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Show 412 MR. R. BROWN ON THE SEALS OF GREENLAND. [Julie 25, designated Wilkare Skal, Kubbscel, Fjordnacke, den spdttede Sell (the Spotted Seal), Algar, Laggar, Kutar, and Skaltokar; Kobbe, Stenkobbe (Norse); Ilylje (Finnish); Nuorjo (Lapp.); Seehund (German); Veau marin and Phoque (French); Kassigiak (Greenland) ; Sprayled Seelhund (Danes in Greenland). The Eskimo in Ponds Bay, on being shown a good figure of this Seal, called it Tupalo ; but whether this is their name for the animal and is to be received for a proof that the C. vitulinus is found there, I cannot take upon myself to decide. The Greenlanders also call it, according to age, Kassigiarak and Kassiginak; but when it attains the age of three years, it is called Kassiursoak (" the big Kassigiak " ) . Prof. Newton ("Notes on the Zoology of Spitsbergen," Proc. Zool. Soc. 1865, and Ann. Nat. Hist. vol. xvi. 3rd series, p. 423) says that Pagomys fcetidus is called Steen Kobbe (Stone-Seal) by the Spitzbergen hunters. I suspect that he has erred through his informants mistaking this for Callocephalus vitulinus. No doubt Dr. Malmgren seems to think that the latter species is not got in Spitzbergen - a n opinion I have ventured to contest in a former paper. It is also sometimes called " the Freshwater Seal," on account of its following the Salmon high up rivers*. Remarks Sfc.-Any laboured account of a Seal so long and so familiarly known would obviously be out of place in these short notes ; I question, however, if all the accounts we possess regarding the Seal under the designation of "Phoca vitulina" really refer to this species, and not to Pagomys fcetidus and others t- It will, I think, be found that in the western and northern islands of Scotland several species, not hitherto supposed to be regular members of the British fauna, exist, known under the popular names of Selkie, Selach, Sea-cat, fyc. I do not think I can say anything in regard to its habits further than what is already contained in various works on Mammalia &c, viz.:-Bingley, British Quadrupeds, p. 57 ; Bell, History of British Quadrupeds, p. 282; Hamilton, Amphibious Carnivora (Nat. Lib.), p. 127; James Wilson in Mag. Zool. and Bot. vol. i. p. 239 ; Edmonston, View of Zetland, vol. ii. p. 293 ; Martin, Western Islands, p. 62 ; M'Gillivray, British Quadrupeds (Nat. Lib.), vol. xiii. p. 199 ; Nilsson, Skandinaviske Fauna, i. p. 276 ; Fabricius, Naturhistoriske Selskabets Skrifter, 1. Baud ii. p. 98; OEdmann, Vet. Akad. Handl. 1784, p. 84 ; Rosted, Norske Vidensk. Nye Skrivter, ii. p. 185 (good description); Cneiff, " Be-riittelse om Skalfanget i OZsterbotten," in Vet. Akad. Handl. 1759, p. 179. r. 8 (on the hunt); Holmers, Anteckningar om sattet att * I have known a Seal (probably Halicyon richardsi, Gray) to be killed at the Falls of the Columbia River in Oregon, upwards of 200 miles from the Pacific. It was doubtless in pursuit of Salmon. Dog River, a tributary of the Columbia, takes its name from a dog-like animal, probably a Seal, being seen in the lake whence the stream rises. t In the Appendix to Party's ' Voyage' is a notice of a Seal said to be " Phoca vitulina.'" It is the young (in seco-.d coat) of Payophilus grbnlandicus, which has often been mistaken for this Seal. It can be known by its having the second toe of the fore flippers the longest; while, independently of other characters, C. vitulina bas the first toe the longest. |