SEAL GROUP, OR PHOCID.E. 125 



and hence it is next to impossible to ascertain the 

 species to which all the earlier accounts refer ; and 

 the more so as some additional difficulties arise as 

 connected with the colour. This is a subject which 

 would require an extent of discussion into which 

 we cannot enter. The appearance, when dry and 

 out of the water, is often different from what it is 

 when wet and in it. Again, it seems established 

 that some species differ much each successive year, 

 till full age is attained ; and that in some, too, the. 

 male is very differently marked from the female ; 

 circumstances these, which have a tendency to in- 

 duce the splitting of one species into many. Fur- 

 ther, it has been stated, " that in many specimens of 

 the same species, of both sexes and all ages, no two 

 are precisely similar ;" in short, that some differ in 

 colour as much as our Pointers or Greyhounds ; and 

 this remark has been freely applied to many genera. 

 We would here, however observe, that this conclu- 

 sion should be drawn with caution, and it ought 

 not, on the contrary, to be forgotten, that there is 

 great uniformity in the colours of many kinds, both 

 whilst young, and in the adult state. Frequent 

 evidence will subsequently be afforded of this truth ; 

 and without dwelling longer upon the subject, we 

 will now refer only to the Vitulina of the Scottish 

 shores, to the Rough or Bristled, and finally to 

 the Fur Seal. The ascertaining of this uniformity 

 where it really exists, would contribute much to the 

 ready determination of species. 



When Baron Cuvier, fifteen years ago, examined 



