General Distribution.
Neotropical
Sub-regions.		Nearctic
Sub-regions.		Palæarctic
Sub-regions.		Ethiopian
Sub-regions.		Oriental
Sub-regions.		Australian
Sub-regions.
— — — —— — — 41 — 3 —— — — —— — — —— — — —

The Morse, or Walrus (Trichecus rosmarus), which alone constitutes this family, is a characteristic animal of the North Polar regions, hardly passing south of the Arctic circle except on the east and west coasts of North America, where it sometimes reaches Lat. 60°. It is most abundant on the shores of Spitzbergen, but is not found on the northern shores of Asia between Long. 80° and 160° E., or on the north shores of America from 100° to 150° west.

Its remains have been found fossil in Europe as far south as France, and in America as far as Virginia; but the small fragments discovered may render the identification uncertain.

Family 35.—PHOCIDÆ. (13 Genera, 21 Species.)

General Distribution.
Neotropical
Sub-regions.		Nearctic
Sub-regions.		Palæarctic
Sub-regions.		Ethiopian
Sub-regions.		Oriental
Sub-regions.		Australian
Sub-regions.
1 — — 4?1 — — 41. 2. 3. 4— — — —— — — —— 2. 3 —

The earless or true Seals are pretty equally divided between the Northern and Southern Hemispheres, frequenting almost exclusively the temperate and cold regions, except two species said to occur among the West Indian islands. The genus Phoca and its close allies, as well as Halichœrus and Pelagius, are northern; while Stenorhynchus and Morunga, with their allies, are mostly southern. The genera admitted by Dr. Gray in his catalogue are as follows:—

Callocephalus (3 species), Greenland, North Sea, also the Caspian Sea, and Lakes Aral and Baikal; Pagomys (2 species), North Sea, North Pacific, and Japan; Pagophilus (2 species), North Pacific and North Atlantic; Halicyon (1 species), North West coast of America; Phoca (2 species), North Atlantic and North Pacific, Japan; Halichœrus (1 species), Greenland, North Sea, and Baltic; Pelagius (2 species), Madeira, Mediterranean, Black Sea; Stenorhynchus (1 species), Antarctic Ocean, Falkland Islands, New Zealand; Lobodon (1 species), Antarctic Ocean; Leptonyx (1 species), Antarctic Ocean, South Australia, East Patagonia; Ommatophoca (1 species), Antarctic Ocean; Morunga (2 species), California, Falkland Islands, Temperate regions of Southern Ocean; Cystophora (2 species), North Atlantic, Antilles.

Fossil Seals.—Remains of living species of seals have been found in Post-tertiary deposits in many parts of Europe and in Algeria, as well as in New Zealand. Pristiphoca occitana is a fossil seal from the Pliocene of Montpellier, while a species of Phoca is said to have been found in the Miocene deposits of the United States.

General Remarks on the Distribution of the Carnivora.

Terrestrial Carnivora.—For the purposes of geographical distribution, the terrestrial and aquatic Carnivora differ too widely to be considered in one view, their areas being limited by barriers of a very different nature. The terrestrial Carnivora form a very extensive and considerably varied group of animals, having, with the doubtful exception of Australia, a world-wide distribution. Yet the range of modification of form is not very great, and the occurrence of three families consisting of but one species each, is an indication of a great amount of recent extinction. One of the most marked features presented by this group is its comparative scarcity in the Neotropical region, only four families being represented there (not counting the Ursidæ, which has only one Andean species), and both genera and species are few in number. Even the Procyonidæ, which are especially South American, have but two genera and six species in that vast area. We might therefore, from these considerations alone, conclude that Carnivora are a development of the northern hemisphere, and have been introduced into the Neotropical region at a comparatively recent epoch. The claim of the Nearctic region to be kept distinct from the Palæarctic (with which some writers have wished to unite it) is well maintained by its possession of at least six species of Mephitis, or skunk, a group having no close allies in any other region,—and the genera Procyon and Bassaris,—for the latter, ranging from the high lands of Guatemala and Mexico to Texas and California, may be considered a Nearctic rather than a Neotropical form. In the other families, the most marked feature is the total absence of Ursidæ from the Ethiopian region. The great mass of the generic forms of Carnivora, however, are found in the Oriental and Ethiopian regions, which possess all the extensive group of Viverridæ (except a few species in the fourth Palæarctic sub-region) and a large number of Felidæ and Mustelidæ.