202 COMMON SEAL. 



Feet, Inches 



Length to end of tail 3 ]Q 



Length of head 8 



Length of tail 3 



Circumference of neck anteriorly 1 6^ 

 Circumference of neck at the base . . 1 10 

 Circumference of body behind the fore feet 2 5 

 Circumference of body at its thickest part . 2 7 

 Circumference of body at hind part of thorax 2 2 

 Circumference of body at root of tail, includ- 

 ing feet 1 



Breadth between fore legs 10 



Length of free part of fore foot 7i 

 Length of free part of hind foot ..09 



This species varies in colour as well as in size. 

 The young are at first of a light bluish-grey above, 

 clouded with darker, yellowish-grey beneath, and 

 the first coat of hair is longer and more bristled 

 than the rest. "When the pile is about to be shed, 

 it becomes of a uniform pale greyish-yellow or 

 whitish tint. In young individuals the spots are 

 darker and more numerous ; in very old ones, they 

 are few, larger, and generally brown. The claws, 

 at first flattened or cylindrical, become deeper and 

 more or less carinate, often triangular in their 

 transverse section. 



The Common Seal frequents estuaries, sea-lochs, 

 bays, and the channels between islands, where it 

 maybe seen occasionally protruding its head above 

 the surface, sometimes following a boat or vessel at 

 a distance, but generally keeping beyond reach of 



