THE GREAT SEAL. 73 



The females, according to Fabricius, produce each 

 only one young one at a birth, and this generally 

 about the month of March, upon the masses of ice 

 which float about in the open sea*. According to 

 the account of Linnaeus, (who, however, it must be 

 observed, had by no means the same opportunity 

 of ascertaining the fact as Fabricius, from his long 

 residence in Greenland, had,) the females generally 

 produce two young ones each, about the months 

 of November or Decemberf 



The Great Seal which was described by Dr Par- 

 sons in the Philosophical Transactions, was exhi- 

 bited at Charing Cross, in February, 1742 3. 

 The claws on its fore-feet were very large and 

 broad, somewhat resembling, in appearance, those 

 of a mole. The toes were connected by a web, or 

 membrane. The membranes of the hinder feet 

 were much the longest. This Seal, though so young 

 as to have scarcely any teeth, was upwards of seven 

 feet in length. It was a female, and had four small 

 holes, placed in the angles of a square, round the 

 navel, which were evidently the marks of four 

 small teats. It died very shortly after it was ex- 

 hibited. 



On dissection, the spleen was found to be two 

 feet in length, four inches broad, and exceedingly 



* Fauna Groenlandica, p. 16. 

 t Syst. Nat. Gmel. i. p. 65. 



thin. 



i 



