18 
cherus 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- 
yvan’s Phoca Barbata, (and the long-bodied seal of Parsons,) is 
formed of the skin of a Halicherus 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 Haliche- 
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 Halicherus. 
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 
