4 II. W. MAUETT TIMS. 



(No. 24) the pigment was confined to the cutis, the liair but just showing through the 

 skin on the IxkIv, though it was rather more evident on the head. In the older 

 sjieoimen (No. 25) the UhW was covered witli hair, the limlis alone being naked. The 

 .li.rsjil a.>«i>ect of the trunk is of a uniform dark olive-greon colour, the ventral surface 

 being paler, more particularly in the region of the throat where the colour tends to 

 yellow. Along the side.s of the Wly are numerous elongated "spla.shes" of a 

 yellowish-groy colour. Similar spla.shes, though less numerous, are also present on 

 the ventral surface. The limbs are very dark in colour, the plantar surfaces of the 

 toes being almost black. Both manus and pes are destitute of hair. Even in this 

 specimen the pigment is largely present in tlic cutis, from which it seems to travel up 

 into the hairs.* 



At what age the colouration makes its appearance is uncertain, as there is a very 

 considerable difference in size and age between the oldest uncoloured specimen (No. 23) 

 and the two under consideration. 



These animals appear to undergo considerable alteration in colour shortly after 

 birth. Major Barrett-Hamilton (/t«T. eiV.) describes the .skin of a young raalc(?t]iree 

 months) as being slatoy-grey above and dirty white on the under surface of both body 

 and flippers. The " splashes " mentioned above seem to be of a more permanent 

 character, for the same author speaks of a " series of dirty white spots running 

 obliquely forwards, arranged almost in rows and give the impression that they are 

 di.scontinuous streak.s." This impression is not confirmed by these specimens. The 

 post-natal alteration in colour is probably due to a shedding of the hair. 



Hair. — As already mentioned tlie hair is just emerging through the skin of the 

 trunk in fa-tus No. 24. In the oldest specimen (No. 25) the hair on the body was 



5 mm. in length and about half as long again on the head. The hairs are straight, 

 with a .slight tendency to curl, soft and smooth ; they are closely apposed to the 

 surface and firmly adherent to the skin by their roots. Over the bodv the general 

 direction is backwanls, but on the limbs the hair slopes towards the borders and away 

 from the median line of the limb itself 



Seen under a lens the hair is of uniform diameter throughout the greater part of 

 its length, but towards the free extremity it tapei-s .somewhat abruptly to a point. 

 Pigment is visible in the central axis nf the tajiering portion but is ab.sent from the 

 remainder c»f the hair. 



The different genera of the Phocidae exhibit diflerences in tlio nature of the early 

 hairy covering and also as to the period of .shedding. Wright, quoted by Turner (11), 

 describes the hair in P/ioca vifuliim as long, whitish, curly or woolly, and shed " in 

 Htero " in the early part of June ; the hairs of the newly-ljorn being of the same colour 

 and quality as tho.se of the mother. This, Wright thinks, is consistent with the fact 



• At i» inccling of tlio British Aiwociation (or the Advanceiucnt of Science at Leicester, in 1007, rrofcBsor 

 Simrotli drew nttentinn to a similar (act in Cricrtu* frumentariu; in which the bhick pigment in the young 

 iminwl is found only in the cutis, but later on in the liair. 



