138 CATALOGUE OF THE MAMMALIA OF 
P. J. Selby, Esq., was the first to point out the error, and to 
refer it to the Halicherus Grypus of Nilsson. In the same paper 
he describes the habits and economy of the animal, and states 
that one Seal hunter killed no less than 75 young Seals in the 
year 1772, and on another occasion 14 old ones in one day on the 
Crimston Rock, one of the smallest islets of the Fern Islands 
group, on which they chiefly calve. Mr. Selby states that the 
calving takes place about the 10th or 15th of November, but this 
date seems not to be quite regular in all cases, as a fine adult 
female taken on the Northumberland Coast on the 8th October, 
1858, contained a fully developed foetus, exceeding in size the 
dimensions of the young after birth given by Mr. Selby. This 
individual must, we think, have calved within a very few days of 
its capture. The adult specimen and calf were purchased by the 
Natural History Society and stuffed by Mr. John Hancock, and 
are now exhibited in the Newcastle Museum. They were both 
described by that gentleman in a short paper in our Transac- 
tions, vol. iv, p. 43. (See figure.) 
The adult female measures upwards of 7 feet in length, and 4 
feet 10 inches in girth immediately behind the fore feet. The 
young one is 3 feet 34 inches in length, and is covered with long 
silky hair, of a uniform dirty white or cream colour, much softer 
and longer than that of the adult, which is of a silvery grey of 
variable intensity with darker spots or blotches disposed chiefly 
about the sides of the neck and on the fore legs. The hair is 
stiff and short and darker in colour towards the base, so that a 
specimen appears much darker when viewed by a person standing 
at the tail, than when he looks at it from the head, as in the 
former position his eye to some extent penetrates the fur. 
The male attains to a greater size than the female, sometimes 
measuring 9 feet in length. Its favourite food is the Lump Fish. 
The curious convolute or twisted character of the whiskers and 
of the bristles about the eye is well shown in the specimen in the 
Museum. 
