184 LEOPARD SEAL. 



neys,) I sent the second mate to take them, who 

 soon returned with six he had captured." This 

 creature resembles the quadruped of the same name 

 in being spotted ; one is deposited in the Edinburgh 

 Museum ; and Professor Jameson has kindly com- 

 municated to us a description of the animaL He 

 considers it a new species of Phoca, and gives it the 

 following distinguishing characters : " Leopardine 

 Seal. The neck long and tapering, tne head small ; 

 the body pale greyish above, yellowish below, and 

 back spotted with pale white. This species to be 

 referred to the division Stenorhynque of F. Cuvier ; 

 the teeth, however, do not quite agree with those of 

 the Ph. Leptonyx, nor with those of Sir E. Home, 

 figured in pi. 29 of Phil. Trans. 1822." Mr W. 

 again says " In the evening the boat returned, 

 having coasted these islands for fifty miles. They 

 had found some Sea-Leopards, the skins of which 

 they brought on board." About a week afterwards 

 he writes " In the evening the boats returned with 

 two Seals, and ten Leopard skins ;" and once more, 

 when off the Shetlands, " Some Sea- Leopards have 

 been seen."* Beyond these sentences there is not 

 in the volume before us another word about this 

 Seal, of which, however, he talks as familiarly as. of 

 one of our domestic animals. The scantiness of the 

 details, we have no doubt, arose from his conviction 

 that Naturalists were quite familiar with this ani- 

 mal, when in truth it was to them wholly unknown. 



Voy. p. 22, 24, 134. 



