176 



HARD WICKE 'S S CI EN CE-GO SSI P. 



THE SEALS AND WHALES OF THE 



BRITISH SEAS. 



No. HI. 



By Thomas Southwell, F.Z.S., <S;c. 



'Tj'^HE Hooded or Bladder-nosed Seal, Cysto- 

 X phora crislala (Erxleben), fig. 149, has occurred 

 at least twice upon our shores. In June, 1S47, a young 

 one was killed in the Orwell, and is now in the 

 Ipswich Museum, and in 1872 a second young one 

 was killed in Scotland near St. Andrews. Others 

 are believed to have been obtained in the Orkneys, 

 and a seal supposed to be of this species was seen off 



temperate waters of Europe and America. It is poly- 

 gamous and migratory in its habits : during the 

 rutting season it is very pugnacious, and Dr. Brown 

 says great battles take place between the males, and 

 their roaring is said to be so loud that it can be heard 

 for miles off. The young, which are born in April, 

 are pure white at first, which changes to gre)-, and 

 gradually becomes darker till it assumes the adult 

 colour and markings, which it appears to do about 

 the fourth year ; the colour then is " dark chestnut or 

 black, with a greater or less number of round or oval 

 markings of a still deeper hue." The adult is fur- 

 nished with a curious bladder-like ap]iendage, com- 



Fig. 148. CiYcy ?!&3.\{Halichtrrus £:>yj'/iiis, l"al).). 



the Irish coast near Westport. "In Hollingshed's 

 'Chronicles,' in the year 1577, 'sundry fishes of 

 monstrous shape, with cowls on their heads like 

 monks, and in the rest resembling the body of a 

 man, ' are said to have occurred in the Firth of Forth'' 

 (Bell's "Brit. Quads."), the appearance of which 

 was of course followed by pestilence and famine. 

 Throughout the Polar seas this species is widely 

 distriliuted, being found in the Greenland seas, Ice- 

 land, and Spit/.bergen, also occasionally in the 



mencing at the nostrils, with which it is connected, 

 and continued upwards to the forehead : tliis when 

 inflated presents a very remarkable appearance ; 

 when the animal is at rest it remains flaccid, but when 

 irritated or excited it is blown up to its full extent. 

 It is generally supposed that tlie "bladder " is found 

 only in the male, l>ut Dr. Brown does not think there 

 is any just ground for lliis belief. The Bladder-nose 

 Seal is fierce in its nature and dangerous to attack ; 

 although not actually taking the initiative, it is always 



