Mr. Selby on the Great Seal of the Farm Islands. 4G3 



crania of certain Seals killed upon the Irish coast, and exhi- 

 bited by Mr. Ball as those of Halichcerus griseus ; and the same 

 learned naturalist afterwards pronounced the specimen al- 

 ready referred to in the British Museum as also belonging 

 to that animal. From Mr. Ball himself, at a subsequent 

 Meeting at Liverpool, I received the outlines of the crania 

 and dental formulae of several British Seals, including those 

 of the adult and young Halichcerus griseus, in order that I 

 might compare them with the skulls of any Seals I might 

 meet with upon the eastern coast, and particularly with that 

 of the Great Seal of the Farn Islands. No opportunity, how- 

 ever, of doing so occurred for two seasons ; and it was not 

 until the last summer (when a full-grown animal of the Farn 

 species, was taken a few miles to the north of these islands, and 

 fortunately sent to the Kelso Museum) that its station w T as 

 correctly ascertained, as, upon dissection by Dr. F. Douglas, 

 it was found to agree in every essential character with the 

 Halichcerus griseus, Nills., as described in Bell's e British 

 Quadrupeds/ Since then, or within the last two months, in 

 consequence of having requested the person who at present 

 rents these islands to send me the heads of any Seals he might 

 be fortunate enough to kill, at the usual time of his visiting the 

 island to which they retire to calve, (which they do about the 

 10th or 15th of November,) I have had an opportunity of exa- 

 mining three heads, which I received in a fresh state about 

 six weeks ago, one being that of an adult female, the other 

 two belonging to younger animals, all of which upon exami- 

 nation proved to belong to Halichcerus griseus, agreeing in 

 every essential character with Mr. BelFs description of that 

 animal, and with the drawings given me by Mr. Ball ; and as 

 no other species of Seal has hitherto been recognised or met 

 with by those who for a long series of years have been in the 

 habit of seeing and taking these animals in this particular lo- 

 cality, I have now scarcely a doubt but that the whole of the 

 colony that has so long inhabited the Farn Islands belongs to 

 this species. 



I shall conclude this notice with a few observations on the 

 habits and oeconomy of these animals, gleaned not only from 

 the frequent visits I have myself made to the Farn Islands, 

 but also from the long experience of a respectable individual, 

 now upwards of eighty years of age, who succeeded his father, 

 and continued to rent these islands till within the last eight 

 or ten years. From his account it appears that these Seals 

 were much more abundant some forty or fifty years ago than 

 they are now, which he partly attributes to the great destruc- 

 tion he himself committed among them (having been a first- 



