u 



[Phoca hispida, Schreber. — The Ringed or Marbled Seal may 

 perhaps be the " Bodach " (lit., old man) of the Hebrideans, a small 

 and rare species reported by M'Neil of Colonsay to the late Mr. J. 

 Wilson (May. Zool. and Bot., I., p. 541-544). No recent Scottish 

 specimens have, however, been yet recorded, although fossil remains 

 in brick-clays of various localities have been identified by Prof. 

 Turner (P. U.S. Edin., 1869-70, pp. 105-114, and Jour. Anat. and 

 Phys., iv., pp. 260-270). One specimen has been taken on the 

 coast of Norfolk (Bell's Br. Quad., 2nd ed., p. 249), and the supposed 

 existence of the species in the Hebrides is worthy of further in- 

 vestigation.] 



18. Phoca groenlandica, Fabricius. 



Greenland or Harp Seal. 



There can be little doubt that this large Seal occasionally visits 

 the coasts of Scotland, although the existing records are far from 

 satisfactory. Macgillivray doubtfully referred a young Seal taken 

 in the Firth of Forth to the present species, and mentions a second 

 specimen in the University Museum of Edinburgh (Nat. Libr., 

 XXII., p. 210), but Prof. Turner informs me that the latter cannot 

 now be identified. The late Mr. H. D. Graham believed that he 

 saw three examples in Jura, and thought that the species was con- 

 fused by the islanders with the Gray Seal under the name of 

 •'Tapvaist" (P.N.H.S. Ghcsg., i., pp. 53-54); and Mr. Harvie- 

 Brown saw what he fully believes to have been four examples of 

 Phoca groenlandica in the Sound of Harris in 1870. The late Dr. 

 Saxby says that the Greenland Seal is not very rare in Shetland 

 during bad weather (Zoologist, 1864, p. 9090); but the only thoroughly 

 well-authenticated British-killed specimen yet recorded is one in 

 the Kendal Museum, which was taken on the coast of Lancashire 

 in 1868, and identified by Mr. Thos. Gough and Prof. Turner 

 (Jonr. Anat. and Phys., IX., pp. 163-165). 



19. Cystophora cristata (Erxleben). 



Hooded Seal. 



A rare straggler. Baikie and Heddle state that specimens are 

 " said to have been killed at Rousay and at Papa Westra," and 

 give the Orcadian name of " Bladder-nosed Seal," by which the 

 species is well known to the northern whalers (Hist. Nat. Ore, pp. 

 13, 98), and Mr. Howard Saunders was this year assured that the 



