EXTERNAL CHARACTERS. 



727 



Nearly all writers, from Fabricius to the present time, speak 

 of the hood as a sexual character. Mr. Carroll, whose famili- 

 arity with the species should render him an authority on this 



point, says distinctly : " The female of this species has no hood 

 on the head."* Mr. Brown, however, observes: "It is asserted 

 by the sealers that this bladder is a sexual mark, and is not 

 found on the female". But he adds: "I do not think there is 

 any just ground for this belief"; yet he presents no reasons for 



* Seal and Herring Fisheries of Newfoundland, p. 14. 



