6 The Scottish Naturalist. 



cent, perforated." From these and other instances that could 

 be mentioned, it seems pretty evident that it will be ultimately- 

 found that Palaeolithic man, as well as the seals and others, had 

 each alike a canal through which the great nerve, and some- 

 times the great artery, of the fore-limb passed. 



The above is the first record, so far as I can learn, of the 

 occurrence of C. cristata anywhere on the coasts or seas around 

 Scotland, and I can find no notice of its appearance in Ireland. 

 It has been obtained, apparently, once only, on the coast of 

 England, a specimen having been captured in Orwell River, 

 on the 29th June, 1847.* This was a young animal, and 

 measured fifty-two inches in length; it was described and 

 figured by Mr. W. B. Clark, and presented to the Museum of 

 Ipswich. There was another example of this Seal taken at lTle 

 d'Ole'ron in 1843, and both the animal and skull were figured 

 and described by Professor Gervais,t who states that it was the 

 only one obtained on their coast; it was also a young individual, 

 about forty inches long, and was placed in the Museum in 

 Paris. Gervais' description and figures, more especially of the 

 skull, agree closely in the main with the seal and skull above 

 described, with the exception of the neck, which appears to be 

 represented much shorter in his specimen than this part was in 

 mine. Dr. De Kay % gives a good description of an individual 

 of this species that was killed in 1824 about fifteen miles from 

 New York. He states that this was the first time so far as he 

 knew that this seal had been met with within the limits of the 

 United States. It was ninety and one-half inches long, and 

 apparently an oldish animal, marked on the back with irregular 

 patches of grey and dark brown, and had the hood on the front of 

 the head prominently displayed. This appendage, whatever may 

 be its real use in the ceconomy of the animal, as to which there has 

 been various theories, is not developed until it arrives towards 

 maturity. There was no indication of it on the heads of the 

 young seals above noticed. Drs. Ludlow and King give some 

 interesting anatomical details of the New York specimen in 

 the same volume. De Kay§ described the same individual 



* Zoologist, 1847. + Zoologie et Paldontologie Francaises. 



% Annals, Lyceum Nat. Hist. New York, Vol. i, 1824. 



§ Nat. Hist, of New York, Vol. 1, 1842. 



