Abstract:
Fossil seal remains from Richmond, Virginia, first reported by Wyman in 1850, and named Phoca wymani by Leidy in 1853, have been neglected and unjustifiably regarded as cetacean by most subsequent authors. Recently recognized parts of the holotype and other material, in part recently collected in Richmond, show that the species is a monachine seal, here called Monotherium? wymani (Leidy, 1853a). It is derived from Miocene beds that are definitely older than the Yorktown Formation and probably correlative with the Calvert Formation of Maryland. Thus Monotherium? wymani is probably the oldest known monachine. Other evidence of fossil phocids in eastern North America is reviewed.
