gled more than twenty-five minutes without ever performing a single respiration, and when brought to the surface was still alive."*

Fabricius states that this species frequents the high seas round Greenland, especially delighting in the floating fragments of ice; that it resorts to land principally in the spring time, and is then found among the retired islets. Giesecké says it is seldom met with on the coasts of West Greenland. In these quarters it is regarded both timid and incautious; and the older ones are remarked to swim but slowly. It is highly esteemed by the Greenlanders. Though it does not yield much oil, yet its lard is deemed "most delicious." The flesh has also been stated by Pennant to be as white as veal and hence it is regarded as the most delicate of any.

We may here introduce the few observations contained in the manuscript so often alluded to, concerning the third variety of the Western Islands, in the hope that further attention will be directed to the subject.

"The Bodach, or old man, is by much the least of all the Seals with which I am acquainted; and, indeed, so small, that for a long time I entertained the idea (contrary to the firm opinion of the natives) that it was the young of the Common Seal. This view, however, I consider to be erroneous, for they are not even the size of a Seal three months old of the common kind. Besides, they are frequently killed of this size with grey beards and decayed teeth. I have frequently noticed that when on shore, on the same rock with other Seals, they do not lie near them, but a little way apart. They are but few in number, and I cannot recollect of seeing any two of them together. They are not, however, at all so shy as the Common Seal, nor so solitary as the Tapvaist."

Loc. cit. 295.

THE PIED SEAL.

PLATE VI.

Phoca bicolor, Cuv. Pied Seal of Pen. Shaw, Bingley, Fleming.

THOUGH there are no data by which to determine the genus to which this Seal belongs, yet as associated with British species, this is probably the best place to introduce the scanty notice which we have of it.

A curious mistake was committed in relation to this Seal. Pennant, who first described, and furnished a good engraving of it, considered it as the same as the White-bellied Seal of Buffon, and attached this appellation as a synonym. The next Seal he noticed in his treatise was the Monk Seal of Herman, so making this last distinct from that of Buffon, who, however, had described the identical animal which was so accurately examined by Herman. Dr Shaw followed Mr Pennant in his errors, which led Baron Cuvier to remark-"The Seal (Ph. bicolor) which Pennant regarded as a variety of the Ph. à ventre blanc is very far from belonging to that species." No one can look at the two

Oss. Foss. v. 215.

figures without perceiving there is a great difference between them.

It is true, that, with regard to this creature, we desiderate all the interesting and accurate information which we have regarding the Monk Seal. Though it was seen by thousands, it was examined by none. The respect, however, which we owe to the name of the celebrated Pennant forbids us altogether to disregard his indication of it. "I first," says he, "saw this Seal at Chester; it was taken near that city in May 1766. On the first capture its skin was naked, like that of the Porpoise, and only the head, and a small spot beneath each leg, was hairy. Before it died the hair began to grow on other parts. The fore part of the head was black, whilst the hind part of the head and the throat were white ; beneath each fore-leg there was a spot of the same colour; the hind feet were a dull white colour; the rest of the animal was entirely black. It was probably a young one. Its nose was taper, and elongated, and the feet exhibited the usual peculiarities of its congeners."* Mr Jenyns, in the "Manual of British Vertebrate Animals," remarks, that this Seal is probably only a variety of the Common Seal.†

273.

History of British Quadrupeds, vol. ii. Second Edition, † See Manual, &c. 1835, p. 16.

THE HARP, OR GREENLAND SEAL.

Ph. Grænlandica.-MUL.

PLATE VII.

SPECIFIC CHARACTERS.-Molars arranged in a straight line, with a small interval between them; anterior tubercle obsolete; posterior margin of palate-bones almost directly

transverse.

Ph. Groenlandica, Mul. Fab. Desm. (No. 376,) Calocephalus Grænlandicus, F. Cuv. Less. Identified by Baron Cuvier with the Ph. Oceanica of Lepechin. Attersoak of Crantz. Semilunaris Boddaert; Crescent Seal of Buff. Harp Seal and Half-Moon Seal of Pen. Shaw, and Newfoundland Hunters. j

By glancing at the synonyms, it will be observed that Muller, Fabricius, and Crantz, are the principal authorities for this Seal. Crantz states that it is nearly nine feet long, which, judging from the accounts of the far more accurate Fabricius, is a great exaggeration. He adds, it is almost wholly of a

3.1.6

light grey colour, with a black marking on its back, like two half-moons. This marking accurately corresponds with that represented in our plate, which Major C. Hamilton Smith appears to have taken from a specimen in the Museum of Prince Maximilian of Neuveid.* Crantz designates it neither Groenlandica nor Oceanica, but by the vernacular name Attersoak. Fabricius, after identifying it with this Attersoak, tells us that his Groenlandica is six feet long; that its dental formulary is 6-38; its colour is white on the forehead, with a great moon-shaped marking of a black colour on the sides. The muzzle is said to be very prominent; and the eyes, ears, tongue, and feet, to be the same as in the P. vitulina. Crantz' account of the successive markings is not very specific, yet as bearing on the difficulties of distinguishing species, we shall subjoin it. He states that, when new born, the Grænlandica is quite white and woolly,† whereas other kinds are smooth and coloured. In the first year it is cream-coloured; in the second grey; in the third painted with stripes; in the fourth spotted; and in the fifth it wears its half-moons, as the sign of its maturity. Baron Cuvier remarks that he possessed skins both of the adult and young. He states that the fur is drier, and adheres closer to the skin, and is freer of wool at its base than other species; each

• See Griffiths' Cuvier, t. ii. 506.

Lepechin maintains this is a mistake, and applies only to the young of the Hare Seal. Act. Acad. Scient. Russ. Petrop. An. 1777.