Proceedings of the British Association. 359 
forming a distinct genus from Phoca, and described by him in the 
year 1820. It had been previously recorded by Fabricius, under 
the name of Phoca gryphus. It is common in the Baltic and North 
sea, and to be met with in Iceland, and attains a size of eight feet 
in length. In Sweden it was emphatically termed the sea seal in 
contradistinction to those which inhabited gulfs. He remarked that 
the name of Phoca vitulina had been applied by Linneus, and sub- 
sequent authors, to three distinct species, to which he had himself. 
given the names of barbata, variegata, and annellata. Of these he 
had ascertained that a specimen captured in the Severn, and now in 
the Bristol Institution, belonged to the annellata.—Dr. Scoular re- 
marked that the species which Prof. Nilsson had identified as his 
Haliocherus griseus, predominated’in Ireland over the Phoca vitu- 
lina, though it bad been hitherto neglected; and that the great dif- 
ference in the teeth of these species, justly entitled them to be con- 
sidered as forming distinct genera.—Dr. Riley exhibited the stomach 
of the specimen alluded to, as having been caught in the Severn, in 
which he had found from thirty to forty pebbles, and states that other 
instances had occurred of a similar nature ; and that it was a popular~ 
notion that they assisted the seal in the way of ballast whilst catching 
is prey, which it did by rising vertically upwards, and seizing it 
from below. But Sir Francis Mackenzie then asserted that he had 
repeatedly seen the seal chase salmon into the nets, and that it was 
not usual for it to capture its prey in the way described. Neither 
he nor Prof. Nilsson, nor Mr. Ball, had ever found stones in the 
stomach of this animal. 
Dr. Hancock read a paper on a new species of Norantea, from 
Guiana, termed by the natives Corocoromibi. 
Mr. Hope exhibited a remarkable specimen of the Lucanus came- 
lus, Fabr., from North America, the right side of which had the 
configuration of the male, and the left of the female sex. 
Mr. Hope read a communication, expressive of the probability 
that some of the early notions of antiquity were derived from observ- 
ations made on the habits of insects. 
Mr. P. Duncan offered a few remarks upon the subject of Mr. 
Hope’s speculations. 
Mr. G. Webb Hall commented on the effects of lime as vari- 
ously applied to different soils. 
