]40 COMMON SEAL 



confirmed by the authority of Cuvier himself, who 

 knowing that the Dutch variety, as described by 

 Albinus, (and which we have identified with the 

 Seal of the Scottish coasts,) had long been con- 

 founded with the Phoque Commun of the French 

 coast, was disposed to distinguish them ;* and in 

 this decision he is followed by his brother.j 



The length of the Common Seal of the French 

 coast is stated, by nearly all the native Naturalists 

 with the exception of Baron Cuvier, to be about 

 three feet ; he, however, gives it as between four and 

 five. The ground of the robe is a pale yellowish- 

 grey, clouded and spotted in the upper part of the 

 "body with a dark grey, arising from the hair in these 

 parts being black. The circumference of the eyes 

 and muzzle, the lower portions of the body, and the 

 feet, are of a pale yellowish-grey, becoming almost 

 white underneath : the upper part of the muzzle 

 and tail are sometimes brown ; the nails are black 

 and strong. 



The individual represented in the two figures on 

 the accompanying plate, taken from M F. Cuvier's 

 Mammiferes, was still young : it measured two feet 

 eight inches, from the end of the snout to the tip of 

 the tail ; and the length of this member was three 

 and a half inches. In the plate it is represented 

 both whilst wet and dry, that the differences in these 

 two states may be exhibited. When the animal 

 comes out of the water, all the upper part of the 



Loc. cit. p. 202. t Mamm. Mar. 1824. 



