18 



chaerns may always be distinguished from other seals, by 

 its straight profile, fierce aspect, and greater proportionate 

 length. He mentioned the fact of his having discovered that 

 the specimen in the British Museum, so long known as Dono- 

 van's Phoca Barbata,(and the long-bodied seal of Parsons,) is 

 formed of the skin of a Hahchaerus improperly stuffed ; and 

 he noticed the mistakes to which this has given origin. 



Mr. Ball next gave instances of the occurrence in this 

 country of the Phoca Vitulina, (P. variegata Nils.) which he 

 considered identical with the seal stated by Sir E. Home 

 (Phil. Trans. 1822) to have been killed in the Orkneys, 

 though it appears from the cranium figured as if a few teeth 

 of the P. Groenlandica were inserted into the upper jaw. 

 The author related some anecdotes of the interesting and 

 beautiful specimen now in the Zoological Gardens ; con- 

 trasted the species in structure and habits with the Hahchae- 

 rus ; and expressed his dissent from the statement put for- 

 ward in Mr. Bell's British Quadrupeds, on the authority of 

 Professor Nilsson,that the oblique position of the molar teeth 

 in P. Vitulina was a specific character of unerring value. He 

 has shown, in fact, that the obliquity in question arose from 

 the insufficient development of the jaws in early life, which 

 contracted the space for the teeth ; and that it disappeared 

 long before the skull reached its maximum size, and par- 

 tially occurred in the young Halichaerus. 



Mr. Ball then alluded to the seal taken in the Severn, 

 which Professor Nilsson pronounced to be his Phoca Annel- 

 lata ; but which has since been stated, with the Professor's 

 concurrence, to be the P. Groenlandica. He expressed 

 his doubts as to the justness of this conclusion, observing 

 that the Groenlandica was a large species, while the Severn 

 seal was certainly a small one. He further showed that the 

 form of the inter-maxillary bones, where they joined the 

 nasal, was quite sufficient to distinguish it from the specimen 

 figured by Sir E. Home, in the paper before referred to ; and 



