PROCEEDINGS 
OF 
THE ROYAL [IRISH ACADEMY. 
1836—1837. No. 2. 
December 12. 
RICHARD GRIFFITH, Esgq., ‘in the Chair. 
A parer was read “On the Seals of Ireland, (Phocidz.)” 
By Robert Ball, Esq., M.R. I. A. 
The author stated the circumstances by which he was 
led to discover that the seal of most frequent occurrence on 
the Irish coast was not defined as a British species, together 
with the subsequent identification of that animal, by Profes- 
sor Nilsson, as the Halichzrus Griseus of his Scandinavian 
Fauna, (Phoca Gryphus of Fabricius,) found in the Baltic 
and North Sea. He asserted, however, that the habits of 
the Halicherus of this country differed so much from those 
ascribed to it in the Baltic, that it appeared to him not un- 
likely, on comparison, to prove a distinct species. He showed ° 
that the colour of the animal here varied so much from sex, 
age, season, &c. that it could not be considered of any value 
as a character of species in the present state of our know- 
ledge of the subject. He alluded to the very small size of 
the brain compared with that of the genus Phoca, and stated 
that the intellectual powers bore the same proportion. Mr. 
Ball then proceeded to show that the simple form of the 
teeth of Halicherus (approaching closely to those of some 
species of Delphinus) furnished sufficient grounds for sepa- 
rating it from the genus Phoca ; and observed, that the Hali- 
c 
