenland both in fall and spring. Dr. Eink states that "It appears regularly along the southern part of the coast in September, travelling in herds from south to north, be- tween the islands, and at times resorting to the fjords In October and November the catch is most plentiful ; then it- decreases in December, grows scarce in January, and becomes almost extinct in February." * Mr. Kuinlien states that they "disappear from the Cumberland waters when the ice makes,'' returning again in spring with the appearance of open water. Their passage southward along the Labrador coast occurs before the ice forms, and during this journey they are said to "hug the shore" and freely enter the gulfs and bays. They appear first in small detachments of half a dozen to a score or more of individuals j these are soon followed by larger com- panies, which increase in frequency and numbers; in a few days they form one continuous procession, filling the sea as far as the eye can reach. Floating with the Arctic current, their progress is extremely rapid, and in one short week the whole multitude has passed. Arriving at the Straits of Belleisle, the great body are deflected eastward, but many enter the Straits * Danish Greenland, etc., p. 124. MIGRATIONS AND BREEDING STATIONS. 643 and pass round to the southward of Newfoundland; some, however, spend the winter in the Gulf of Saint Lawrence, where they bring forth their young on the ice in spring. But the great mass continue onward along the eastern coast of New- foundland as far as Baccalieu Island, at the entrance of Trinity Bay, where they leave the shore for the Grand Banks, at which they arrive about the end of December. Here they rest for a month, and then turn again northward to seek the ice-floes for breeding stations. Slowly onward they struggle against the strong current that aided them so much in their southward journey, till they reach the great ice-fields, stretching from the Labrador shore far eastward, — a broad continent of ice. By the end of February the breeding-sites have been chosen, and the young are born shortly after (generally between the 5th and 10th of March). Many of the younger Seals (yearlings and two-year-olds), however, still remain on the southern banks. By the end of April the newly-born Seals are strong enough to secure their own food, and in May the numberless multitude resume their northward route, keeping far out at sea to avoid the strong current that courses along the coast. In May they begin to again arrive on the coast of Southern Greenland, and later visit the more northern shores. The Seals that resort in such great numbers to the ice-floes east and north of Jan Mayen in spring are believed to come mainly from Greenland, but doubtless a large part really come from the eastward and northward. Lindeman, speaking of their dispersion after the breeding season, says : " By the end of June they start on their homeward journey to the north and east, the young following ; they pass from one outlying point of ice to another, where they lie to rest. In a single instance they were followed all the way to Spitzbergen, and were here also observed to still pursue an easterly direction. Whither they go and where they keep themselves till the next spring is certainly a worthy subject of investigation."* As already stated in the general account of Seal-hunting (antea, pp. 496 et seq.), the Harp Seals assemble early in spring in countless numbers in the vicinity of u the dreary island of Jan Mayen ", the ice floes a. little to the eastward and northward of which form their great central rendezvous during the breeding season, and consequently the scene of the grand annual Seal slaughter in the Arctic seas. Their principal breeding-resort * Petermann's Geograph. Mittheil., Ergiinzungs Heft Nr. 26, 1869, p. -. 644 PHOCA GRCENLANDICA HARP SEAL. appears to be a small circular area., having a breadth of about four hundred miles, within which Jan Mayen Island occupies a nearly central point. They are not, however, equally numer- ous throughout even this limited district, but are most densely massed between the 72d and 73d degrees of north latitude, on or near the 7th meridian east of Greenwich. The exact point, however, varies in different years, in accordance with the varying position of the ice-fields, which is influenced by the prevailing winds and the character of the season. Thus, according to Dr. Wallace, as quoted by Mr. Brown, they were found in 1859 ain considerable numbers not far from Iceland, the most northerly point of which is in ET. lat. 66° 44' ; this leads me to remark," Mr. Brown continues, "that the Seals are often divided into several bodies or flocks, and may be at a considerable distance from each other, although it is most common to find these smaller flocks on the skirts or at no great distance from the main body." Where the Seals that here con- gregate in such numbers during the breeding season spend the rest of the year is not well known. Says the writer last quoted, " After the young have begun to take the water in the Spitz- bergen sea, they gradually direct their course to the outside streams, where they are often taken in considerable numbers on warm sunny days. When able to provide for themselves, the females gradually leave them and join the males in the north, where they are hunted by the sealers in the months of May and June ; and it is especially during the latter month that the females are seen to have joined the males ; for at the 'old sealing7 (as this is called), in May, it has often been re- marked that few or no males are seen in company with the females. Later in the year, in July, there are seen, between the parallels of 76° and 77° N., these flocks of Seals, termed by Scoresby i Seal's weddings ? ; and I have found that they were composed of the old males and females and the bluebacks [year- lings and two-year-olds], which must have followed the old ones in the north and formed a junction with them some time in June. There is another opinion, that the old females remain and bring their young with them north $ but all our facts are against such a theory ( Wallace}. "These migrations may vary with the temperature of the sea- son, and are influenced by it ; it is possible that in the Spitz- bergen sea as the winter approaches they keep in advance of it and retreat southward to the limit of the perpetual ice, off MIGRATIONS AND BREEDING STATIONS. 645 the coast of Greenland, somewhere near Iceland, where they spend the winter. We are, however, at a loss regarding the winter habits of these Seals in that region $ here no one winters, and there are no inhabitants to note their migrations and ways of life. Different is it, however, on the Greenland shores of Davis's Strait, where in the Danish settlements the Seals form, both with the whites and Eskimo, the staple article of food and commerce, and accordingly their habits and arrival are well known and eagerly watched. The AtarsoaJc, as it is commonly called by the Eskimo, the 'Svartsidede Saelhund' (Black-sided Sealhound) of the Danes, is the most common Seal in all South Greenland. It is equally by this Seal that the Eskimo lives, and the i Kongl-Gronlandske Handel7 makes its commerce. In South Greenland when the Seal generally is talked of, or a good or bad year spoken about, everybody thinks of this Seal ; on the other hand, in North Greenland, Pagomys fcetidus and Callocephalus vitulinus are the most common. These last two species are the only Seals which can be properly said to have their home in Greenland, affecting ice-fjords and rarely going far from the coast. This is not the case with P. grcenlandicus ; at certain times of the year they completely leave the coast; there- fore the Seal-hunting in South Greenland is more dependent upon contingencies than in North Greenland. This Seal arrives regularly in September in companies travelling from the south to north, keeping among the islands ; occasionally at this time individuals detach themselves from the drove and go up the inlets. . . ."* Both Dr. Kink and Mr. Brown believe that it is very improb- able that the Seals of South Greenland visit Jan Mayen in the breeding season, deeming it more likely that they resort for this purpose to the southern ice-floes off the Labrador coast. "As to their whereabouts during their absence," however, ob- serves the former, " we are somewhat at a. loss for perfect infor- mation. There can be no doubt that in spring they retreat to the icefields of the ocean for the purpose of producing their young. It seems most unlikely that the seals from the west coast should have such breeding places to the east of Green- land in the Spitzbergen sea, which would require the whole stock of them to round Cape Farewell at least twice a year. But, considering that just opposite to the west coast extensive * Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., 1868, pp. 421, 422; Man. Nat. Hist., etc., Green- laud, Mam., pp. 51, 52. 646 PHOCA GRCENLANDICA— HARP SEAL. masses of drift-ice from Baffin's Bay are moving southward throughout the greater part of the year, nothing seems more reasonable to believe than that the seals, having gone their usual beat along the west coast of Greenland put to sea in various latitudes ; after which, on crossing Davis Strait, they almost every where will meet with the drift-ice, which they will then follow on its course southward, and on returning they will make the coast of Greenland at some more southerly point, begin their usual migration, and so on."* Mr. Brown, however, adds: "Every one knows when it commences its migration from the south to the north, but nobody knows where the Seal goes to when it disappears off the coast. Between the time they leave the coast in the spring and return in the summer they beget their young; and this seems to be accomplished on the pack-ice a great distance from land, viz, in the Spitsbergen sea. It is at this period that the seal-ships come after them. . . ." From what has been already stated respecting their pas- sage southward at the beginning of winter along the Labrador coast and the shores of Newfoundland to the Grand Banks, their subsequent movement northward at the beginning of spring to the ice-floes to bring forth their young, and their later migration northward, it seeins safe to assume that the Greenland division of these Seals resort mainly in winter to the open waters of the Grand Banks, southeast of Newfoundland^ and that after the breeding season they return northward to the Greenland coast; furthermore that the great herds that congregate about Jan May en belong mainly to the Arctic waters of the Spitsbergen sea, migrating northward and southward, and more or less westward, with the changes of the season and the position of the ice-fields, and that probably none of the Seals of Baffin's Bay and adjoining waters migrate to the Jan Mayen seas. As already stated the Harp Seals visit the southern coast of Greenland in May, and appear on the more northern coast in June. " Having visited," says Kink, "the fjords in numerous herds, they again disappear in July and return in September, t Consequently this seal deserts the coast twice a year, and as regularly returns to it in due season, always first making its * Danish Greenland, etc., 1877, p. 125. t Mr. Brown says, "This Seal leaves the vicinity of Jakobshavn ice-fjord about the middle of July or beginning of August, and conies back in Oc- tober very fat. In August and September there are none on that part of the coast." HABITS. 647 appearance in the southern, and somewhat later in the north- ern regions." Why they leave the Greenland coast in August and again visit it in September, and there remain for several months before departing for the south, and where they go dur- ing their absence, are questions for which there is as yet no satisfactory answer. It has, however, by some been supposed to relate to the pairing season, which occurs in August, the females on their return in September being found to be with young. Mr. Kunilien states that " a few schools were noticed at different times during September, 1877, and October, 1878, from the islands of the Labrador coast to Cumberland, at times a considerable distance from land. It hence seems probable that many pass this portion of the year at points far to the southward of Greenland." HABITS. — The Harp Seal is remarkable alike for its abun- dance and its pelagic and roving habits. Eminently gregarious at all seasons, and doubtless outnumbering all the other species together, it forms the chief basis of the great sealing industry of the northern seas. It is, however, as already shown, no- where a permanent resident, and during its periodical journey- ings traverses a wide breadth of latitude. Although often met with far out at sea, it is never seen far from the floating ice- fields, it generally keeping near the edges of the drifting ice. It appears never to resort to the shores and to be seldom met with on the firm ice. This is doubtless due to the fact that, unlike the Kinged and the Bearded Seals, it never forms for itself an atluk or breathing-hole through the ice, and conse- quently is obliged to keep near the large openings formed by winds or ocean currents. It is generally regarded as less saga- cious than most other species, and as submitting, without show of resistance, to the attacks of the sealers. About the beginning of March they assemble at their favorite breeding stations, selecting for this purpose immense ice-fields far from land. Their best known breeding-grounds are the ice- packs off the eastern coast of Newfoundland, and about the island of Jan Mayen. A few are said to breed on the floating ice in the Gulf of Saint Lawrence, and there are doubtless nu- merous small outlying colonies in various parts of the North At- lantic and Arctic waters. Mr. Carroll states that off the New- foundland coast the young are chiefly born between the 5th and 10th of March, or about a week earlier than is the case 648 PHOCA GRCENLANDICA HARP SEAL. with the Hooded Seal or the " Square-flipper " (probably Hall- ccehrus grypus). According to Lindeman, the young are born much later at the Jan May en breeding -grounds, or not till the 23d or 24th of March, the "whelping-time" (as this period is termed in sealing parlance) lasting till about the 5th of April. Only rarely does the female bring forth more than a single young one at a birth. The period of gestation is supposed to be about nine months. If left undisturbed the females are said to suckle the young about fifteen to eighteen days, when the young are so far developed that they are able to take to the water and seek their own nourishment. At this time they be- gin to shed their white woolly coat, and take on the harsher, grayer pelage that succeeds the fretal dress. According to Mr. Carroll, the old " Breeding Harps " are the first to leave the fishing- ground for the purpose of "whelping.77 In selecting their breeding stations they endeavor to go as far north as they can advance with safety, or until they meet the heavy northern ice, for they know that the more northern the station the more safety there is for the young from the wash of southern storms. Yet, in spite of their delicate instincts, and notwithstanding their great cautiousness, says Lindeman, "it still sometimes happens that heavy northeast storms drive the whole area chosen into the open sea, and the immense mass of young Seals become unfortunately destroyed. I saw many in- teresting examples," he adds, "of how courageously the mother worked under such an accident in order to bring her young again upon the firm ice, either by trying to swim with it between her fore flippers or by driving it before her and tossing it forward with her nose." Carroll states that all kinds of Seals found about Newfoundland " will at all times endeavor to whelp as near the shore as possible, because instinct teaches them that the nearer the rocks the shallower the wa.ter, so that when they abandon their young ones the little creatures will see the bottom so as to enable them to procure their food. When young Seals are whelped near the shore," however, he continues, "and a heavy sea comes on, thousands of them are ground to pieces with the sea against the rocks. I have frequently watched the old female harps bolt up through the ice in a heavy sea and drag their young ones off the ice into the water out of danger. Again, when the ice begins to raft where young Seals are, thousands upon thousands of them are also chopped into piece- meal." HABITS. 649 The females take up their stations on the ice very near to each other, the young being thus sometimes born not more than three feet apart ; they also all bring forth their young at very nearly the same time. The males accompany the females to the breeding stations, and remain in the vicinity, yet rarely upon the ice, congregating mostly in the open pools between the ice-floes. The mothers leave their young on the ice, to fish in the neighborhood for their own subsistence, but frequently return to the young to suckle them. The young increase rap- idly in size, and when three weeks old are said to be nearly half as large as the old ones. At this time they are the fattest and are considered to be in best condition for killing. Later' the fat diminishes although the general bulk continues to in- crease. If undisturbed the old Seals will remain amongst the ice at the breeding-grounds till after the moult, which occurs late in the spring, for the purpose of rubbing off the old hair against the ice. The annual moulting-time, or "skin-sickness" (u Hautkrarik- heit"), as the Germans expressively term it, is evidently a period of great discomfort, and occurs within four or five weeks after the birth of the young. During this time they rapidly lose their fat, and become more watchful and restless. As Mr. Car- roll puts it, about the middle of April the old Seals, and the yearlings and two-year-olds, " mount the ice to scrub them- selves". If the day be warm, he adds, "the skin on the back is sure to be sunburnt, so much so, that you can tear it off with your fingers; they will remain on the ice to be killed when once they get sunburnt rather than go in the water. When they do get in the water they will cry with pain and sometimes mount the ice again." For breeding stations the Seals select " sheet-ice", in which, says Mr. Carroll, they keep holes open through which they may get to their young. A rim soon forms around these holes caused by the freezing of the water forced up by the Seals in passing through them, but they are sure to keep one side of the hole on a level with the water, the side they use in going up and down. They assemble in such numbers that the cry of the vast number of the old and young may be heard to the distance of several miles, particularly if the ear be applied to the ice. The same author states that at the Newfoundland breeding- grounds no wind will break up the "whelping ice" equal to a strong southeast wind; no matter how deep the northern bavs 650 PHOCA GRCENLANDICA HARP SEAL. may be, such wind will be sure to break up the ice. It is well understood, he adds, that the " whereabouts" of the young Seals depends "on wind and tide". Mr. Carroll ascribes great sagacity to the Seals in discerning the character of the weather when they are in danger of being "embayed". "They are sure to swarm out," he says, "at least two and sometimes three days before the wind blows in on the land $ they also know when a lake of water is in the sheet or drift some hundred miles more or less from where they are by the reflection of the light through the ice [!J. . . . When Seals get embayed and are kept there some number of days and can- not get into the water owing to the ice being jammed, they begin to travel out in a direct line for the water. Supposing the water to be fifty miles from them, they know well by scent where it is, for you will see them stretch out their necks and sniff; should the ice part in any direction from them they will at once turn round and avail themselves of it. Much depends upon the character of the ice they have to travel on as to their rate of speed ; they travel principally by night. I have killed them with the hair and skin worn off the fore flippers and bleeding." The same writer states that in cool nights Seals will travel at an average rate of one mile per hour. Their speed depends much, however, upon the character of the ice, on level ice an old Seal being able to outstrip a smart runner in a distance of sixty yards. They move laboriously, by lifting themselves off the ice on their fore flippers and drawing up the hind part of the body, resulting in a "sidelong loping gallop.'7 In travelling they sometimes become overheated, in which case the hair becomes loosened and the skin worthless.* The young Seals are said not to voluntarily enter the water until at least twelve days old, and that they require four or five days' practice before they acquire sufficient strength and proficiency in swimming to enable them to take care of them- selves. After they take to the water they congregate by them- selves, and when they mount the ice assemble in quite compact herds. Professor Jukes refers to a young one that was taken alive on board his ship as forming a very gentle and interesting pet. "He lay very quiet on deck, opening and closing his curious nostrils, . . . and occasionally lifting his fine dark lustrous eyes as if with wonder at the strange scenes around him." His * The Seal and Herring Fisheries of Newfoundland, 1873, pp. 24, 25. ENEMIES. 651 short thick fur being dry and clean, gave him a very warm and comfortable appearance. On being patted on the head he drew it in till his face was perpendicular to his body, knitted his brow and closed his eyes and nostrils, thereby assuming a very comical expression of countenance. Although he was fierce when teased, and attempted to bite and scratch, he immediately became quiet on being stroked or patted. They are doubtless easily tamed, and might be made very interesting pets. In the present instance the poor brute was cruelly teased by dogs and men till he became exhausted, and Professor Jukes passed his knife into his heart to end his misery.* The Harp Seals are stated to swim with great rapidity, pro- pelling themselves with their powerful hind-flippers, one writer estimating their speed when " bolting" under the ice as "at least one hundred miles per hour," and observes that as they pass beneath you you " will observe only a blue shade," even if the water is perfectly clear. Their favorite position when swimming, as affirmed by numerous observers, is on the back or side, in which position they also sleep in the water. Their social and gregarious instincts seem to be manifested on all occasions $ they not only migrate in dense herds, and assemble on the ice in compact bodies, but are rarely met with singly, though occasionally in small groups. As noted on pre- ceding pages, immense herds sometimes fill the sea as far as the eye can reach, or thickly cover the ice over areas of many square miles in extent. ENEMIES. — Aside from their destruction by man, and not unfrequently by the elements, they find a formidable enemy in the sword-fish, and are extensively preyed upon by sharks. Mr. Carroll, my chief authority on this point, says that when the Seals are floating about on single " pans," he has seen sword- fish, sharks, and other kinds of fish, taking them off. The sword-fish, he says, will get on one side of the pan and press it down to such an angle "that the Seal must slip off among them and be torn to pieces". The Seals appear to have a great terror of these remorseless enemies, for the same authority adds, "I have been on pans of ice when seals mounted the ice to avoid the sword-fish and sharks, and obliged to fire at the mon- sters to keep them off. A seal will shake with fear, and should a man be on the pan when sword fish and sharks are after them, * Excurn. in Newfoundland, vol. i, pp. 283.284. 652 PHOCA GRCENLANDICA HARP SEAL. they will run between a man's legs for protection ".* Doubtless many young Seals not only become the prey of these creatures, but also of the rapacious Orca, so well known to prey upon the young of the Fur Seals. FOOD. — Like all the Phocids, the Harp Seal is well known to subsist chiefly upon fish, but also in part upon Crustaceans and Mollusks. White-fish and the cod seem to form their chief food off the shores of Newfoundland and Labrador, and from the abundance of the Seals the quantity they consume must be immense. It has even been supposed that the small catch of codfish about the island of Newfoundland is due to the great destruction of these fishes by the Seals, several millions of the latter, it is estimated, spending several months of each year in the vicinity of this island. Allowing only one fish a day to each Seal during the time they stay about the island would re- quire the annual destruction of several million quintals of these fishes. In their southward migration in autumn along the coast of Labrador, they are said to follow the schools of white- fish, on which to a large extent they are also known to feed. They also follow them into all the bays along the coast in spring. "As long as white-fish are in with the land," says Mr. Carroll, "so sure will seals of every description be there". That they also prey upon the codfish is well proven by Seals being killed with these fish in their mouths, as well as by find- ing them on the ice to which the Seals have carried them. Mr. Carroll believes that the greater the increase of Seals on the Newfoundland coast the more will the codfish decrease on the same coast. The scarcity of the one thus seems to imply the abundance of the other, so that an abundance of Seals along a coast where cod-fishing is prosecuted is not altogether an un- mixed good. HUNTING AND PRODUCTS. — As so large a part of what has been already said in the general account of the Seal-fishery of the North Atlantic and Arctic waters necessarily relates to the present species, it is scarcely requisite in the present connec- tion to more than recall the leading points of the subject, with the addition of a few details not previously given. As already stated, the sealing-grounds par excellence are the ice-floes oft' the eastern coast of Newfoundland and around Jan Mayen Island, *Seal and Herring Fisheries of Newfoundland, p. 26. HUNTING AND PRODUCTS. 653 where the present species forms almost the sole object of pur- suit. The sealing season lasts for only a^ew weeks during spring ; the enterprise * gives employment during this time to hundreds of vessels and thousands of men, the average annual catch falling little short of a million Seals, valued at about three million of dollars. While the pursuit is mainly carried on in vessels, sailing chiefly from English, German, and Nor- wegian ports, or from those of Newfoundland and the other British Provinces, many are caught along the shores of the countries periodically visited by these animals, as those of South Greenland, Southern Labrador, Newfoundland, and the Gulf of Saint Lawrence. The pursuit with vessels, and the va- rious incidents connected therewith, have already been detailed, and sufficient allusions have perhaps also already been made to the Greenland method of SeaMmnting (antea, pp. 522-545). In consequence of the gregarious habits of the species, and the fact that one-half to two-thirds of those taken are young- ones that are not old enough to make any effectual attempt to escape, the success of a sealing voyage depends almost wholly upon the mere matter of luck in discovering the herds. While the old Seals are mostly shot, the young are killed with clubs. In respect to the ease and facility with which they are cap- tured it may be noted that it is not at all unusual, in the height of the season, for the crew of a single small vessel to kill and take on board from five hundred to a thousand in a day. Mr. Brown states: "In 1866 the steamer Camperdown obtained the enormous number of 22,000 Seals in nine days," or an aver- age of 2,500 per day. li It is nothing uncommon," he adds, 11 for a ship's crew to club or shoot, in one day, as many as from 500 to 800 old Seals, with 2,000 young ones".t Such slaughter is necessarily attended with more or less barbarity, but this seems to be sometimes carried to a needless extreme. The Seals are very tenacious of life, and, in the haste of killing, many are left for a long time half dead, or are even flayed alive. Jukes states that even the young are " sometimes bar- barously skinned alive, the body writhing in blood after being stripped of its skin," and they have even been seen to swim away in that state, as when the first blow fails to kill the Seal their hard-hearted murderers " cannot stop to give them a sec- ond". "How is it," he adds, "one can steel one's mind to look * For statistics of the Seal-fishery, see anted, pp. 497-502. tMan. Nat. Hist., Geol., etc., Greenland, Main., p. 67, footnote. 654 GENUS ERIGNATHUS. on that which to read of, or even think of afterwards, makes one shudder? In the bustle, hurry, and excitement, these things pass as a matter of course, and as if necessary ; but they are most horrible, and will not admit of an attempt at pallia- tion." * Scoresby t and other writers refer to similar heartless proceedings, — as though the necessary suffering attending such a sacrifice of unresisting creatures were not in itself bad enough without the infliction of such needless cruelty. The young Seals not only do not attempt any resistance, but are said to make no effort to move when approached, quietly suf- fering themselves to be knocked on the head with a club. The old Seals are more wary, and are generally killed with fire- arms. Scoresby relates that "When the Seals are observed to be making their escape into the water before the boats reach the ice, the sailors give a long-continued shout, on which their victims are deluded by the amazement a sound so unusual produces and frequently delay their retreat until arrested by the blows of their enemies ". J The annual catch of Harp Seals in Greenland is stated by Eink to be 17,500 full-grown " Saddle-backs " and 15,500 "Blue- sides", or 33,000 in all. The catch from the Newfoundland ports alone often reaches 500,000, and in the Jan Mayen seas often exceeds 300,000, so that the total annual catch of this species alone doubtless ranges from 800,000 to 900,000. The commercial products are the oil — used in the lubrication of machinery, in tanning leather, and in miners' lamps — and the skins, which are employed for the manufacture of various kinds of leather and articles of clothing. The skins are said to be mostly sold to English manufacturers, who employ them in the preparation of a superior article of "patent" or lacquered leather. The flesh is esteemed by the Greenlanders as superior to that of their favorite Neitsek (Phoca fcetida). GENUS ERIGNATHUS, Gill. Phoca, GRAY, "Zool. Erebus and Terror, 1844"; Cat. Seals Brit. Mus., 1850, 27, not of Linne". Type, Phoca barbata, Fabricius. Erignathus, GILL, Proc. Essex Inst., v, 1866, 9. Type, Phoca larlata. Muzzle broad, forehead high, convex; small supraorbital processes. Dental formula as in Phoca; teeth small, molars * Excurs. in Newfoundland, vol. i, p. 290. tHist. of the Arct. Reg., vol. i, p. 510. t Ibid., vol. i, p. 512. ERIGNATHUS BARBATUS — BEARDED SEAL. 655 spaced, slightly implanted, early becoming defective by attri- tion ; partly deciduous in old age. Palatal area broad, ellipti- cal, deeply emarginate posteriorly ; narial septum incomplete. Lower jaw short, small, the rami outwardly convex. Scapula with no acrornion process. Iliac crests not abruptly everted and produced. Middle digits of the manus longest. Mammae 4. In respect to the general form of the skull, Erignathus differs from Phoca in the great height of the skull at the anterior border of the frontals. It differs also in the great breadth, arched form, and elliptical outline of the palate, and in the great depth of the narial fossae. Although its single species is still commonly placed in the genus Phoca, other osteological characters, espe- cially the absence of the acromion process of the scapula and the slight eversion of the iliac border of the pelvis, seem to warrant its separation. Although the animal attains to a large size, the teeth are weak, and in young specimens, or before they have become modified by attrition, are not longer antero- posteriorly, though rather thicker, than in Phoca fcetida, and are consequently several times smaller than in Phoca vitulina. The first, second, and fifth upper molars are 2-pointed, only the posterior accessory cusp being developed ; the third and fourth are 3-pointed, also without an anterior cusp. All the lower molars are 3-pointed, there being an accessory cusp both in front of and behind the principal cusp. Quite early in life the teeth become much worn, and in old age the crowns of the three middle molars become often wholly worn away, leaving only the fangs, and even these sometimes in part disappear. Mr. Kumlien states that "in many adults the teeth can almost be plucked out with the fingers," so slight is their attachment. ERIGNATHUS BARBATUS (Fabricius) Gill. Bearded Seal. Phoca larbata, FABRICIUS, Mullens Zool. Dan. Prod., 1776, viii; Fauna Grcenl., 1780, 15 ; Skriv. Nat. Selsk., i, 1790, 139, pi. xiii, fig. 3.— ERXLEBEN, Syst. Reg. Anim., 1777, 590. — GMELIN, Syst. Nat., i, 1788, 65.— KERR, An. King., 1792, 126.— SHAW, Gen. Zool., i, 1800.— J. Ross, Ross's 1st Voy., App., 1819, xli.— DESMAREST, Mam., 1820, 246, 378.— " NILSSON, Skand. Faun., i, 1820, 374 ; K. Vet. Akad. Handl., Stockholm, 1837, — " ; Wiegmann's Arch. furNaturg., 1841, 317; Skand. Fauna Daggdj., 1847, 294.— " THIENEMANN, Reise im Nordeii von Europa, etc., i, 1824, 23, pi. i (ad. female), pi. ii (male of two years), pi. iii (male of one year), pi. iv (skulls)." — RICHARDSON, Parry's 2d Voy., Suppl., 1825, 335.— HARLAN, Faun.Arner., 1825, 111. 656 ERIGNATHUS BARBATUS BEARDED SEAL. •£ — RODMAN, Amer. Nat. Hist., i, 1826, 342.— GRAY, Griffith's Anim. King., v, 1827, 178; "Zool. Erebus a,nd Terror" ; Cat. Seals Brit. Mus., 1850, 27, fig. 9 ; Cat. Seals aiid Whales, 1866, 31, fig. 10 ; Suppl. Cat. Seals and Whales, 1871, 3 ; Hand-List Seals, 1874, 8, pi. v.— FIS- CHER, Syn. Mam., 1829, 240.— J. C. Ross, Ross's 2d Voy., App., 1835, xxi.— BELL, Brit. Quad., 1837, 275, fig. of skull (in part only).— MACGILLIVRAY, Brit. Quad., 1838, 212 (in part only).— HAMILTON, Amphib. Cam., 1839, 145, pi. "3"— i. e. 5 (in part only); not the British references, nor the young specimen in Edinb. Mus., apud Brown, Proc. Zool. Soc., 1868, 419.— BLAINVILLE, Oste'ogr., Phoca, 1840-1851, pi. ix. — TEMMINCK, Faun. Japon., Mam. Marins, 1842, 2 (Japan). — ? JUKES, Excurs. in Newfoundland, i, 1842, 312. — WAG- NER, Schreber's Siiugth., vii, 1842, 18.— SCHINZ, Syuop. Mam., i, 1844, 481.— VON MIDDENDORFF, Sibir. Reise, ii, 2, 1853, 122.— GIEBEL, Saugeth., 1855, 134.— VON SCHRENCK, Amur-Lande, i, 1859, 181.— MALMGREN, Ofv. af Kongl. Vet. Akad. Stockh., 1863, 135 ; Arch, fiir Naturg., 1864, 74. — STEENSTRUP, Vid. Medd. f. d. Naturh. Forening, 1864 (1865), 269.— COLLETT, Bemserk. til Norges Pattedyrf., 1876, 58.— VON MIDDENDORFF, Sibirische Reise, iv, Th. 2, 1867, 934.— LLOYD, Game Birds and Wild Fowl of Sweden and Norway, 1867, 408, pi., animal. — QUENNERSTEDT, Kongl. Svens. Vetensk. Akad. Handl., vii, No. 3, 1868, 10.— BROWN, Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., 1868, 340, 424; Man. Nat. Hist., Geol., etc., Greenland, Mam., 1875, 53.— ToRELLand NORDENSKJOLD, Swedischen Exp. nach Spitz, u. Biiren Eiland, etc. (Germ, ed.) 1869, 78 (plate representing a group on the ice). — LILLJEBORG, Fauna ofver Sveriges och Norges Ryggradsdjur, i, 1874, 697. — RINK, Danish Greenland, its People and its Products, 1877, 126, 430.— VAN BENEDEN, Ann. du Mus. roy. d'Hist. Nat. du Belgique, i, 1877, 20 (geogr. distr.).— KUMLIEN, Bull. U. S. Nat. Mus., No. 15, 1879, 61. Callocephahisbarbalus, F. CUVIER, Me"rn. du Mus., xi, 1824, 184, pi. xii, fig. 4 ; Diet, des Sci. Nat., xxxix, 1826, 547. — LESSON, Man. de Mam., 1827, 198. Phoca (Callocephalus) barbata, VON HEUGHN, Reisen nach deni Nordpolar- meer, etc., iii, 1874, 56. Erignathm barbatus, GILL, Proc. Essex Inst., v, 1866, 12.— ? PACKARD, Proc. Bost. Soc. Nat. Hist., x, 1866, 271. Phoca leporina, LEPECHIN, Act. Acad. Petrop., i, 1777, 264, pll. viii, ix. — FABRICIUS, Skriv. Nat. Selsk., i, 2, 1791, 168.— SHAW, Gen. Zool., i, 1800, 258.— DESMAREST, Nouv. Diet. Sci. Nat., xxv, 1817, 581; Mam., 1820, 243, 374.— FISCHER, Synop. Mam., 1829, 237.— HAMILTON, Amphib. Carniv., 1839, 170, pi. ix. Callocephalus leporinus, F. CUVIER, Diet, des Sci. Nat., xxxix, 1826, 545. Phoca lepechini, LESSON, Diet. Class. d'Hist. Nat., xiii, 1828, 415 (= Phoca leporina, Lepechin). Phoca parsonsi, LESSON, Diet. Class. d'Hist. Nat., xiii, 1828, 414 (= Long- bodied Seal, Parsons). Phoca albigena, PALLAS, Zoogr. Rosso-Asiat., i, 1831, 109. Phoca nautica, PALLAS, Zoogr. Rosso-Asiat., i, 1831, 108. Phoca naurica, GRAY, Suppl. Cat. Seals and Whales, 1871, 3 (= " Phoca naurica [lege nautica] et Phoca albigena, Pallas"). EXTERNAL CHARACTERS. 657 Phoca, Vitulusmannus, or Sea Calf, PARSONS, Phil. Trans., xlii, 1742-3(1744), 383, pi. i. Lachtak, STELLER, Nov. Comm. Acad. Petrop., ii, 1751, 290. Long-bodied Seal, PARSONS, Phil. Trans., xlvii, 1751-2 (1753), 121. Uksuk, CRANZ, Hist, von Grcenl., 1765. Leporine Seal, PENNANT, Syn. Quad., ii, 1793, 277. Remmescelen, FABRICIUS, 1791, 1. c. Oo-sook, Greenlanders. Ogjook, Cumberland Esquimaux (KUMLIEN). LacJitak or Laktak, Kamtschatkans. Storkobbe, Blaakobbe, Havert, Norwegian (VON HEUGUN). Hafert-sMl, Storsjal, Swedish. Bartrobbe, Bdrtige Seehund, German. ? Square fipper and Square flipper, of Newfoundland Sealers. Ground Seal, Spitzbergen Sealers (BROWN). Bearded Seal, Great Seal, English authors. EXTERNAL CHARACTERS. — Above gray, darker along the middle of the back, the color varying in different individuals. A specimen from Disco Bay, Greenland (Nat. Mus., No. 8697), is gray, varied with black, but without distinct marks or spots. Wagner describes a specimen from Labrador as clear gray above, marbled with large indistinct yellowish spots, among them one on the back of the head more pronounced 5 sides and whole lower side of the body soiled white. No dark stripe along the back and head. Nilsson describes the color as being a pale gray above, still paler on the sides, and on the belly white ; head and neck above, blackish, with a narrow band of the same color along the back. Macgillivray describes a Green- land specimen as having "the fore part of the head brown, the top light yellowish-gray ; the hind neck and an obscurely de- fined space along the back, including the tail, dull brown, the rest dull yellowish-gray". Mr. Kumlien, who has had the op- portunity of seeing many specimens in the Arctic regions, says the color is variable, the yellowish-brown being "more or less clouded with ligh ter or darker markings, irregularly dispersed ". The length of adult males is usually given as "about ten feet"; females, rather smaller. I find the total length of an adult fe- male skeleton to be 7 feet 2 inches (2195 mm.). The young are described as being covered with long, soft, dark gray wool, which, in about two weeks after birth, is re- placed by a coat of shorter, more rigid, bluish-gray hair. Nils- son described a specimen supposed to be foetal as covered with dark gray wool, which is darker on the posterior part of the Misc. Pub. No. 12 12 658 ERIGNATHUS FARBATUS BEARDED SEAL. back and hind feet,* while Lepechin compared the woolly coat of the young (his Phoca leporina) to that of Lepus variables. Mr. Kumlien thus describes a foetal specimen taken April 28, 1878, near Middliejuacktwack Islands : " Color, uniform grizzly- mouse color, with a tinge of olive-gray. Muzzle, crown, and irregular patches on the back and fore flippers, white. From the nose to the eyes a black line, with another crossing the head behind the eyes, the two forming a perfect cross. Nails, horn-blue, tipped with white. Iris, dark brown. Nose, black. Muzzle, wide, lips full and fleshy, giving the animal a bull-dog expression. Body, long and slender. Beard, pellucid, abun- dant, white, stout, the bristles becoming shorter to ward the nos- trils. Hind flippers, large and heavy, looking disproportionate to the size of the body. Hair, rather short, but fine and some- what woolly, interspersed with another kind, stiff and of a steel-blue color, which I take to be the second coat. The Es- kimo are firm in the belief that the Ogjook sheds its first coat within the uterus of the mother. In this case there was cer- tainly an abundance of loose hair in the uterus, but the speci- men had been dragged some miles in its envelope over rough ice, besides having been kept three or four days in an Eskimo igloo among a heap of garbage, so that it is not to be wondered at that the hair was loose. u There was little blubber on the specimen, and this was thickly interspersed with blood-vessels. "The specimen measured as follows: Feet. Inches. Extreme length 4 7 Length of head 0 8-25 Width of muzzle 0 4.5 From end of nose to eye 0 3.2 Distance between eyes 0 3. 5 Length of fore flipper (to end of nails) 0 7. 15 Width of fore flipper- 0 4.3 Length of hind flipper 1 0 Greatest expanse of hind flipper 1 1. 5 " t SKULL AND SKELETON. — The principal distinctive osteolog- ical features of the Bearded Seal having already been given in connection with the generic diagnosis, little is called for in the present connection, since a detailed account of its osteology does not fall within the scope of the present history of the species. * Archiv. fiir Naturg., 1841, p. 317. t MS. notes. SKULL AND SKELETON. 659 It may be stated, however, in general terms, that the skeleton indicates a general robustness of form, correlating with the rather broad thick head. The relative length of the different limb-segments and vertebral regions is about as in Phoca grcen- landica, except that the caudal series of vertebrae is much shorter. The bulk of the entire animal, however, must be con- siderably greater than in P. grcenlandica. The scapula is long and narrow, the proscapular and postscapular fossae about equal, the latter not greatly produced at its posterior upper border, as in Phoca mtulina and P. fcetida. Aside from the absence of the acromion process, it thus differs in its nar- row elongated form, and especially in the unusual length of the shaft, from that of either of the three above-named species. P. grcenlandica presents the opposite extreme, the scapula of which is broad and short. The exceptional features of the skull are the small size of the orbital fossae, the rather small size of the auditory bullae, and the large size of the nasal passages. The general form of the lower jaw is much as in P. vitulina, especially resembling it in the lateral convexity of the rami, and in the form of the con- dylar portion, and in the abruptness of the angle. It is, how- ever, small and weak for the size of the skull, and especially so for the size of the animal.* Perhaps its most striking feature consists in the large process on the hind border just below the oondyle, which is twisted over toward the inner edge of the jaw, and has its axis of development in that direction or trans- verse to the longitudinal axis of the jaw. In comparison with the skeleton in the above-named species of Phoca, the bones of the Bearded Seal are light and porous (less so, however, than in the Cystophorince) ; the tuberosities are all rather weakly developed, with a less tendency to anchy- losis. To this general laxness of ossification, may perhaps be attributed the slight development and consequent lack of ab- rupt eversion of iliac crests of the pelvis already noted. The subjoined table of linear measurements of the principal bones of the skeleton is taken from that of a quite old female from Cumberland Gulf, collected by Mr. Kuinlien. * I find that the lower jaw of a very old male P. vitulina just fits an adult female skull of Erignathw barbatus, except that the latter is slightly longer. 660 ERIGNATHUS BARBATUS BEARDED SEAL. Measurements of the principal parts of the skeleton in Erignathus larlatus ($ a*.). MM. Length of the skull 230 Length of the cervical vertebras 250 Length of the dorsal vertebras 800 Length of the lumbar vertebras 390 Length of the sacral vertebras 175 Length of the caudal vertebras 350. Length of the scapula 210 Length of the humerus 162 Length of the radius 140 Length of the manus 185 Length of the pelvis 320 Length of the femur 153 Length of the tibia 310 Length of the pes 380 Length of the whole skeleton 2195 Length of the fore limb (exclusive of scapula) 487 Length of the hind limb 843 The series of skulls of this species shows that the female is rather smaller than the male, with a rather weaker osseous structure. While old males have rudimentary but quite strongly marked anteorbital processes, equally old female skulls some- times show not the slightest trace of them. The largest male skulls do not exceed a length of 260 mm., while one marked as female attains nearly 240 mm. The Bearded Seal, although often staged to be the largest Phocid of the northern seas, has the skull much smaller than either Halichcerus grypus or Cysto- phora cristata, while the skeleton of the latter indicates an an- imal of much greater bulk. Adult female skulls of the Bearded Seal, in fact, scarcely exceed in linear dimensions very large old male skulls of Phoca mtulina. MEASUREMENTS OF THE SKULL. 661 3 g ll-S-S^d'S 8#tf«1«lo3«i •JB[OU1 ^8BI 0^ 8UUTBI JO 99p9 ^UOO^ g •AVBI? g S? g •9SBO-mBaq JO qjplAV *B9!VB9X9 r3 3 53 s s •98BO-UIBjq JO q^§U91 O g g s Ajo^tpnis ye unqs jo >q3raq 2 S J9 1*198.19 A8tre.i; '89 .TBU joua^eod jo qjpB9 jg[ S3 S3 S! •B9UTOBO ^B l[U3[8 JO q^pB9Jg] g g 55 g •^^aoug^UB q^p«9jq 'eauoq ^BSB^ S? § § S aoTja'jsod ^ uotSaj oq^ jo japjioq S S •r^nraBq ptoSA'xa^d jo pud oj ^S^g^SS^Io •ssgaojd piougjS o^ asnTx^ni -J9aur jo Ss UIOJJ •iinraBq ptoSAja^d jo pu9 o; a3i[txBra eSpa jou9q.UB S S 3 s & *898890Ojd pIO^SBUI $8 q^pB9Jg; I ^ §j •X9g «o "o *o : o o : o o . w> ; ; =3 1 N 32 !| -nil o Pu : o -§ •J9qranu 9nSorB;«o | g g S 3 S 662 ERIGNATHUS BARBATUS BEARDED SEAL. GENERAL HISTORY AND NOMENCLATURE. — The early his- tory of the Bearded Seal is peculiarly involved, owing in part to the vagueness of the early references. The first notice of the species that can be fixed with any degree of certainty is Dr. James Parsons's account, published in 1744, of the " Phoca, Yitulus marinus, or Sea-Calf, shewed at Charing- Cross, in Feb.r 1742-3 7?, * which, if any reliance can be placed on the figure, — declared by Dr. Parsons to be drawn from life and to have been pronounced by all who saw it to be an excellent likeness, — and the characters given in the text, must be unquestionably the present species. Dr. Parsons says it was a female, and very young, "though Seven Feet and half in Length, having scarcely any Teeth, and having Four Holes regularly placed about the navel, as appears by the Figure, which in time become Papilla." The figure shows the middle finger of the fore-flipper to be the longest, the others regularly decreasing in length on each side, while the hind-flippers terminate squarely, with all the digits of nearly equal size. As this is the only species of Seal found in the northern seas which has four mammae, and. the flippers of the form here indicated, the identity of the species seems beyond question. The size, moreover, corresponds with that of old females of the present species. Its " having scarcely any Teeth" is another strong point in favor of its being the Bearded Seal, since it is well known that in old, or even middle-aged, examples of this species the molar teeth are so much worn down that only the fangs of the greater part of the molars remain, and even these may be in part lacking, while on the other hand no other Seal of this size could show this feature, either from immaturity or attrition due to old age. The identity of Parsons's Long-bodied Sealf with the Bearded Seal (Phoca barbate, auct.) was almost universally conceded till 1837, when, from an examination of what was supposed to be Dr. Parsons's original specimen, Messrs. Bell and Ball declared it to be Halichcerus grypus. Mr. Bell says, "For many years there has been deposited in the British Museum a large speci- men of Seal, which has always been considered as the Phoca barbata. It was previously in the possession of Mr. Donovan, * Phil. Trans, for the year 1742-1743 (1744), p. 383, pi. i. t It should be stated that this name was first used by Dr. Parsons for this Seal in a subsequent reference to the same specimen published in 1753 (Phil. Trans., vol. xlvii, p. 121), in which the habitat is given as the coast of Cornwall and the Isle of Wight. GENERAL HISTORY AND NOMENCLATURE. 663 who, I am informed, stated it to be the identical specimen de- scribed under the name of i Long-bodied Seal' by Mr. Parsons, in the forty-seventh volume of the Philosophical Transactions. It has been upon his authority only that Ph. barbata has been catalogued as British, and it now proves to be the same species as that lately found on the southern coast of Ireland by Mr. Ball, the Phoca Gryphus of Fabricius, Halichcerus griseus of Hornschuch and Mlssoii. It was by the exhibition of crania of this species by Mr. Ball at the late meeting of the British Association, that Professor Nilsson, who was present, was able to identify it ; and a subsequent examination of the specimen in the British Museum led that gentleman to the conclusion that this also is identical with the former." * Mr. Ball says, " On ex- amining the remains of Donovan's Ph. barbata, now in the British Museum, I recognized in it an ill-put-up specimen of our Hali- chcerus; and I presume the stuffer has endeavored to make the specimen correspond with the description of Ph. barbata by unduly plumping up the snout and shortening the thumbs, which are evidently pushed in by the wires intended to sup- port the paws." t Since these announcements the Long-bodied Seal of Parsons has generally been referred to Halichcerus grypusj or only doubtfully assigned a place among the synonyms of the Bearded Seal. Inasmuch as the Long-bodied Seal of Parsons forms an important element in the ground-work on which the name Phoca barbata reposes, a further inquiry into the question here at issue may be in place. First, it may be noted, that the identity of Donovan's speci- men with that described by Parsons rests on hearsay testimony, namely, a report that he said it was the same. J Without cast- ing any implication of doubt upon the correct specific determi- nation of Donovan's specimen, as above detailed, it may be observed further that the characters given by Parsons apply to the Bearded Seal and to no other, and, furthermore, that Par- sons does not state whether or not his specimen was preserved, nor does he in the original account say where it was captured. In his second notice he gives its habitat as the " Coast of Corn- * History of British Quadrupeds, etc., 1837, pp. 278, 279. t Ibid., p. 281. t Ball states elsewhere that Donovan's Phoca barbata "seems to be the individual described by Parsons as the long-bodied seal, and it appears to have been on the authority of this specimen that Phoca barbata has occu- pied a place in the British Fauna." — Trans. Roy. Irish Acad., vol. xviii, pt. 1, pp. 90, 1)1, in a paper read " 12th December, 1836". 664 ERIGNATHUS BARBATUS BEARDED SEAL. wall and the Isle of White" (lege Wight?). In view of the admitted uncertainty as to whether Donovan's specimen was the one. described by Parsons, and the agreement of Parsons's account and figure (the best figure of any Seal published up to that date), there seems to be no adequate reason for referring Parsons's Long-bodied Seal to any other than the Bearded Seal, with which for three-fourths of a century it was currently associated. Another early, and in some respects important account of this species, appears to have been given by Cneiff (see antea, p. 530), under the name Grd Skcel (or " graue Seekalb" as termed in the German translation of his paper, which is here used). Although Cneiff ?s (or Kneiff, in the German orthography) Gra Ska3l is referred by Lilljeborg and others to Halichcerus grypus, its breeding habits seem to forbid its reference to that species, it being said to bring forth its young about the end of February on the ice remote from the land, while Halichcerus grypus has its young in the autumn, for which purpose it resorts to the land, selecting as its breeding haunts rocky shores and small rocky islets. The general habits of the species also better accord with those of the Bearded Seal, especially its forming an atluk or breathing-hole through the ice, like Phoca fcetida, these two species being the only ones found in the northern seas which have that habit. That it is not Phoca fcetida is indicated by its size, which is said to be a full u Klafter " (about 6J feet) long, and by his comparison of it with the Harbor Seal (" Wikare" or "Meerbusenkalb" = Phoca mtulina), from which it appears that the latter is only about half the size of the former.* As respects the color, he says the Gray Sea-Calves are mostly dark gray ; many are yellowish; but they are very rarely marked with black and white spots. There is here a closer agreement with the Bearded than with the Gray Seal. There consequently seems to be no reason why Cneiff's Gra Skasl should not be referred to the Bearded Seal, and very strong reasons against its reference to Halichcerus grypus.^ To resume the early history of the subject, the next notice of the Bearded Seal appears to be Steller's reference, in 1751, *He gives the weight of the graue Seekalb as "18 Lisspfund", and that of the Wikare as "10 Lisspfund". t At p. 531, in the account, of Cneiff's history of sealing in the Gulf of Bothnia, I gave the species as probably Halichcerns grypus, in deference to eminent authority. GENERAL HISTORY AND NOMENCLATURE. 665 to a large Seal occurring in the North Pacific, " qua? magnitudine Taurum superat", and which he says the Kamtschatdales called "Lachtak". He speaks of it as being the largest of the Seals of those waters. It later formed the "Phoca maxima, S teller" of authors, but Steller himself did not originate this phraseology. It is also the basis of the Phoca lachtak of Des- marest. These references have been very generally identified with the present species. Cranz, in 1765, referred to it, but without really describing it, under the name Uksuk. Yet the little he had to say about it serves to render it certain that the Uksuk is the Phoca barbata of the later systematic writers, it being still known in Greenland under that name (now commonly spelled "Oo-sook"), just as the Pacific representatives of the species are still known under the native name Laktak. Fabricius was the first to give it a systematic designation, he calling it, in 1776 (in inedited notes in Muller's "Zoologicae Danise Prodromus"), Phoca barbata, but the name was unac- companied by a description. He cites, however, its Icelandic and Greenlandic names "Gramselr" and "Urksuk," by which the species is still known in those countries. Four years later (in his "Fauna Grrenlandica") he fully described the Urksuk of Greenland under the name Phoca barbata, when the species became first fairly characterized. In the meantime Erxleben (in 1777) had adopted the name for a large species of Seal, under which designation he cited not only the Uksuk of Cranz, the Gramselr of Iceland, the Phoca barbata of Muller's "Pro- drornus ", and the Laktak of Kamtschatka, but also the Long- bodied Seal of Parsons, together with the various names that had been based upon these, either individually or collectively. As he arranged his references chronologically, the first names mentioned are the Long-bodied Seal of Parsons, and the Lach- tak, or "Phoca maxima", of Steller. His brief diagnosis is evidently based on Cranz's account of the Uksuk. The name barbata is usually ascribed toMiiller, 1776, in whose work it first appeared, but rigid constructionists may claim that date as untenable, since no description accompanied the name. In this case it would fall to Erxleben, 1777, who gave of it a brief technical description, and further established it by a full and correct citation of its synonymy. Almost simultaneously with the appearance of Erxleben's work the species was again indicated by Lepechin (in 1778), under the name Phoca leporina, based on the young from the 666 ERIGNATHUS BARBATUS BEARDED SEAL. i White Sea. Although he erroneously gave the incisive formula as f, and based his description and figure on the young still in the white pelage, there has been little doubt among modern writers of its identity with the Phoca barbata. For many years, however, the Phoca leporina figured in the works of compilers as a distinct species, and became thus a prominent synonym. Lesson, in 1828, renamed it Phoca lepechini, at the same time naming the Long-bodied Seal of Parsons Phoca parsonsi. In regard to its general history, it may be added that Fabri- cius, in 1 791, in his monograph of the Greenland Seals, devoted twenty pages to an account of Phoca barbata , giving a careful description of its external characters, with detailed measure- ments, and the first (and a very good) figure of its skull. He adopted for it the Danish vernacular name "Bemmssel," identi- fying with it S teller's Lacktak, the Icelandic names " Gramselur," " Grcenselr," and " Kainpselur," and the Greenlandic names " Urksuk" and " Uksuk," as well as the Phoca barbata of Miiller's a Prodromus," of Erxlebeu, of the "Fauna Grceulandica," and of Gmelin, and also Parsons's Long-bodied Seal, and the subse- quent accounts based upon it. The next original information of special importance appears to have been furnished by Tiriene- mann, who, in 1824, in his account of the Seals of Iceland, de- voted four plates to its illustration, figuring the adult female, a two-year-old male, a yearling male, and the skull. In 1831 Pallas introduced two nominal species, referable here, under the names Phoca nautica and Phoca albigena. With the former he identified the Lacktak of Steller, while he made Le- pechin's Phoca leporina a synonym of his Phoca albigena. These names have been generally referred by subsequent writers, either positively or with reservation, to Phoca barbata. Gray, in 1871, separated the Bearded Seals of the North Pacific from those of the North Atlantic as Phoca "naurica" (sic) apparently wholly on the ground of locality, and referred to this Pallas's Phoca nautica and Phoca albigena. Among the more important recent contributors to the history of the species are Malmgren, Yon Heuglin, and Collett, the la,t- ter, especially, having given a very full account of its habits and distribution on the coast of Norway. GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION. — The present species is cir- cumpolar and extremely boreal in its distribution, and appears to be migratory only as it is forced southward in winter by the GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION. 667 extension of the unbroken ice-fields. The southern limit of its range along the Atlantic coast of North America is at present indeterminable. Professor Jukes * gave it doubtfully in his list of the Seals of Newfoundland, supposing it to be the Square Flipper of sealers. Among the many examples of Seals I have had opportunity of examining from Newfoundland, however, I have never met with a specimen of the Bearded Seal. If the Square Flipper of the Newfoundland sealers be really the Bearded Seal, as seems probable, it must be, according to Car- roll, of regular occurrence in small numbers about Newfound- land. Dr. Packard! has attributed it to Labrador, where it un- doubtedly occurs, but he gives it on the hypothetical ground that "It is probably the species which is called by the sealers 'Square Flipper,' " and says that adults will "weigh 500 to 600 pounds ". Its occurrence in Labrador, however, is apparently established by Wagner, who described a specimen, " das aus Labrador herstammt^.J Although well known to visit the shores of Greenland, and to range very far north, its limit in this direction still remains undetermined. J. 0. Ross states that it approaches the shores of Boothia "only in the summer season," and that in winter it seeks " those parts of the Arctic Ocean which are seldom, if ever, frozen over for any length of time". § Dr. Eink says that it occurs only in small numbers in Greenland, and chiefly at the "northern and southern extremities of the coast." || Mr. Robert Brown's account of its distribution is as follows : "This species has been so often confounded with the Grey Seal (H. grypus) and the Saddleback (P. grwnlandicus) in different stages and coats, that it is really very difficult to arrive at anything like a true knowledge of its distribution. . . . On the coast of Danish Greenland it is principally caught in the district of Julianshaab a little time before the Klapmyds [Cystophora cris- tata]. It is not, however, confined to South Greenland, but is found at the head of Baffin's Bay and up the sounds of Lan- caster, Eclipse, &c., branching off from the latter sea. The Seals seen by the earlier navigators being nearly always referred in * Excurs. in Newfoundland, vol. i, p. 312. tProc. Boston Soc. Nat. Hist., vol. x, p. 271. t Schreber's Saugthiere, Band vii, p. 20. § Ross's 2d Voy., App., p. xxi. || Danish Greenland, etc., p. 126. 668 ERIGNATHUS BARBATUS BEARDED SEAL. their accounts to either Phoca vitulina or P. groenlandicuSj it is impossible to trace its western range ; it is, however, much rarer in the north than in the south of Davis's Strait. Accordingly the natives of the former region are obliged to buy the skin from the natives of the more south of [sic] settlements, as it is of the utmost value to them. This Seal comes with the pack- ice round Cape Farewell, and is only found on the coast in the spring. Unlike the other Seals, it has no atlukj but depends on broken places in the ice; it is generally found among loose, broken ice and breaking-up floes."* Mr. Kumlien (MS. notes) says, " This Seal was first noticed a little to the southward of Cape Chidly, and thence northward to our winter harbor, in about lat. 67° K. According to the Eski- mo, they are the most common about Cape Mercy, Nugumeute, and the southern Cumberland waters, where they remain all the year, if there is open water. They remain in Cumberland Sound only during the time when there is open water, as they have no atluk. On the west coast of Davis Straits they are not rare, but are said by whalemen to diminish in numbers above lat. 75° K. They appear to be more common on the southern shores of the west coast of Davis Straits than on the northern, so that the natives go southward some distance to secure the skins. We noticed them among the pack-ice in Davis Straits in July and August. . . In Cumberland Sound they begin working north- ward as fast as the floe edge of the ice breaks up, arriving in the vicinity of Annanactook about the latter days of June. In autumn they move southward as fast as the ice makes across the sound, always keeping in open water. They are seldom found in the smaller fjords or bays, but delight in wide expanses of water." Bespecting its southern limit on the coast of Europe, there appears to be no unquestionable record of its capture south of the "North Sea", which locality is given by Gray for various specimens in the British Museum. It was for many years sup- posed to inhabit the Western Islands of Scotland, and to have occurred at other localities in the British Islands, but on further investigation the species proved to be the Gray Seal. It is consequently omitted from the second edition of BelFs "His- tory of British Quadrupeds ". Dr. Gray, writing in 1872, said, " I have never seen a specimen from the coast of Great Britain; * Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., 1868, p. 424; Man. Nat. Hist., Geol., etc., Green- land, 1875, Mam., p. 54. GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION. 669 probably Halichcerus grypus was the species taken for it." * Its occurrence in Iceland is well attested, and, according to Eobert Collett, it is found in small numbers along all the rocky coasts of Norway, from the fjords of Finmark down to latitude 62°, t where it occurs all the year. He believes it to have been for- merly much more numerous there than it is now. Malmgren also gives it as a rare visitor to the coast of Finmark, and as oc- curring only late in autumn or winter. He records the capture of one taken near Tromso about the end of October in 1861. It is stated to be rare about Jan Mayen, J but of frequent occur- rence along the ice-fringed shores of West Spitzbergen, where, according to von Heuglin, it is found from July to September, while Malmgren believes it may winter there. Payer gives it as abundant at Franz- Josef Land, where this and the Harp Seal were the only species observed. § It has been frequently re- ported as occurring along the Arctic coast of Europe and Asia. Von Middendorff believes it is this species that the Samoedes have reported as so abundant at the mouth of the Taimyr Eiver, and as found on the Taimyr Sea. It doubtless not only occurs along the Chatanga to Chatangskij Pogost, but prooably reaches the mouth of the Chata.|| In respect to its distribution in the North Pacific, Temminck states that its skins are carried to Japan as. an article of com- merce, and that he has seen an incomplete one brought from that country by Siebold.fl He does not state, however, that it inhabits the Japan coast, as some authors have apparently im- plied. Wagner says, " Das Leidner Museum besitzt Felle von Sitka, aber nicht von Japan." ** It has not been reported, how- ever, as found at the £ur Seal or Prybilow Islands. There are several specimens in the National Museum collected at Plover Bay, on the Siberian side of Behring's Straits. Yon Schrenck states, on the authority of the natives, that it is common on the southern shore of the Ochots Sea, in the G ulf of Tartary, in the "Amur-Limane," and even in the Amoor River, but adds that the old animals only come into the mouth of the river, while the younger ones go somewhat higher up. * Zoologist, 2d ser., vol. vii, p. 3336. tBemserkninger til Norges Pattedyrfauna, 1876, p. 58. \ German Arctic Expedition, 1869-70, p. 62. $ New Lands within the Arctic Circle, 1877, p. 266. || See von Heuglin, Reisen nach dem Nordpolarmeer, etc., p. 58. 1f Fauna Japonica, Mam. Marins, p. 2. ** Schreber's Saugthiere, vii, p. 21. 670 ERIGNATHUS BARBATUS BEARDED SEAL. He often saw its skins in Ainoor Land, and says they are an article of traffic among the natives as far south as Saghalien Island. But he appears to have seen only the skins in the hands of the natives, and to give its distribution wholly on their testimony. If the limits here assigned, and the locality of Sitka, given by Wagner, be correct, it extends much farther south, along the shores of the North Pacific, than it does on the coast of Europe, but in each case its habitat is bounded by about the same isotherm. HABITS, PRODUCTS, AND HUNTING. — This large Seal, the largest Phocid of the northern seas, appears to be nowhere abundant, and is usually described as rather solitary, avoiding the company of other species, and as never occurring in lar"ge herds like the Harp Seal. Of ifcs habits, as observed on the Atlantic coast of North America, little has been recorded. If the " Square Flipper" Seal of the Newfoundland sealers be this species, of which Mr. Carroll has given some account, it is of not unfrequent occurrence off the shores of that island. From the indications Mr. Carroll gives of its size, the form of* the hind nippers (from which it appears to derive its local name), as well as the statement that it has four inammse, seems to indi- cate that it can be no other than the present species. As, how- ever, the Gray Seal nearly approaches it in size, and is not enumerated by Mr. Carroll nor Professor Jukes, and apparently is not distinguished by the sealers (although it unquestionably occurs in Newfoundland, as attested by specimens from there in the National Museum), it seems questionable whether the Gray and Bearded Seals are not confounded under the name " Square Flipper ". Since Mr. Carroll's account, however, cor- responds in general points so well with the Bearded Seal, I venture to give it provisionally as a part of the history of the species. His account in substance is as follows : The Square Flippers are the largest Seals that are killed on the coast of Newfoundland. They never congregate with any other Seals, and are very scarce, not more than one hundred being taken each sealing voyage throughout the island. Persons who live along the northern bays, and " follow the gun" during the winter and spring, kill a few of them. Many are seen in the Straits of Belleisle, as well as about Saint Paul's Island, in the Gulf of Saint Lawrence. They have their young on the ice about the 20th of March* They are called Square Flippers because the nippers HABITS, PRODUCTS, AND HUNTING. 671 are "square at the top [tip?], thus differing from all [other] species of Seal taken on the coast of Newfoundland." They are very quiet and very fond of their young of which they have never more than one at a time. If seen on the ice they are sure to be killed. The skin and fat of a male Square Flipper, when prime, will weigh " from 7 to 10 cwt.". When in full flesh his weight varies " from 13 to 15 cwt "; the skin and fat of the female when prime, weighs " from 4 to 5 cwt. " ; the skin and fat of a young square flipper, when sixteen days old, will weigh from 160 to 170 pounds. "The skin of the male and female square flipper is of a cream color, the female has four teats (no other seal known in Newfoundland has more than two). All seals [sic] teats protrude about one inch outside the skin whilst the young is sucking, after which they are drawn in, so as to prevent injury whilst the old seal is crawling on ice or rocks. The oil rendered out of square flippers [sic] fat, old and young, when prime, is considered as pure as the best young Harp oil. Length of an old square flipper, from head to tail, 11 to 12 feet."* Mr. Kumlien gives the following quite full account of its habits, as observed by him in Cumberland Gulf: " The Ogjook, as this Seal is termed by the Cumberland Es- kimo, delights in basking upon pieces of floating ice, and gen- erally keeps well out at sea. I have never seen any numbers together, but almost always singly. The old males do not seem to agree well, and often have severe battles on the ice-floes when they meet. They use the fore flippers, instead of the teeth, in fighting. . . . "This seal has the habit of turning a summersault when about to dive, especially when fired at; this peculiarity, which is not shared by any other species that I have seen, is a charac- teristic by which it may be distinguished at a considerable distance. During May and June they crawl out upon an ice- floe to bask and sleep; at such times they are easily approached by the Eskimo in their kyacks and killed. . . . They dive to great depths after their food, which is almost entirely Crus- tacea and mollusks, including clams of considerable size. . . . In July, during the moulting time, their stomachs contained nothing but stones, some of them nearly of a quarter-pound weight. They seem to eat nothing during the entire time of shedding — probably six weeks. Certain it is they lose all their * The Seal and Herring Fisheries of Newfoundland, together with a con- densed History of the Island, 1873, pp. 12, 13. 672 ERIGNATHUS BARBATUS BEARDED SEAL. blubber, and by the middle of July have nothing but i white- horse ?, — a tough, white, somewhat cartilaginous substance, — in place of blubber. At this season they sink when shot. . . . The young are born upon pieces of floating ice, without any covering of snow. The season of procreation is during the fore part of May. After the young have shed their first woolly coat (which they do in a few days), they have a very beautiful steel-blue hair, but generally so clouded over with irregularly dispersed patches of white that its beauty is spoiled. . . . "The Ogjook is of great value to the Eskimo, who prize the skins very highly. All their harnesses, sealing lines, etc., are made from the raw skins ; besides this, they make the soles of their boots, and sometimes other portions of their dress, from the skin. In such localities as the whalemen do not visit, and the natives are obliged to construct skin boats, this seal is in great demand. It takes fifteen skins for an ominak or skin boat, and these skins require renewing very often. The skin of the back and belly dries unevenly, so the Eskimo skin the animal along both sides and dry the skin of the upper and lower parts separately. "It is a prevalent belief among the whalemen that the livers of Seals, and more especially those of this species, are poison- ous; but I am inclined to rate this as imaginative; we ate the livers of all the species we procured without any bad effects." * The Bearded Seal appears to be a well-known inhabitant of the coast of Norway and of the Arctic islands north of Europe. Collett gives it as occurring in comparatively small numbers along the Norwegian coast, from the fjords of Finmark south- ward to latitude 62°, throughout which range it appears to be resident the whole year. They make short journeys to the fish- ing-grounds, a few miles off the coast, but for the most part are found constantly at nearly the same localities. They have, however, their favorite breeding resorts, at which they assem- ble during the breeding season from a considerable area, dis- persing again when the breeding time is over. One of these breeding-places, and believed to be the most southern one on the Norwegian coast, is at the northwesternmost of the islets of the Froyen group, off Trondhjem Fjord, to which it is sup- posed that nearly all of the individuals found south of latitude 64° resort in the breeding season. Mr. Collett states that the * Copied from Mr. Kumlien's MS. notes, with slight verbal changes ; since published in Bull. U. S. Nat. Mus. , No. 15, pp. 61-63. HABITS, PRODUCTS, AND HUNTING 673 species is strictly polygamous, the strongest males driving away the younger ; yet the number of the females appears to be not much greater than that of the males. He states that one remarkable difference between the individuals found at the southern breeding stations and those living farther north is the different season at which the young are born. He says this occurs in Norway in autumn. The Seals begin to gather at the chosen breeding-place about the middle of September, and, as a rule, the first young are born about the end of that month.* Pairing takes place in the water very soon after the birth of the young, and before the old Seals depart from the breeding- places, which latter event occurs about the end of October. About half of them, however, remain near the outer rocks during winter.f According to von Heuglin, the female gives birth to her single offspring in February or March, but Malmgren states that he took a ripe foetus from the mother as late as the 31st of May, and Kumlien says the young are born early in May. Fa- bricius says late in April or early in May. Carroll, as already noted, says the young are born late in March. As will be noticed later, the exceptional record of an autumnal breeding season for this species given by Collett, on the authority of a correspondent, suggests the possibility that the species really observed was Halichcerus grypus or the Gray Seal.f The earlier breeding-time given by Carroll, for Newfoundland, may be due to the locality being so far south. According to Malmgren, they do not frequent open water. As long as the inlets and bays are closed with ice it keeps near openings in the ice, through which it ascends to the surface to rest, but when the fast ice breaks up it keeps among the float- ing ice near the coast. It does not, however, follow the ice far out to sea, but leaves it and seeks such shores as are skirted with drifting ice. On the coast of Spitzbergen it is rarely met with in summer, owing to the absence of ice, but as soon as the ice again arrives, either from the south or the north, they ap- pear in the bays in great numbers. In Northeast Land, where the inlets are covered with ice till late in August, and where, not far from the land, are many ice-floes, they are common the whole summer. He states that during his stay in Hiulopen * See next paragraph and infra, p. 706. t Bemserkninger til Norges Pattedyrfauna, pp. 58-60. t See infra, p. 706. Misc.' Pub. No. 12 43 674 ERIGNATHUS BARBATUS— BEARDED SEAL. Straits some Walrus-hunters shot about sixty of them in the course of two or three days about the beginning of August, and that his harpooners often killed them.* Von Heuglin also refers to its partiality for the neighborhood of ice, and says that on the coast of West Spitzbergen he saw it only in the vi- cinity of the glaciers that reach the sea. Among the Thousand Islands and in the Stor-Fjord he found it very common, but always singly or in small companies, lie states, on the author- ity of Sporer, that in Nova Zembla it rarely appears on the northern shore of the islands, but commonly visits South Island. He says that, although he saw it there only rarely, it must be sometimes very numerous, as in the course of three days as many as three hundred have been taken by the use of three nets.t Malmgren states that the Bearded Seal is easily killed when it is in the sea, as it is then not shy, but often comes so stupidly and eagerly about the boat as to be very easily shot. When lying on the ice he describes it as extremely watchful, so that it is impossible to shoot it without using a shooting- screen, such as the Greenlanders employ. f Mr. Kuinlieu, however, states that during May and June, when they crawl out upon an ice- floe to bask and sleep, they are easily approached by the Esquimaux of Cumberland Sound in their kyacks and killed. It is reported to subsist chiefly upon large mollusks and crus- taceans. Malmgren records that in the stomachs of all he ex- amined he found large species of Crangon and Hippolyte ( C. boreas, Sabinea septemcarinata, Hippolyte polaris, H. sowerbyi, and H. borealis), and Anonyx ampulla in abundance; occasion- ally small fishes (Cottus tricmpis, Eeinh.), and many hundreds of the opercula of species of Buccinum and Natica clausa, 'as well as shells of a large Lamellaria.§ All writers, from the time of Oranz to the latest observers, testify to its importance to the Esquimaux and other native tribes of the shores it frequents. Its flesh or blubber is said to be more delicate in taste than that of any other species, and to be esteemed as a luxury. Its chief value, however, consists in its skin, which, from its great thickness, is, according to Dr. Eink, "the only one considered fit for making the hunting lines of the kayakers." Yon Schrenck speaks of its being used by the na- * Arch, fur Naturg., 1864, pp. 74-75. t Reisen nach dem Nordpolarmeer in dem Jahren 1870 und 1871, p. 57. t Arch, fur Naturg., 1864, p. 77. § Ibid., p. 75. GENUS HISTRIOPHOCA. 675 tives of Auioor Land and Saghalien Island for the same pur- poses as Mr. Kumlien notes in respect to the Esquimaux of Cumberland Sound. Owing- to its scarcity it has no great com- mercial importance, though sometimes taken by the sealers of the Spitzbergen sealing-grounds. Rink states that the whole annual catch of this species in Greenland hardly amounts to 1,000. GENUS HISTRIOPHOCA, Gill Histrioplioca, GILL, Am. Nat., vii, 1873, 179. (Type, " Phoca fasdata, Shaw, or P. equestris, Pallas.'7) Cranial characters unknown. Incisors, fff ; C., ^j M., |f|. Incisors conical, cylindrical, directed slightly backward. Mo- lars, except the first, 2-rooted, placed somewhat apart, with simple crowns directed backward. Sexual differences in color strongly marked. Males, dark brown, varied with narrow bands of white. Females, light brown, with the white bands obsolete. According to von Schrenck, on whose authority the above characters are given , the molar teeth, except the first, are 2-rooted, as in Phoca and Erignathus, but the crowns resemble those of the corresponding teeth in Haliclicerus, being simple and slightly curved backward. The middle molars (third and fourth) and sometimes the others, both above and below, show a minute point or accessory cusp at the base of the principal one, both in front of it and behind it, but this is a variable feature, not only as respects the number of teeth thus furnished, but in some specimens these minute accessory cusps may be wholly lacking. As the characters of the skull have not been as yet either figured or described, further comparison with other gen- eric types becomes impracticable. The genus Histriophoca was proposed for the present species by Dr. Gill in 1873, but has not been fully characterized. Dr. Gill's diagnosis is as follows: "The structural (and especially dental) characters of this species, according to Von Schrenck, indicate a generic distinction from all the familiar forms of the subfamily Phocincv. The molars, except the first, are two-rooted, as in the typical Phocincc, but in external form are simply conic, or have rudimentary cusps, thus resembling Haliclicerm. This genus may be called Histriophoca." Taking into account the peculiar pattern of coloration, ar.d the conic, double-rooted 676 HISTRIOPHOCA FASC1ATA RIBBON SEAL. molars, we seem to have a type generically distinct from the ordinary Phocce, and in accordance with this view the genus Histriophoca is here provisionally adopted for the Phoca fasciata of the early systematic writers. HISTKIOPHOCA FASCIATA (Zimm.), Gill. Ribbon Seal. Rubbon Seal, PENNANT, Hist. Quad., 1st ed., 1781, ii, 523; 3d ed., ii, 1793, 276, fig. p. 265. Phoca fasciata, ZIMMERMANN, Geogr. Gesch., iii, 1783, 277 (="Rubbon Seal," Pennant).— KERR, An. King., 1792, 127 (the same).— SJHAW, Gen. Zool., i, 1800, 257 ( = "Rubbon Seal," Pennant). Phoca (Otaria?) fasciata, RICHARDSON, Zool. Beechey's Voyage, 1880, 6 ( = "Ribbon Seal of Pennant, Arct. Zool., ii, 165"). Phoca equestris, PALLAS, Zoog. Rosso-Asiat., i, 1831, 111. — VON SCHRENCK, Ainnr-Lande, i, 1859, 182, pi. ix, fig. 1-3 (animal). Histriophoca [fasciata], GILL, Amer. Nat., vii, 1873, 179. Histriophoca fasciata, SCAMMON, Marine Mam., 1874, 140, pi. xxii, fig. 1, 2 (animal, from von Schrenck). Pagophilus t equestris, GRAY, Suppl. Cat. Seals and Whales, 1871, 2 (in part ; includes Phoca annellata, Radde!). Rubbon Seal, PENNANT, 1. c. Ribbon Seal of Alaska, GILL, 1. c. EXTERNAL CHARACTERS. — Adult male. General color, dark brown. A narrow yellowish-white band surrounds the neck extending forward to the middle of the head above ; another broader yellowish-white band encircles the hinder portion of the body, from which a branch runs forward on each side to the shoulder, the two branches becoming confluent on the median line of the body below, but widely separated above. In other words, the (1) front part of the head, the (2) hind limbs, and the posterior fourth of the body, the (3) top of the neck and the whole anterior half of the back, as well as (4) the fore- limbs and a considerable area at their point of insertion, are dark brown ; these four regions being separated by bands of yellowish-white, of variable breadth over different regions of the body. The brown of the anterior part of the dorsal region also extends laterally in the form of a narrow band arobnd the lower part of the neck, where it expands to form a small shield- like spot on the breast. There are also very small spots of brown on the posterior part of the abdominal region. Adult female. — Uniform pale grayish-yellow or grayish-brown, with the exception of an obscure narrow transverse whitish EXTERNAL CHARACTERS. 677 band across the lower portion of the back. The extremities and the back are darker, with a faint indication of the dark " saddle "-mark seen in the male. Joung. — The young of both sexes are said to resemble the adult female. Yon Schrenck's detailed description, on which tke foregoing is mainly based, is substantially as follows : The dark-brown of the head, in the male, is followed by a broad dusky yellowish - gray neck-band, which on the middle line, both above and below, passes forward, but on the sides has the convexity pointing backward. Behind this light neck-band is a broad, long saddle-shaped patch upon the back, which, on the middle line, runs forward in a point, but which extends itself laterally in two narrow bands meeting and expanding on the breast into a pointed spot ; posteriorly the dark dorsal patch is also pro- longed backward and laterally, but without meeting below. Along the sides of this dorsal area runs a broad, curved, light, soiled yellowish-gray band, with the convexity upward ; these lateral light bands become deflected downward, both anteriorly and posteriorly, and form, by their union, a light band along the belly. Within these light bands anteriorly, on each side, is a large oval dark-brown spot, in which are inserted the an- terior extremities. The light ventral area encloses posteriorly two small oval dark-brown spots, and in front of these a third narrower and larger. Behind the dark area on the back is a very broad dorsal cross-band of light yellowish-gray, joining the light bands on the side of the body. Behind this light cross-band the whole posterior part of the body, as well as on the tail and hind limbs, is blackish-brown. As a rule the above-described dark and light color areas are very sharply defined. Sometimes, however, there extends from the dark areas a smaller spot more or less isolated. According to the same writer the color varies considerably in different individ- uals, one of those he describes having the dark color of a dark grayish-black, and the light markings whitish or straw-yellow. He also states that in the figures given by Siemaschko the light neck-band is deflected backward from the back of the neck to the fore-limbs, leaving the whole breast of the «ame dark-brown color as the head. Besides this the dark-brown color of the back extends, both posteriorly and anteriorly, to the lower sides of the body, occupying the whole of the ventral surface, with the exception of two light bands which run cross- 678 HISTRIOPHOCA FASCIATA RIBBON SEAL. wise around the base of the anterior extremities, and a separa/te light band that crosses the hinder part of the body. In con- sequence of the wide departure of the pattern of coloration in Siemaschko's figure from his own examples, von Schrenck is left in doubt as to whether the figure is really a true copy from nature. The single specimen I have examined (Nat. Mus. No. 9311, Cape Romanzoff, W. H. Dall), a flat skin, lacking the flippers and the facial portion, agrees with von Schrenck's figure in respect to the form and size of the neck-band, but there is a far greater preponderance of light color, which occupies rather more than half the entire surface. Only the posterior sixth of the body is black, and the dark area of the back is very much more re- stricted, and diiters somewhat in outline. In this specimen the breadth of the dark dorsal portion occupies scarcely more than one-third of the whole width of the skin, the light portion on either side nearly equalling it in breadth. It widens over the neck and sends down a lateral branch on each side, the two meeting on the breast. It is contracted over the shoulders, behind which it again expands, and at its posterior border sends down a very narrow branch from the right side to the middle of the belly ; its fellow on the opposite side is nearly obsolete, forming merely a broken chain- of small dusky spots. There is hence in this example a wide departure from the speci- mens described by von Schrenck, while the want of symmetry in the two posterior branches of the dorsal spot, and the rela- tively nearly equal amount of light and dark color, lead one to apprehend a much wider range of individual variation in coloration than von Schrenck apparently suspected, and that after all Siemaschko's figure merely represents a variation in the opposite direction from that here indicated, or an unusual extension of the dark color at the expense of the lighter mark- ings. SIZE. — Yon Schrenck states that this animal is reported to sometimes attain the length of 6J feet. He gives the length of a full-grown male as 5 feet 6J inches (1683 mm.), and that of a full-grown female as 5 feet 3 inches (1GOO mm.), based on Wosnes- sen ski's specimens obtained in Kamtschatka, which his hunters informed him were not of the largest size. In other words, it appears to be a Seal of the medium size, or about as large as Phoca groenlandica. GENERAL HISTORY. 679 GENERAL HISTORY.— The first account of the present species was published by Pennant, under the name "Bubbon Seal," in the first quarto edition of his "History of Quadrupeds," in 1781 (vol. ii, p. 523). His short description, based wholly on infor- mation and a drawing furnished by Dr. Pallas, is as follows : " Seal with very short fine glossy bristly hair, of an uniform color, almost black ; marked along the sides, and towards the head and tail, with a stripe of a pale yellow color, exactly resembling a rubbon laid on it by art ; words cannot sufficiently convey the idea, the form is therefore engraven on tjje title of Division III, Pinnated Quadrupeds^ from a drawing communi- cated to me by Doctor Pallas, who receivecl it from one of the remotest Kuril islands. "Its size is unknown, for Doctor Pallas received only the middle part, which had been cut out of a large skin, so that no description can be given of head, feet, or tail 5 a shews the part supposed to be next to the head ; b that to the tail." * In Pennant's Arctic Zoology (vol. i, 1793, p. 193) there is a shorter but in some respects a more detailed and better account,1 which I also transcribe. " Bubbon Seal. With very short bristly hair, of an uniform glossy color, almost black : the whole back and sides comprehended within a narrow regular stripe of pale yellow. " It is to Dr. Pallas I owe the knowledge of this species. He received only part of the skin, which seemed to have been the back and sides. The length was four feet, the breadth two feet three; so it must have belonged to a large species. It was taken off the Kuril islands." The markings as represented in Pennant's figure correspond well with those of the animal figured by von Schrenck (pres- ently to be noticed), except that the posterior transverse por- tion of the band is relatively narrower than in von Schrenck's specimen. In 1783 Pennant's Bubbon Seal was named Phoca fasciata by Zimmermann.t Shaw, without referring to Zimmerniann, and probably without knowing that he had named the species, bestowed upon it the same name seventeen years later, J and to him the name has been almost universally attributed. The accounts of both these authors were based entirely upon the description given by Pennant, as above quoted, and no further * Here quoted from the third ed. of Hist. Quad., vol. ii, 1793, p. 277. t Geograph. Geschict., iii, 277. tGen. Zool., vol. i, 1800, p. 257. 680 HISTRIOPHOCA FASCIATA RIBBON SEAL. information respecting the species appeared till Pallas in 1831 * redescribed the species from the original fragment mentioned by Pennant, and renamed it Phoca equestris. In the meantime the species had been uniformly relegated by authors to the list of doubtful or inadequately described species. Pallas cites Pennant's Eubbon Seal as a synonym of his Phoca equestris, and also refers in his description of ic to Pennant's figure, but to neither Zimmermann nor Shaw. He says it is rare in the Ochots Sea, but is reported to be of frequent occurrence around the Kurile Islands. His description t adds little of importance to the information given by Pennant, and apparently relates to the same specimen. According to von Schrenck, Hrn. Wosnessenski obtained, during his residence in Kamtschatka, the first perfect speci- mens, embracing the old and young of both sexes, thereby es- tablishing beyond doubt the validity of the species; but this valuable material remained undescribed until the appearance of von Schrenck's 'work on the Mammals of Amoor Land, in 1859.J Von Schrenck himself was so fortunate as to also ob- tain skins of this animal during his journey in Amoor Land, and to him we are indebted for the first detailed description of the species, accompanied by excellent colored figures of both sexes.§ He, however, adopted Pallas's name Phoca equestris in preference to the very appropriate name given half a century before by Zimmermann, and somewhat later also by Shaw, for wholly arbitrary reasons. || *Zoogr. Rosso- Asiat., vol. i, 1831, p. 111. t His description ill full is as follows : u Magnitudine praecedeiites aequasse vel excessisse videbatur [hence about five feet four inches long from the nose to the tail, or rather more], pellis enim portio e solo clorso exsecta quatuor fere dodrantum latitudinem et sex ad septem dodrantum longitudi- nem habebat. Color totius brunneus, seu fuscus, cum brtmnei tinctura, uniformis. Pili breves, laevigati, rigidi ut in Ph. canina (=Phoca vitulina). Insula lata alba, ut amiciss. Pennant delineavit, antice angulo versus cervicern coe'uns, per latera introrsnm arcuata, posticc transversa trabe connexa, totum dorsi discum includit. — Optandum, ut haec singularis species perfectius innotescat." t Von Schrenck alludes to a very brief and unimportant reference to the species by Siemaschko, in a work published in the Russian language in 1851. § Reisen und Forschungen in Ainur-Lande, i, 1859, pp. 182-188, pi. ix. || He appears not to have known of Zimmermann's reference to the spe- cies, but speaks of Shaw's name as "eine Bezeichnung, die jedoch gegen- wartig gegen den uhrspriinglichen, vom Entdecker selbst stanamenden und nur durch das verzogerte Erscheinen der Zoographia Rosso-Asiatica spiiter bekannt gewordenen Namen Ph. equcslris zuriicktreten muss." — L. c., p. 182. GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION. 681 As von Sckrenck figured only the external characters, we have still to regret the absence of illustrations of the skull and dentition. Gray, in 1866,* referred, without question, Shaw's Phoca fas- data to Phoca fcetida, and also, doubtfully, the Phoca equestris of both Pallas and von Schrenck— a rather strange proceed- ing, in view of von Schrenck's excellent description of the species and striking figure. In 1871, t however, he raised it to the rank of a species, under the name "Pagophilusl equesiris", referring to it, however, Eadde's Phoca annellata, an entirely different animal. The next reference to the species I am able to find is Dr. Gill's account,^ already cited, in which he mentions two skins in the collection of the Smithsonian Institution, collected by -Mr. Ball at Cape Eomanzoff, cites von Schrenck's account of its dental and other characters, and proposes for it the generic name Histriophoca. Captain Scammon's account of the species, § published in 1874, completes, so far as known to me, the written history of the species. Captain Scammon gives a figure of the animal, apparently copied from von Schrenck's. « GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION. — According to Pallas, the present species occurs around the Kurile Islands and in the Ochots Sea. Von Schrenck states that Hr. Wosnessenski ob- tained specimens that were killed on the eastern coast of Kamtschatka, and that he himself saw skins of examples killed on the southern coast of the Ochots Sea, where, however, the species seems to be of rare occurrence. He further states that it occurs also in the Gulf of Tartary, between the island of Saghalien and the mainland, but apparently not to the south- ward of that island, the southern point of which (in latitude 46° N.) he believes to be the southern limit of its distribution. Mr. Ball secured speci mens taken at Cape Eomanzoff. Capta i 1 1 Scammon states, "It is found upon the coast of Alaska, bor- dering on Behring Sea, and the natives of Ounalaska recog- nize it as an occasional visitor to the Aleutian Islands The Eussian traders, who formerly visited Cape Eomanzoff, *Cat. Seals and Whales, p. 23. tSuppl. Cat. Seals and Whales, p. 2. JAmer. Nat., vol. vii, 1873, pp. 178, 179. $ Marine Mam., 1874, p. 140, pi. xxi. 682 GENUS HALICHCEKUS. from St. Michael's, Norton Sound, frequently brought back the skins of the male Histriophoca, which were used for covering trunks and for other ornamental purposes." This writer also states that he "observed a herd of Seals upon the beaches at Point Reyes, California," in April, 1852, which, " without close examination, answered to the description given by Gill " of the present species. Probably, however, a " close examination" would have shown them to be different, as no examples are yet known from the California!! coast, and the locality is far beyond the probable limits of its habitat. Its known range may, therefore, be given as Behring's Sea southward — on the Amer- ican coast to the Aleutian Islands, and on the Asiatic coast to the island of Saghalien. HABITS. — Almost nothing appears to have been as yet recorded respecting the habits of the Eibbon Seal. Yon Schrenck gives us no information of importance, and we search equally in vain for information elsewhere. All of the four specimens obtained by Wosnessenski were taken on the eastern coast of Kamtschatka, at the mouth of the Kamt- schatka Eiver, about the end of March. According to the re- ports of hunters, it very rarely appears at this locality so early in the season, being not often met with there before the early part of May. The natives use its skins, in common with those of other species, for covering their snow-shoes. GENUS HALICHCBEUS, Nilsson. Halichcerus, NILSSON, -"Faun. Skand., i, 1820, 377." Type, Halicliccrus griseus, ~Nilsson = Phoca grypus, Fabricius. Pma, GILL (ex " Scopoli, 1777"), Johnson's New Univ. Cycl., iii, 1877, 1226 (not Pusa, Scopoli, which was based on Phoca foetida). Dental formula as in Phoca. Molars conical, as broad as long, with very small accessory cusps when young, all single-rooted, except the last lower and two last upper ones. Facial portion of the skull greatly developed, forming nearly half the length of the skull, and very broad — broader at the base of the zygo- matic process of the maxillary than the brain-case. Interorbital bridge thick, high 5 orbital fossa3 large ; brain-case very small, forming less than one-third of the length of the skull, instead of nearly one-half, as in Plioca, Erignaihus, Cystopliora, etc. Strongly developed sagittal and occipital crests in old age in the males. THE " GENUS PUSA" OF SCOPOLI. 683 Halichcerus forms (except possibly Monachus) the most strongly marked generic type among the Phocince, and in view of the striking peculiarities of the skull it is not surprising that Dr. J. E. Gray should have allotted it a subfamily (or "tribal") rank,* but why he should have associated it with the Walrusses seems hard to conceive. While the dental formula is the same as in the other genera of Phocince, the teeth depart widely in their simple conical cylindrical form from what is met with in the other genera, as well as in being mostly single-rooted. The proportions of the skull are almost the reverse of what is met with in the other genera. The preorbital portion forms nearly half the length of the skull, and has a proportionally remarkable breadth, the width of the skull at the base of the zygomatic process of the maxillary considerably exceeding the greatest width of the brain-case, instead of being only about half as wide, as is the case in PJioca. The brain-case is disproportionately small, be- ing scarcely longer than in Plioca grcenlandica or P. vitulina, although the total length of the skull is one-third greater, while the breadth of the brain-case is actually less ! The opening of the anterior nares is simply immense, in comparison with any other representative of the subfamily Pliocince, being even larger than in Cystopliora. The interorbital region, correlatively with the nasal passages, is also greatly thickened. In old age, at least in the males, the sagittal crest is greatly developed (15 mm. high in a specimen before me), as are also the occipital ridges. The postorbital region thus strikingly recalls the highly devel- oped crests of the Otaries. In respect to the general skeleton I am unable to speak, my material being limited to two skulls and a few skins. GENERAL HISTORY AND DISCUSSION OF THE "GENUS PUSA" OF SCOPOLI. — The genus Halichcerus, distinguished by Mlssou in 1820, has been until recently without a synonym. In 1877, however, Dr. .Gill revived the name Pusa t of Scopoli, *Suppl. Cat. Seals and Whales, 1871, p. 3. t Concerning the etymology, signification, and early use of this singular word the following may be of interest. According to Houttuyn (Natuur- lyke Historic, etc., Deel i, Stuk ii, 1761, p. 15) and MUller (Natursystem, Theil i, 1773, p. 199) Pusa is simply the Greenlaudic word for Seal. The first use of the word by European authors seems to have been by Anderson (17 •!(>), and soon after by Cranz, who, however, spelled it Pua, and gavt- ir as the Greenlandic equivalent of the Latin Phoca (Historic von Graul., 684 GENUS HALICHCERUS. 1777,* supposing it to have been based on the Phoca yrypus of Fabricius. Dr. Gill does not appear to have anywhere given reasons for this interpretation. In Johnson's " Cyclopedia," as above cited, he simply calls the Gray Seal u Pusa (Halichcerus) grypus ", which is doubtless to be interpreted as Pusa ( = Hali- chcerns) grypus. Dr. Coues, however, has had occasion to con- sider Pusa in relation to its use by Okeu, in 1816, as a generic designation for the Sea Otter. In referring to this point Dr. Coues observes: "Pusa had, however, already been used by another writer in connection with a genus of Seals now commonly known as Halicliwrus, but in such a peculiar way as to raise one of those technical questions of synonymy which authors interpret differently, in absence of fixed rule. Scopoli based his Pusa upon a figure of Salomon [lege Philipp Ludwig Statius] Miiller's, recognizable with certainty as Halichcerus, and gave characters utterly irreconcilable with those of this animal. This is the whole case. Now it may be argued that there being no such animal whatever as Scopoli says his Pwsa was, his name drops out of the system, and Pusa of Okeu, virtually an* en- tirely new term, is tenable for something else, namely, for the Sea Otter. On the other hand, ScopolFs quotations show ex- 1765, p. 161). The same form of the word is used by Schreber (Siiugth., Theil in, p. 285). Erxleben (Syst. Reg. Airim., 1777, p. 586) gives Purse and Kassigidk as the Greenlandic names of Plioca vitulina. Fabricius, iu 1790 (Skrivter af Naturhistorie-Selskabet, Bd. i, Hefte 1, 1790, p. 90 and foot- note 30), gives Puirse in his text as one of the Greenlandic names of the Harp Seal, and in a footnote gives a further account of the word. He says : Pua, as written by Cranz, and after him by Schreber, is erroneous, this word meaning a lung. But Puse, or Puese, as Professor Glahn (Anmjcr- kninger til Cranzes Hist., p. 150) corrected it, is not wholly right. Like- wise incorrect is Anderson's Pusa in his " Efterr. orn Strat-Davis, § LV ". It is from here that Scopoli learned the name Pusa as he has used it for his supposed new genus of animals, which, however, is nothing more than a species of Seal (see Beschiift. Berl. Ges. Naturs., IV, B., p. 464). It thus appears that the name Pusa, with its various orthographic forms, was originally simply a generic term for Seals in general, the Greenlaudic equivalent of the Latin Phoca, the English Seal, etc. In view of this is it improbable that the pigeon-term "Pussy " said to be commonly employed by the northern sailors and sealers of various nationalities for young Seals in the white coat, may not be a corruption of the Greenlandic P-waa? * See Johnson's New Universal Cyclopedia, vol. iii, 1877, p. 1226. He also employed the name in the same sense in 1876 in his anonymous "List of the Principal Useful or Injurious Mammals" of North America. For an account of the last-named publication see antea, p. 22. THE " GENUS PUSA" OF SCOPOLI. 685 actly wliat he meant, in spite of his inept diagnosis; his name Pusa therefore holds, and cannot be subsequently used by Oken in a different connection." * An examination of the case, however, shows that Miiller's plate is not "recognizable with certainty" as that of any par- ticular species of Seal. Scopoli's diagnosis is simply an ab- surdity, as the subjoined transcript t sufficiently shows, his reference to M tiller's description and plate affording the only real basis for his genus Pusa. As already stated, the figure cannot be positively referred to any particular species of Seal. The description given by Miiller { records few characters that are not applicable to any species of Earless Seal. Those which are not thus applicable appear to relate to Phoca grypus, Fa- bricius, and I so at first interpreted the description, but later I found it necessary to go further back in the history of the sub- ject. The plates of Miiller's work, so far as the mammals are concerned, prove on collation to be very close copies of those given by Houttuyn (with the exception of three that appear to be here for the first time published) twelve years earlier, if, in- deed, some of them were not actually printed from the same etchings. Miiller says (1. c., p. 201), " Der Professor Albinus in Leiden zergliederte den 24. Februar, 1748. in Gegenwart des Herrn Houttuyns einen Seehund, welcher Tab. XI. fig. 6. ab- * Fur-bearing Animals, 1877, p. 337. t " PVSA. Scop. Pedes antici nnguiculati, postici connati in pinnam sex- lobain, ad quorum originein superne exit pinna lanceolata, horizontalis. Dentes incisores quattior, canini supra sex, infra quatuor. Auricula? nul- IJB. Pili breves. " Descriptioneni & iconem dedit Cl. Mi)LLERVS S. N. Tom. I. Tab. XL fig. 6." — Introdvctio ad Bistoriam Natvralem sislens Gentra Lapidcm, Plantar? in, H Animalivm hactenvs detecta," etc., 1777, p. 490, genus 433. For this tran- script I am indebted to Dr. Edward J. Nolan, secretary of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, the library of this Academy containing the only copy of the work known to me as existing in this country. (Since the above was written a copy of Scopoli's above-named work has been re- ceived at the library of Harvard College. ) JDes Ritters Carl von Linne" Koniglich Schwedischen Leibarztes, &c., &c., vollstandiges Natursystem nach der zwolften lateinischen Ausgabe und nach Anleitung des hollandischen Ilouttuynischen Werks mit einer ausfiihrlichen Erklarung ausgefertiget von Philipp Ludwig Statius Miiller Prof, der Natnrgeschichte zu Erlang und Mitglied der Rom. Kais. Akademie der Naturforscher, &c. Erster Theil. Von den siiugenden Thieren. Mit :W Kupfern. Niirnburg, bey Gabriel Nicolaus Raspe, 1773. Eine andere Art eines Seehundes, pp. 201, 202, pi. xi, iig. 6. 686 GENUS HALICHCERUS. gebildert 1st." . . . Beferring now to Houttuyn,* we find this statement : "Fig. 6, [pi. xi] is die van een Zee-Hond, welken de Hooggeleerde Heer ALBINUS, in 't Jaar 1748, den 24 February, te Leiden, op de Yertoonplaats der Ontleedkunde, in myn by- zyn lieeft laaten openen" (1. c., p. 16). Later (1. c., pp. 28,29) he gives a description of the specimen here referred ,to as dis- sected in his presence by Professor Albinus, where he says, "De Heer ALBINUS heeft in den Zee-Hond, hier voor in Fig. 6 ["pi. xi, fig. 6," in the margin] afgebeeld, onder anderen, het volgende opgemeckt," citing at*this point, in a footnote, "An- not. Acad. Libr. Ill, Cap. XV." Before turning to Albinus's account it may be well to state that Miiller's and Houttuyn's plates here cited are identical, even to the notation, and that Miiller's description is merely a slightly abridged translation of Houttuyn's account.t On referring to Albinus, we find not only a very full and lucid account of the external and some other characters of the specimen Houttuyn saw him dissect, but also the original of both Houttuyn's and Miiller's figures ! Albinus's figure differs from the others only in being much more finely executed. But besides the figure copied by Houttuyn, Albinus gives several detail figures, which demonstrate that the specimen could not have been Halichcerus grypus. Albinus's description shows him to have been not only one of the most accomplished anatomists *Natuurlyke Historic of uitvoerige Beschryving der Dieren, Planten, en Mineraalen, Volgens het Samenstel van den Heer Linna3iis. Met naauwkeu- rige Afbeeldingen. Eerste Deels, Tweede Stuk. Vervolg der Zoogende Die- ren. Te Amsterdam. By F. Houttuyn, M D CC LXI. t Since writing the above I have met with a reference to Scopoli's Pusa by Hermann, in his elaborate account of the Monk Seal of the Mediter- ranean, in which he criticises severely Scopoli's absurd diagnosis, and sug- gests explanations of some of Scopoli's erroneous characters. As Hermann (Beschiiftigungen der Berlinischen Gesellschaft Naturforschender Freunde, 4 Band, 1779, p. 464, footnote) intimates, his " Pedes .... postici connati in pinnam sexlobam" is based on a very stupid misunderstanding of Miiller's figure, in which only the upper edge of the left hind nipper is seen above the right one. Although the shading renders the figure per- fectly intelligible, Scopoli evidently counted this upper edge of the left hind flipper as the sixth lobe of a single appendage, the whole forming his six-lobed " pinna ". If we may suppose the transposition of two words ("incisores" and " canini") by typographical error in Scopoli's dental for- mula, the rendering would be correct, namely, Dentes canini quatuor, inci- sores supra sex, infra quatuor. But this we fear is lenient judgment, al- though it would seem that Scopoli must have known better than to delib- erately ascribe ten canines to any mammal. THE " GENUS PUS A" OF SCOPOLI. 687 of his time, but a well- trained observer ; his description alone would show beyond doubt that the species was not Halichcerw. Houttuyn's account seems to have been in part based on that of Albiiius, but includes statements that lead one to suppose it may have been in part based on his own original notes. To show that the species was not Halichcerus grypus, but beyond doubt Phoca fcetida, I quote portions of the description given by Albinus: * "Delecta ad me est phoca, capta in vicino inari, [North Sea] longa pedes sex & dimidium, ab ore ad extremes pedes postiores usque: ex quo reliquae dimensiones in figura subjecta (a) invenientur ; in quo forma bestiae cum cura expressa. Venter autem plenior, eo quod gravida erat, embryonem con- tinenslongitudinispedalis. . . . Labium superius ab utraque parte nasi in magnum globum modice protuberans ; in quibus pilorum species, similitudine felis, quadrupedumque aliarum multarum. . . . Latiores quam crassiores, ab utraque parte plani, marginibus rotundis. Per marginum longitudinem veluti serrati, eminentiis ovatis per sinus lunatos distinctis. Bespond- ent mar gin es sibi invicem, sinus sinibus eminentiae emineutiis : itaque tanquain per intervalla constricti, quadam nodorum inter- niediis locis specie. A principio margines recti. . . . Dentes in maxilla superiore sex continui in parte priore, quorum medii quatuor minores. Inde, sed modico interjecto intervallo, quod canini inferiores subeant, caniui, adunci, inaximi omnium. Post hos in lateribus maxillares ab utraque parte quinque, parvi, veluti tricuspides, mucrone medio majore. Infra maxil- lares totidem, & canini, sed primores tanttimmodo quatuor, ostendentibus praesepiolis, e quibus excussi fuerant. . . . In ventre post umbilicuni mammaruin notae geminae, foramina referentes, extremi digiti auricularis capacia. . . . Pili, quibus corium tectum, breves, tenues, laeves, a capite directi ad caudam, pedesque extremos. . . . Color iis ad fulvuni vergens, maculis fuscis toto corpore crebris. In ventre & pec- tore color pallidior. Cauda & pedes postici toti fusci, sine maculis, praeterquam ad digitorum exortum, ubi in exteriore parte maculae fulvae, parvae, paucaeque. Fusci quoque pedes antici, sed tainen extrinsecus aliquantum maculosiores. Omnes ex interiore parte sine maculis fusci, pilis mollioribus. * B. S. Albini Academicarum Annotationum Liber TertiuS. Continet ana- toinica, physiologica, pathologica, zoographica. Leidae. Apud J. & H. Verbeek, Bibliopolas. CIOIOCCLVI [1756]. Caput XV. De phoca. Liber iii, pp. 04-71. 688 GENUS HALICHCERUS. "Embryo masculus, pilosus quidem, sed tarn subtiliter, ut facile existimaretur depilis. Color pallidior, nee nisi in dorso maculosus. Jam spectabilis mystax, & superciliis respondentes sylvulae. Digiti pedum distincti. Ungues visendi . . . " (1. c., pp. 64-71). The plate (pi. vi, Libr. iii) accompanying Albinus's memoir gives (fig. 1) a side view of the animal ; a half front view (fig. 2) of the head, with the mouth wide-open, displaying the den- tition ; a view (fig. 3) of the posterior end of the body from below, showing the genital opening, the tail, and hind flippers ; a diagram (fig. 4) of the genito-anal orifice ; a claw (fig. 5) of one of the anterior digits, and (fig. 6) one of the rnystacial bristles of natural size. Even in the large figure the tricuspid character of the molar teeth is seen, while in the enlarged view of the head this is still more distinctly shown. In this the five molars, both above and below, of the right side, are repre- sented as small, distinctly three-pointed, the middle point the longest, while the teeth are separated by slight intervals, the dentition thus in every respect agreeing unmistakably with that of Phoca fcetida. The large figure shows also the first claw of the fore limb to be the largest, another distinctive char- acter of Phoca fcetida. It consequently follows that if Pusa is tenable in a generic sense it must be held for Phoca fcetida, in place of Pagomys of much later date, by those who would, gen- erically, separate Phoca fcetida from the other Seals. The con- dition of the foetus also points to Phoca fcetida^ which has its young early in March. Houttuyn's description, and consequently Miiller's, to which Scopoli refers, is merely a loose abridged version of that given by Albinus, in which they omit to state that the length given includes the outstretched hind flippers. They also describe the molar teeth simply as being pretty sharp ("de Kiezen zelfs eenigermaate scherp," Houttuyn; "die Backenzahne ziemlich scharf," Miiller), and speak of the fcetus as being nearly naked ("en was nog byna kaal," Houttuyn; "fast kahl," Miiller), but in no other point is there any noteworthy discrepancy. Albi- nus2s account of the foetus shows it to have been nearly mature, and the date of the dissection being given by Houttuyn as the 24th of February, is, as already noted, further proof that the species was not Halichcerus grypus. It is barely possible that the specimen figured and described may have been Phoca grcenlandica ; the large size alone favors HALICHGERUS GRYPUS GRAY SEAL. 689 this view, but if the animal were measured along the curvature of the body instead of in a straight line between the two extrem- ities, the dimensions given would not be too large for a full- grown female P. fcetida. The figures show it could not have been Phoca vitulina,, while Halichcerus grypus is entirely out of the question; for the phrase "parvi, veluti tricuspid.es, mu- crone medio niajore " cannot be applied to the large, conical, single-pointed molars of Haliclmrm, even if we had not the figures to show the small size and tricuspid character of the teeth. HALICHCERUS GRYPUS (Fdbricim) Nilsson. Gray Seal. ? Grd Sial, LINNE, Fauna Suecica, 1746, 4.— CNEIFF, " Svenska Vid. Acad. Handl., xix, 1757, 171." Ut-Selur, Wetrar-Selur, OLAFSEN, Reise durch Island, i, 1774, 260, 281. Der Gh'aue Seekalb, KNEIFF, Abhandl. Kongl. Schwed. Akad. Wissen., xix, 1759, 171. Phoca grypus, FABRICIUS, Skriv. af Naturh.-Selsk., i, 2, 1791, 167, pi. xiii, fig. 4 (skull). — HALLGRIMSSON, Kr0yer's Naturh.-Tidsskrift, ii, 1838-'39, 91 (Iceland). Halichcerus grypus, NILSSON, "Kongl. Vet. Akad. Handl. Stockholm, 1837, "; Arch, fiir Naturg., 1841, 318; " Ilium. Fig. till Skaud. Faun., ii, 1»37, pi. xxxiv; text, 1840, i, 20"; Skand. Fauna, Daggdjuren, 1847, 299.— WAGNER, Schreber's Siiugth., vii, 1846, 12.— SCHINZ, Synop. Mam., i, 1844, 483.— GRAY, Cat. Seals Brit. Mus., 1850, 30, fig. 10; Cat. Seals and Whales, 186b, 34, fig. — ; Zoologist, 1872, 3333, 3335 ; Hand-List of Seals, 1874, 9, fig. 4, pi. vii (skull, juv.).— HORNSCHUCH and SCHILLING, Arch, fur Naturg., 1851, 21. — GIEBEL, Saugeth., 1855, 133.— BLASIUS, Naturg. Saugeth. Deutschl., 1857, 256, figg. 142-144.— NORDMANN, Vid. Medd. f. d.natur. Foren., 1860 (1861), 307.— MALMGREN, Ofv. af Kongl. Vet. Akad. Stockh., 1863, 135; Arch, fur Naturg., 1864, 74.— " HOLMGREN, Skand. Daggdjuren, 1865, 220, fig."— GILL, Proc. Essex Inst., v, 1866, 12.— BROWN, Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond., 1868, 340, 426; Man. Nat. Hist., Geol., etc., Green- land, Mam., 1875, 54.— TURNER, Jouru. Anat. and Phys., iv, 1870, 270 (coast of Scotland); ibid., vii, 1873, 273 (abnormal dentition); Trans. Roy. Soc. Edinb., xxvii, 275. — LILLJEBORG, Fauna ofver ^eriges och Norges Ryggradsjur, 1874, 709.— VAN BENEDEN, Ann. du Mus. d'Hist. Nat. du Belgique, i, 1877, 18 (geogr. distr.). Pusa (Halichocrm} grypus, GILL, Johnson's New Univ. Cycl, iii, 1877, 1226. JPhocagry2)hus, LICHTENSTEIN, Abhand. d. Berlin Akad., 1822-28(1825), Phys. Kl., 1.— FISCHER, Syn. Mam., 1829, 239.— MACGILLIVRAY, Brit. Quad., 1838, 214.— BLAINVILLE, Oste~ogr., Phoca, 1840-1851, pi. ix (dentition). Misc. Pub. No. 12 44 690 HALICHOERUS GRYPUS GRAY SEAL. Halichcerm gryphus, BALL, Trans. Roy. Irish Acad., xviii, 1838, 89, pi. i (animal, female and two young), pi. ii (skull, female), pi. iii (lower jaw and teeth). — BELL, Brit. Quad., 1837, 278 (figg. skull and ani- mal); ibid., 1874, 262.— REINHARDT, Kr^yer's Naturhist.-Tidsskr., iv, 1843, 313; Isis, 1845, 702.— REEKS, Zoologist, 1871, 2549 (New- foundland).— GRAY, Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist., 4th ser., ix, 1872, 322 (occurrence in Brit. Isl.); ibid., xiv, 1874, 96 (Cornwall).— MALM, Goteborgs och Bohuslans Fauna Ryggradsjuren, 1877, 145. Halichcerus griseus, Nilsson, Skand. Faun., i, 1820, 377. — HORNSCHUCH, Isis, 1824, 810.— LESSON, Man. de Mam., 1827, 205.— HAMILTON, Amphib. Carniv., 1839, 174, pi. x.— SELBY, Ann. Nat. Hist., vi, 1841, 462- (Farn Islands). Phoca halichcerus, THIENEMANN, "Reise in Norden Europa's, i, 1824, 142." Phoca scopulicola, THIENEMANN, "Reise in Norden Europa's, i, 1824, 59, pi. v (adult male)." (Iceland.)— FISCHER, Syn. Mam., 1829, 237 (from Thienemann and Lesson). Callocephalus scopulicolus, Lesson, Man. de Mam., 1820, 199 (=Phoca scopu- licola, Thienemann). Phoca thienemanni, Lesson, Diet, class. d'Hist. Nat., xiii, 1828, 414 (=Phoca scopulicola, Thienemann). Halichcerus macrorhynchus, HORNSCHUCH and SCHILLING, Arch, fiir Natur- gesch., 1851, 22. Halichcerus pachyrhynchm, HORNSCHUCH and SCHILLING, Arch, fur Natur- gesch., 1851, 22. Phoca larbata, EDMONSTONE, View of the Zetland Islands, ii, 1809, 294. — SELBY, Zoolog. Journ., ii, 1826, 465. — FLEMING, Hist. Brit. Anirn., 1828, 18.— JENYNS, Brit. Vert., 1835, 16.— MACGILLIVRAY, Brit. I Quad., 1838, 212 (in part).— HAMILTON, Amphib. Carnivora, 1839, 145, pi. "3", iv (in part only — the biographical matter relating to British localities).— BELL, Hist. Brit. Quad., 1837, 274 (the British references only). Seal from the South Seas, HOME, Phil. Trans., 1822, pi. xxvii (skull). Gray Seal, English ; Graue Seehund, German ; Grd Sial, Grd Skiil, Swedish ; Krumsnude de Seel, Danish ; Tapvaist, Hebridian ; Haaf-fish, Orca- dian ; Ut-Selur, Wetrar-Selur, Icelandic. EXTERNAL CHARACTERS. — Color of the adults silver-gray, ash-gray, or dusky-gray, with obscurely defined spots of dusky or blackish, the general color varying in different individuals from nearly uniform silvery, or yellowish-white, to dusky or even black, the lighter examples with or without blackish spots. The young are at first white or yellowish- white, but s^oon be- come dingy-yellow, blotched irregularly with blackish-gray, and later acquire still darker tints. The pelage in the young is soft and woolly, in the adults short and rigid and rather sparse, the hairs flattened, adpressed, often recurved at the tips. The mystacial bristles are abundant, large, stiff, flat- tened, and waved or crenulated on both margins. Fore feet EXTERNAL CHARACTERS. 691 with the first and second toes longest and subequal ; hind feet deeply emarginate, the outer toes forming long lappets 5 nails of all the digits well developed, but those of the fore feet much larger than those of the hind feet. Length of the adult male about 8 feet, rarely 9 feet; of the adult female, about 6£ to 7 feet. Females smaller and lighter colored than the males. ..•; • A specimen in the National Museum, probably an adult male, from Sable Island, is silvery-gray, with spots of black and white, the latter confined mainly to the sides of the body and 692 HALICHCEKUS GRYPUS GRAY SEAL. neck. A female from Sealand is whitish-gray, with large ob- scure spots of darker and touches of dusky. Mr. Ball says that the color varies greatly in different individuals, and that of the many specimens he had seen he did not remember " that any two were precisely similar". He describes an adult female as appearing of a uniform silvery-gray when seen from the front, but when viewed from the rear seemed of a sooty-brown color, while the spots or blotches were only distinctly visible from a side view. He says, "The very young females are gen- erally of a dull yellowish white, with rather long hair, which falls off in about six weeks after birth, and gives place to a shorter and more shining coat of a warm, dingy yellow, va- riously blotched with blackish gray; the whole becoming grad- ually more dull, the blotching more indistinct, and a general dark shade spreading on the back as the animals advance in age." He describes a young male which " has long yellowish hair slightly tinged with brownish black on the back ; is black on the nose, chin, and cheeks, and on the palms of the fore- feet."* He gives the length of a skeleton of ua very aged female" as "seven feet two inches ".t Selby, who observed the species at the Farn Islands, gives the length of the full- grown male as eight feet and the color as dark gray, or nearly black, and says the female is smaller and greenish-white, sparsely spotted with darker ; the young as yellowish-white, changing to gray at the first moult, j: Hall grim sson makes the same observations in relation to the Utselur of Iceland, which he identifies with the Phoca grypus of Fabricius, stating that the males are not only larger than the females, but are black- ish-gray, or sometimes wholly black, while the females are lighter colored; and adds that the new-born young are covered with a white woolly coat.§ Mlsson describes a young female, about four feet long, taken in August, as silver-gray marbled or irregularly spotted above, on the sides and on the limbs with black, most numerously on the sides and limbs ; below white, with scattered spots of black. Another young female, about three and a half feet long, killed in July, as pale ash- gray above, varied with blackish or dusky spots; the sides, limbs, and under parts white. Another young female, about * Trans. Roy. Irish Acad., vol. xviii, 1837, p. 90. t Bell's Hist. Brit. Quad., 1837, p. 283. fAnn. Nat. Hist., vol. vi, 1841, p. — . § Isis, 1841, p.^291. EXTERNAL CHARACTERS. 693 four and a half feet long, killed July 20, was dark-gray above, along the back still darker or blackish-gray, and paler on the sides; back and sides with irregular spots of black of various sizes ; nose and limbs brownish-gray, unspotted.* Edmonstonet gives the weight of this seal as "45 stone of 14 pounds each" (= 630 pounds), and its length as "10 to 12 feet." SKULL. — The two skulls before me indicate great variations resulting from, age, especially in the thickening of the bones and the development of heavy sagittal and occipital crests. The old skull (No. 4717, Nat. Mus., Sable Is!., N. S.), is pre- sumably that of a very old male, and differs from any which I have seen figured in its large size and greatly produced crests. The teeth in the young, especially in the lower jaw,f have slight but distinct accessory cusps, which become wholly ob- literated later in life. In the old skull already mentioned the crowns are much worn, and the roots are very thick and strong. The strongly marked distinctive features of the skull have already been noticed (antea, p. 683). In all probability the sex- ual differences are strongly marked, especially in weaker struc- ture and slighter crests in the female. § To judge by BalPs fig- ure (1. c., pi. ii) of the skull said to be that of a very aged female, they may be wholly lacking. I subjoin the following measure- ments of the two above-mentioned skulls : *Apud Wagner, Schreber's Saugthiere, Band vii, 1846, pp. 15, 16. tA view of the ancient and present state of the Zetland Islands, etc., vol. ii, 1809, p. 294. t See Ball, Trans. Roy. Irish Acad., xviii, pi. iii. $ I regret especially in this connection my inability to consult Hornschuch. and Schilling's " Kurze Notizen tiber die in der Ostsee Vorkommenden Arten der Gattung Halichoerus, Nilsson." Greifswald, 1850. 694 HALICHCERUS GRYPUS GRAY SEAL. ti 'o II •AiBf J9.to.oi jo qjSuai ro •asBO-niBjq •geiiriq AJO^PTIB ^ nn^s jo f^qSiaq ^ea^Bajf) g g 'sQJ^n JouajnB jo qjpsajg; L8UB.i^ 'sajBtt joiia;sod jo q^pt?ajg ! g§ J§ 'sajBU joiia^sod jo q;pBa.ig; £ gg •asnixBUi jo pua joua^sod ^B uotSaj jBi •se^xBta jo aapioq a«paA^B jo q^Saa^; jo pna o1). A'.rBn!x'Bni"0^l3IBd xnoaj aouBjstd •seaoojd pion3|S jo a3pa joua^uB raoaj 0!). jo aSpa tnoaj •jBiora ^8B{ jo a§pa japurq jo a§pa aoua^UB TOO.TJ •tpauiBq pioSA\ia^d jo pue o^ osinxBuua^ui jo aSpa aoua^uB •saas90ojd pto^SBia !}B q^pBaag; c^ •jaqranu angotB^BQ GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION. 695 GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION.— The Gray Seal appears to be not only one of the least abundant of the northern Phocids, but also to be restricted to a rather narrow range. It is wholly confined to the North Atlantic, and even here is found only within comparatively narrow limits. On the American coast it occurs as far southward as Sable Island, Nova Scotia, where its presence is attested by specimens in the National Museum, collected there by Mr. P. S. Dodd. This, however, is the south- ernmost point at which it is known to occur. Mr. Eeeks says, •"It is comparatively rare in the Straits of Labrador and Belle Isle, although very few seasons pass without a few being cap- tured either on the ice or in the i seal frames.'"* Beyond this point to the northward it has been recorded by Mr. Brown as probably occurring on the coast of Greenland. He says, " In 1861, a little south of Disco Island, we killed a Seal the skull of which proved it to be of this species ; and again this sum- mer [1867J I saw a number of skins in Egedesminde and other settlements about Disco Bay, which appeared to be of this spe- cies. Though the natives do not seem to have any name for it, the Danish traders with whom I talked were of opinion that the GrasJcalj with which they were acquainted as an inhabitant of the Cattegat, occasionally visited south and the more south- erly northern portions of Greenland with the herds of AtaTc (P. grcenlandicus). The skull to which I refer, though carefully examined at the time, was afterwards accidentally destroyed by a young Polar Bear which formed one of our ship's com- pany on that northern voyage; therefore, though perfectly con- vinced of its being entitled to be classed as a member of the Greenland fauna, I am not in a position to assert this with, more confidence than as being a very strong probability. It should be carefully looked for among the herds of P. grcen- landicus when they arrive on the coast." t It is not, however, given by Dr. Rink as an inhabitant of Greenland, nor was it obtained by Mr. Kumlien during his recent sojourn in Cum- berland Sound. I find, in short, no evidence of its occurrence on the North American or Greenland coasts other than that already given. Its occurrence in Iceland, however, is abun- dantly substantiated, and it is also rather common along the shores of Northern Europe. Nilsson states that it has been * Zoologist, 2d ser., vol. vi, 1871, p. 2549. tProc. Zool. Soc. Lond., 1868, p. 427; Man. Nat. Hist. Greenland, etc., 1875, Mammals, p. 55. 696 HALICHCERUS GRYPUS GRAY SEAL. long known to inhabit all the seas that border Scandinavia, in the East Sea as well as in the Sound, in the Cattegat, and in the North Sea ; the same statement being also made by Blasius and other later authorities. Collett gives it as found spar- ingly along the whole coast of Norway, from latitude 58° to 70°. It is not mentioned by von Heuglin as an inhabitant of Spitzbergen, Jan May en, and Nova Zembla, while Malmgren distinctly states that it does not reach Spitzbergen. He says there is some reason to believe it occurs in small numbers on. the coast of Finmark, where it was observed by Lilljeborg (at Tromso) in 1848. Mr. Ball and others are authority for its common occurrence on the southern coast of Ireland, and it has for a long time been known as an inhabitant of the Orkneys, the northern coast of Scotland, the Hebrides, and the Earn Islands. Gray states that it has been found in various parts of the Irish Sea and St. George's Channel ; that he has heard of it in the Isle of Man, and believes that it occurs as far south as Land's End and the Scilly Isles.* He also states that there is little doubt of its presence on the north coast of Cornwall, and that he had been informed Ibat many Seals of very large size haunt the caverns- on the coast of Plymouth.t BellJ refers to its capture in the Isle of Wight, and says living specimens have been received by the Zoological Society from the coast of Wales. To summarize the foregoing, it may be stated that the Gray Seal ranges from Nova Scotia and the British Islands north- ward to Greenland and Finmark, but is absent from the islands of the Arctic Ocean. GENERAL HISTORY AND NOMENCLATURE. — The earliest notice of the Gray Seal that requires attention in the present connection, if not the earliest that can be with certainty identi- fied, was given by Cneiff in his account of the Seal fishery of the Gulf of Bothnia, published about the middle of the last century.§ On this account is based " Der graue Seehund" of Schreber. *Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist., 4th ser., vol. ix, 1872, p. 322. tlbid., vol. xiv, 1874, p. 96. t Hist. Brit. Quad., 1874, p. 265. § Bericht vom Seekalberfange in Ostbothnien. Vom Provincialschaffner, Herrii Johann David K:ieiff eingegeben. < Der Konigl. Schwedischen Aka- demie der Wissenchaften, Abhandlungen, etc., auf das Jahr 1757. Ans dem Schwedischeii iibersetzt, von Abraham Gotthelf Kaftner, Band xix, 1759, pp. 171-186. GENERAL HISTORY AND NOMENCLATURE. 697 The Gra Siiil of Linne's " Fauna Suecica » also appears to relate to the present species. Olafsen, in his "Reise (lurch Island," published in 1772, repeatedly refers to it under the names "Ut- Selur" and " Wetrar-Selur", giving quite a full account of its habits. Although he omits all mention of its size and external characters, his description of its habits, particularly of its re- sorting to low islands and rocky shores in November, to bring forth its young, seems to identify his Ut-Selurwith the present species. Furthermore, the Ut-Selur of the Icelanders has been determined by Hallgrimsson to be the Phoca grypus of Fabri- cius, which the latter referred doubtfully to his Phoca hispida. Although Schreber's "Der grosse Seehund" is referred by nearly all writers to the Bearded Seal, it is compounded of two spocies, the diagnosis being based on the " Utsuk" of Cranz, and hence on the Bearded Seal, while his account of its habits is derived from Olafsen, and relates entirely to the Ut-Selur of that author, and consequently to Halichcerus grypus. The Gray Seal received its first systematic name at the hands of Fabricius in 1791, who briefly referred to it under the name Phoca grypus* and gave a good figure of its skull. t Fabri- cius's name appears to have for a long time escaped the notice of subsequent writers, it being conspicuously absent from the works of compilers down to about 1835. In the meantime the species was again brought to light by Mlsson, who, in 1820, re- named it Halichcerus griseus. Lesson, in 1827, also mentioned it under this name, as did Fischer in 1829. Lichtenstein, in 1822, seems to be the first to recall the Fabrician name, modi- fied, however, to gryphus. Thienemann described the species in 1824 as an inhabitant of Iceland, under the name Phoca hali- chcerus, and at the same time added a nominal species based on the young, which he designated as Phoca scopulicola. In 1850 Hornschuch and Schilling, after an examination of a series of fifty skulls collected in the East Sea, arrived 'at the conclusion * By many writers, as shown in the ahove table of synonymy, this name is rendered gryphus, but, as first pointed out by Nilsson in 18*27, and since restated by several German authors, the correct orthography is grypus, or crooked-nosed, the Danish name, as given by Fabricius, being "Krumsnude- de Sael. (See also on this point Lilljeborg, Fauna Sveriges och Norges, i, 1874, p. 711, footnote.) t The original skull (lacking the lower jaw) figured by Fabricius is doubt- less still extant in the Museum of Lund, for as late as 1841 Hallgrimsson stated that through the kindness of Professor Reinhardt he had had the op- portunity of comparing with it a SKull of the Ut-Selur he obtained in Ice- land. 698 HALICHCERUS GRYPUS — GRAY SEAL. that the genus Halichcerus was there represented by three spe- cies; they describing as new H. macrorhynchus and H. pachy- rhynchus, but these have not been accepted as valid by subse- quent writers.* As will be noticed later more in detail, the Gray and the Bearded Seals have often been confounded, especially by Brit- ish authors 5 consequently all the references to the Bearded Seal as a British species really relate to Halichcerus grypus.\ * I know of Hornsclmch and Schilling's brochure only through citations by authors. I quote the following abstract of the paper from Prof. Andreas Wagner's "Bericht iiber die Leistungen in der Naturgeschichte der Sauge- thiere wahrend des Jahres 1850": "Ihre 3 Arten sind folgende: 1) H. macrorhynchus, die 1 a n g s c h n a u z i g e M e e r r ob b e (H. grypus s. griseus Nilss. ) ; Riicken aschgrau, ins Griinliche schiessend, schwach silberartig schillernd und mit wenigen kleinen graubraunen Flecken bestreut. Schadel in alien seinen Theilen s e h r gestreckt und sein oberer Uinriss bildet eine in der Mitte stark gesenkte Linie; die Eckzahne stark. Obwohl Zeichnung und Farbe bedeutend variiren, so behalten sie doch immer einen eigenthiimlichen Typus, welches auch bei den folgenden Arten der Fall ist. — 2) H. Grypus Pabr. , diekrummnasigeMeerrobbe; Riikken weis- grau, stark ins Griinliehblaue ziehendmitstarkemSilberschiller und vielen grosseren und kleineren, unregelmassigen, mehr oder minder ineinander ver- fliessenden schwarzen Flecken. Schadel kurz uud ziemlich hoch, sein oberer Umriss bildet eine bogenformige Linie ; die Eckzhane sind schwacher als bei der folgenden Art. — 3) H. pachyrliynchus, die dichschnauzige Meerrobbe; Riikken silb^rweiss, ins Griiulichblaugraue schiessend, glan- zend, mit kleinen und massig grossen, langlichen, schwarzbraunen, unregel- massigen Flecken. Schadel ziemlich kurz, viel weniger gestreckt als bei H. macrorhynchus, sein oberer Umriss bildet eine beinahe gerade, bis zum Anfange der Nasenbeine sich etwas erhebende, dann eich stark senkeade Linie; 'die Zahne starker als bei H. macrorhynchus." — Troschel's Arch, fur Naturg., 1851, ii, p. 29. t Mr. Selby admits that much of this confusion, at least so far as regards the " Great Seal of the Farn Islands," is due to his erroneously referring it, in 1826, to the Phoca barbata, but to Mr. Selby is also due the credit of later (in 1841) making known the affinities of the "Great Seal" of the Farn Islands. After alluding to the fact that the large Seal of the Northumberland coast was referred to Phoca barbata by both Jenyns and Bell on his authority, and stating the reasons that led to his erroneous determination, he says : " . . . having requested the person who at present rents these [Farn] islands to send me the heads of auy Seals he might be fortunate enough to kill, at the usual time of his visiting the island to which they retire to calve, (which they do about the 10th or 15th of November, ) I have had an opportunity of examining three heads, which I received in a fresh state about six weeks ago, one being that of an adult female, the other two belonging to younger animals, all of which upon examination proved to belong to Halichcerm griseus, agreeing in every essential character with Mr. Bell's description of that animal, and with the drawings given me by Mr. Ball ; and as no other HABITS. 699 HABITS. — Eespecting the Gray Seal as an American animal little or nothing seem s to have been written. As an inhabitant of Ireland, the Hebrides, the Orkneys, the North and Baltic Seas, and Iceland, its history is better known. As will be noticed later, however, there are discrepant accounts respecting im- portant points. Hallgrimsson has given a very interesting notice of these animals as observed in Iceland by A. Thorlacius, a trustworthy merchant and experienced hunter, of Stikkjis- holm, Iceland, whose letter about them, as given by Hallgrims- son, may be rendered as follows : "The Utsel is here very common in the Bredebugt, and especially on the coast of Westland. When full-grown it is four or five ells [8 to 10 'feet] long ; the male is probably still larger, and is always larger than the female. Its food consists partly of various kinds of fishes, as haddock, flounders, catfish (Cottw), etc., and partly of crustaceans and other lower animals, as starfishes, etc., especially in winter, when the fishes mostly seek the deep water. The animals here named I have myself seen them eat, as they chance to bring them to the surface of the water. Although this species of Seal occurs here in large numbers, only a few fully grown ones are taken, because they are not so easily killed here as the younger ones are, their strong skulls being not easily penetrated by bullets, and there are also very few expert marksmen here. Besides, they are very shy and watchful. Three weeks before the beginning of winter* {about October 1], the full-grown Utselur begin to come about the rocks and islets near the land, where they bring forth their young. They choose especially such r3cks as are not covered by the spring-tides, and also the lower islands that have not too precipitous shores. Here the females have their young about fourteen days before the commencement of winter [about the second week of October]. The young are thickly covered species of Seal has hitherto been recognized or met with by those who for a long series of years have been in the habit of seeing and taking these animals in this particular locality, I have now scarcely a doubt but that the whole of the colony that has so long inhabited the Farn Islands belongs to this spe- cies."—Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist., vol. vi, 1841, p. 463. A little earlier than this (in 1837) Mr. Ball determined the large Seal of the Irish coast, till then also supposed to be Phoca barbata, to be Halich&rus (jrypus (Trans. Roy. Irish Acad., vol. xviii, 1837, pp. 89-98), since which time Phoca barbata, auct., has generally been excluded from the British Fauna. * Hallgrimssou says in a note of explanation, " According to the Icelandic division of the year this falls between the 19th and 26th of October." 700 HALICHCERUS GRYPUS GRAY SEAL. with soft, whitish-yellow woolly hair ; this it gradually loses,, and does not enter the water till the moult is wholly completed, at which time it is four or five weeks old, During the time the young are lying upon the dry land they do not leave their places, but every tide their mothers crawl up to them to suckle them. Sometimes the females leave their young so near the sea that the waves reach them, and by the spring- tides they are swept along and carried helpless from one rock to another,, for while the milk-hair is worn the young Seal is able to swim but little and is still less able to dive. In this condition it is called by the Icelanders Sjovelkjingur (Sea-rover); such un- fortunates are weak and emaciated, while those that have remained undisturbed are fat and well conditioned. These are called Yolselr. The young is fattest when it is 'half ready \ that is to say when it has lost the milk-hair from the head and feet; but later it becomes poorer, because the mother then allows it to get hungry, in order to induce it to leave its resting place and go into the sea. This happens about the end of the third week of winter (middle of November) or a little later ; consequently the young are found to be best for killing when three weeks old. The Utsel is blackish-gray ; some are entirely pure black, especially the males; the females are somewhat lighter. It has a long nose and a big head, which in the old males appears as if it were angular. These have a fierce aspect and are very irritable and quarrelsome. They often fight with each other on the shore, and bite so powerfully that they retire from the conflict bleeding and mangled. They are also danger- ous to the men who hfLnt them on the shore if they approach carelessly, which they therefore must always do from the side. " Eespecting the age to which this species of Seal attains I can say nothing that can be positively relied upon ; yet they apparently live to be very old. But I know with certainty that the period of pregnancy continues for nine months." * Mr. Selby has given a very interesting account of his obser- vations on the Gray Seal as observed at the Farn Islands, t based on his own frequent visits to these islands, and also on " the long experience of a respectable individual, now upwards * Isis, 1841, pp. 291, 292, originally published in Kr^yer's Naturhist.- Tidsskrift, Band ii, Heft i, 1837, pp. 97, 98. t "Observations on the Great Seal of the Farn Islands, showing it to be the Halichcerus griseus, Nilss., and not the Phoca barbcita." By P. J. Selby, Esq., F. L. S., &c., &c. about ten feet. Although the existence of Seals in the West Indian waters has been known for two centuries, a most tantalizing uncer- tainty still prevails in respect to their characters and affinities. I had hoped to be able in the present connection to clear up some of these doubts, but as my efforts to obtain specimens have thus far proved fruitless, I have to content myself with giving a transcript of what has already been written about them, with such critical remarks as the case suggests. So far as known to me, Darnpier was the first to record the existence of Seals in the Caribbean Sea, but he gives no de- scription of them, his reference consisting of an account of a sealing voyage made to the Alacrane Eeef in 1675, and inci- dents relating thereto. His account, however, shows that at that time they were so abundant at that locality as to be sought there for their oil, and where, in fact, for some years previously, the sealing business had been an industry of considerable com- mercial importance. DAMPIER'S ACCOUNT, 1675. — In describing the "Alacrane " * Compiled from Hill and Gosse. DAMPIER'S ACCOUNT. 709 Islands,* under the marginal date "An. 1675," he says, "Here are many Seals : they come up to sun themselves only on two or three of the Islands, I don't know whether exactly of the same kind with those in colder Climates, as I have noted in my former Book, they always live where there is plenty of Fish. "To the North of these Islands lyes a long ledge of Rocks, bending like a Bow $ it seems to be 10 or 12 Yards wide, and about 4 Leagues long, and 3 Leagues distant from the Island. They are above Water, all joyning very close to one another, except at one or two Places, where are small Passages about nine or ten Yards wide 5 'twas through one of these that Providence directed us in the Night ; for the next Morning we saw the Biff about half a Mile to the North of us, and right against us was a small Gap by which we had come in hither, but coming to view it more nearly with our Boat, we did not care to venture out that way again. . . . There we Anchored and lay three or four days, and visited most of them, and found plenty of such Creatures, as I have already described. "Though here was great store cf such good Food and we like to want, yet we did neither salt any, nor spend of it fresh to save our Stock. I found them all but one Man averse to it, but I did heartily wish them of another mind, because I dreaded wanting before the end of the Voyage; a hazard which we needed not to run, there being such plenty of Fowls and Seals (especially of the latter), that the Spaniards do often come hither to make Oyl of their Fat ; upon which account it has been visited by English-men from Jamaica, particularly by Capt. Long : who, having the Command of a small Bark, came hither purposely to make Seal Oyl, and anchored on the North side of one of the sandy Islands, the most convenient Place, for his design : Having got ashore his Cask to put his Oyl in, and set up a Tent for lodging himself and his Goods, he began to kill the Seal, and had not wrought above three or four days before a fierce North-wind blew his Bark ashore. By good fortune she was not damnified : but his Company being but small, and so despairing of setting her afloat again, they * "The Alacranes are 5 or 6 low sandy Islands, lying in the Lat. of about 23 d. North, and distant from the Coast of Jucatan about 25 Leagues ; the biggest is not above a Mile or two in Circuit. They are distant from one another 2 or 3 Miles, not lying in a Line, but scattering here and there, with good Channels of 20 or 30 Fathom Water, for a Ship to pass between."- DAMPIER, Two Voyages to Campcachey, etc., in his Voyage round the Worldt vol. ii, part 2, 3d ed., 1705, p. 23. 710 MONACHUS? TROPICALIS WEST INDIAN 'SEAL. fell to contriving how to get away; a very difficult task to accomplish, for it was 24 or 25 Leagues to the nearest Place of the Main, and above 100 Leagues to Trist, which was the next English Settlement. But contrary to their expectation, in- stead of that, Capt. Long bid them follow their Work of Seal- killing and making Oyl ; assuring them that he would under- take at his own peril to carry them safe to Trist. This though it went much against the grain, yet at last he so far prevailled by fair Words, that they were contented to go on with their Seal-killing, till they had filled all their Cask." The narrative continues that by a to them lucky accident "two New-England Ketches going down to Trist, ran on the backside of the Biff, where they struck on the Eocks, and were bulged". Captain Long and his crew assisted them to unlade their goods and bring them ashore, in requital for which they helped him to launch his own vessel, " and lading his Oyl, and so they went merrily away for Trist." Captain Dampier adds, " The whole of this Eelation I had from Captain Long himself." * How long the capture of Seals for commercial purposes con- tinued after this date, or whether it was ever carried on at other points in these waters, I have no means of determining, t Owing to the limited area to which they were restricted, and consequently their necessarily small numbers, it is evident that they could not long have survived in force under such vigorous persecution. HILL'S AND GOSSE'S ACCOUNTS, 1843, 1851. — A description of this Seal (and the first one, so far as I can learn) was pub- lished, according to Mr. Gosse, by Mr. Eichard Hill, in the "Jamaica Almanack for 1843." Mr. Gosse, in 1851, in his work entitled "A Naturalist's Sojourn in Jamaica," repub- lished Mr. Hill's account, and added thereto further remarks on the species, based largely on information communicated by Mr. Hill. As Mr. Hill's description is nearly inaccessible, while Mr. Gosse's book is by no means easy of access, I here tran- scribe the whole account as given at length by Mr. Gosse, under the heading "The Pedro Seal": uln the Jamaica Al- manack for 1843, Mr. Hill published a Memoir on a Seal inhab- ~*Ibid., pp. 25-28. t Olafsen, iii his " Reise durcli Island," p. 284, refers to the Great Seal of the Antilles, and cites " Joh. Sam. Hallen's Natnr-Geschiehte der Thiere, p. 593 und 581," as containing a further account. Hallen's work being inac- cessible to ine, I am unable to state what information may be there found. HILL'S AND GOSSE7S ACCOUNTS. 711 iting the Pedro Kays, a reef of rocks, lying off the south coast of Jamaica. As it appears to be a species unknown to natur- alists, and as the publication in which it was described had only a transient and local interest, 1 transcribe the Memoir at length, adding to it such particulars of the natural history of the animal as have since been communicated to me by my friend. " 'The differences which exist in the crania of the Phocidce, and other discrepancies of structure which have been remarked as distinguishing the several genera into which the family is divided, would appear to make the Seal from the Pedro Shoal more allied to the Ph. vitulina of Linn. (Caloceplialus, Fr. Cuv.) than to any of which we have detailed accounts, although very different from all.* The shoulders, legs, and thighs are con- cealed within the body, and the hand is extremely flattened and fin-like. The cranium is large, high, and convex : — there are ten molar teeth, and two canines in the upper jaw, and the same number in the lower,* these, with/owr incisors, above and below, make in all thirty-two teeth. They are five-lobed and conical, and they terminate in a base of extremely rough enamel. The teeth are so disposed that when the mouth is closed there is no interspace above or below them, the points of the upper teeth filling the depressed intervals of the lower ones. Having no external auricle, and ears with foramina so small as to be hardly perceptible, the species belongs to the Inauriculata of Peron, or the earless division of Seals. The nostrils are narrow fissures, which appear like two slits in the nose, and are frequently and rapidly closed. The small orifices of the ears are in a similar manner rapidly opened and shut. The lips are full and fleshy, and covered with numerous strong bristles, very flexible, of a black hue with transverse bars of grey. The colour of the body is an intense and uniform black. The hair is short and stiff, and extremely and curiously close. The close bristly covering prevails everywhere except on the palms of the flippers, which are bare. The fore paw has much more the form of a foot than of a hand, the first finger answer- ing to the thumb being the longest. There are nails only on * "From Mr. Hill's description it appears to have the incisors and nail- less hind feet of Stenorhynchus, with the molars of Calocephalus. The data are perhaps not sufficient to warrant the formation of a new genus, hut I may be permitted to propose the trivial name of llilkiantta for the species, in honour of George Wilkie, Esq., to whose courtesy I am indebted for the skin of an adult specimen, probably of the same kind, shot by himself." 712 MONACHUS? TROPICALIS WEST INDIAN SEAL. the fore paws, those of the hinder being rudimentary. The eyes are large, black, and full, and the irides crimson. u i When the specimen from which these notes were made first arrived it was very lively, and so sensible to the slightest touch, that however lightly the hand might be placed on the fur, it felt the contact, and moved rapidly away, jerking the whole body forwards. When left unmolested it was playful. It ploughed the water with the nose, and snorted as it drew the head out. It grunted like a pig, and barked, growled, and snarled, like a dog. It was fond of turning upon the back and lying dozing. In this posture it slept and basked in the sun. It refused all food, and lived four months without eating. Symptoms of dulness only appeared in the last month, when it was found to be labouring under some disease of the head j and when it died it was discovered to have become totally blind, the dark pupil of the eye having disappeared, together with the crimson colour of the iris. It was surprisingly fat, not- withstanding its long fast. The fat was four inches thick, and yielded four gallons of oil. It was a male, but the organs of generation were not externally perceptible. This organization is accordant with the peculiarities of the Seal tribe : in the fe- male the teats are concealed in the skin, and the lacteal fulness swells with the rotundity of the body, so that the animal does not suffer pain or inconvenience when crawling on laud ; and the bifid termination of the tongue, another peculiarity, is an adaptation which enables the young of the Phocidce to seize the nipple under comparatively difficult circumstances, attend- ant on lactation. The occipital aperture, which remains for a long time unossified in this tribe of animals, being still open, though reduced to a very small orifice, — this Seal may be con- sidered to have been only just full grown. The unworn sharp- ness of the teeth indicated the same fact. " * The measurements of this specimen were as follows : Feet. Inches. Total length along the back from snout to tip of tail 4 2 From snout to insertion of fore paw 1 6 From insertion of fore paw to hind paw 2 10 Circumference of body near fore paws 3 2 Circumference at hind paws 1 6 Breadth of back at fore paws I 0 From one fore paw to the other, extended 2 6 Length of fore paw 0 10 Length of hind paw 0 11 HILL'S AND GOSSE'S ACCOUNTS. 713 Feet. Inches. Breadth of head across ears, measured horizontally 0 7 Length of head 0 9 Breadth of nose 0 4$ Length of tail 0 3 " l The Kays frequented by these Seals are situated at about a degree south from this Island, and form portions of an exten- sive and dangerous line of rocks on a shoal about 100 miles long, the two extremities of soundings touching nearly the 77th and 79th meridians of W. longitude. These banks rise pre- cipitously from the deep ocean, with reefs formed, like the usual rocks in these seas, of coral, with an accumulation of shells and calcareous sand. The depth of water varies from 7 to 17 fathoms. A scanty vegetation covers the principal group of islands, which are what are properly called the Pedro Kays. The detached islets about 90 miles apart, known as the Port- land and Eattlesnake Eocks, are nearly the eastern and west- ern extremities of the bank. This shoal has always been vis- ited as an excellent and inexhaustible fishing ground; and, probably from the variety and abundance of its aquatic ani- mals and marine productions, it received from the Spaniards the name of Vivero, a word equally designating a warren or fish-pond. The principal supply of turtles for the Kingston Market is derived from these shoals, and the rocks are numer- ously tenanted by sea-birds.' "In the spring of 1846 George Wilkie, Esq., paid a visit to these Kays and succeeded in obtaining a larger specimen of the Seal. Some notes with which he kindly furnished me, through the medium of Mr. Hill, of the peculiarities of the different islets, depict natural difficulties in the access to Seal Kay, suffi- cient to account for the meagreness of the information about Seals, possessed by the host of egg-gatherers, who annually resort to those rocks and shoals. Seal Kay lies about three miles to leeward of the principal group. It is about two acres in extent, and rises to twenty feet in height, but is entirely destitute of all terrestrial vegetation. Address, in landing, requires to be combined with strength, hardihood, and perse- verance; and frequently before a footing can be obtained, the Seals, the objects of attraction, have escaped to the waters, ajid continue to avoid the shore as long as intruders remain upon the island. < When Mr. Wilkie's party first landed in their l;»tc visit, they surprised some five Seals on shore. They immedi- ately succeeded in heading a u Bull," or Male Seal, both big 714 MONACHUS? TROPIC ALIS WEST INDIAN SEAL. and burly, and killed him. He proved to be an aged patriarch, with teeth nearly worn to the stumps, and a hide gashed and seamed with scars, got in many a fierce fight ; — and about ten feet in length.