The Scottish Naturalist. 7 



eighteen years afterwards, and again states that it was the only- 

 one that had been found within their territorial limits. It 

 would thus appear that this species is rarely met with within 

 the temperate regions of both sides of the Atlantic. Nilsson 

 includes it in his Scandinavian fauna, where, from its habitat, 

 it is probably not uncommon on the more frigid parts of that 

 coast. Lammont,|| however, does not seem to have recognized 

 it during his expedition to the Spitzbergen seas. According to 

 Lloyd * "this seal is an occasional visitor to the more northern 

 of the Scandinavian coasts, and that on the coast of Norway 

 its singular look has given rise, amongst the fishermen and 

 others, to many superstitious and fabulous stories. Klakkekallan, 

 the name by which he is there known, appears, according to 

 these men, in the form of a large and hairy black man, with 

 fingers so grown together as to resemble fins, and having a cap 

 on his head. He is rarely seen, they say, but affirm that dur- 

 ing tempests he is sometimes driven on the rocks and perishes." 

 This has apparently somewhat of the old mermaid super- 

 stition still hanging about it ; and the following animal, the 

 account of which is given by Lloyd, from Holberg's History 

 of Denmark, was considered at the time of its capture — 

 although he does not say so — to be a genuine specimen of that 

 fabulous creature, which had so long haunted the fears and 

 imaginations of the ancients. "In December, 1549, there was 

 captured in the sound, near the town of Malmo, a fish of 

 unheard-of size and most remarkable shape. It had a head 

 like unto that of a man, and on the top of it a crown resembling 

 a monk's cowl. The King, Christian III, caused this fish to 

 be preserved; and sent a drawing of it to the Emperor Charles 

 in Spain." It would appear that this was the same animal as 

 that noticed by Hvitfeld.t He says it was caught in Oresund, 

 and brought to Copenhagen, and there buried by his majesty's 

 order, because the head resembled that of a human creature, 

 with cropped hair, and covered with a monk's hood. Ronde- 

 letus % describes and figures this animal as a veritable specimen 

 of a merman. The figure was given to him by Margaret, Queen 

 of Navarre, and certainly had the animal been anything like the 



II Seasons with the Sea Horses. * Game Birds, &c., Sweden and Norway. 

 + Pontoppidan, Nat. Hist., Norway, 1755. % Gesnerus, Hist. Anim., 1604. 



