gray's accounts. 715 



and tear in the work of breaking shells. Yet it is remarkable 

 that the contents of the stomachs of those killed gave them no 

 insight into the nature of their food: they were invariably 

 emi)ty. 



" ' I must not omit to mention that our friends had one oppor- 

 tunity of closely observing the progression of the Seal when 

 ascending the beach. The advance was by zigzag movements. 

 It was evident that the ground was first grij)ped by one fore 

 flipper, then by the other, that the body advanced first to the 

 right, then to the left, as one or the other flipijer took its hold 

 of the e.arth, and helped the body onward. They seemed to 

 delight in basking in the sun, and to huddle together, and 

 grunt out their pleasure in each others' company.' 



"The skin of one of the si^ecimens obtained in this expedi- 

 tion Mr. Wilkie kindly presented to me ; a courtesy the value 

 of which was enhanced by the fact of its being one of the chief 

 of the ophna spoUa, a sort of trophy of his own exj^loits. It is 

 now in the British Museum. As the skull was not preserved, 

 the actual identity of the species with the smaller specimen, 

 described by Mr. Hill, cannot with certainity be established ; 

 and there seems a little discrepancy in the i^roportions, as will 

 be seen by comijaring the admeasurements of Mr. Hill's, already 

 given, with the following, which were taken from Mr. Wilkie's 

 specimen : 



Feet. Inches. 



Lengtli from nose to tip of tail 6 6 



Circumference at fore paws 3 4 



Length of fore paw 11^ 



Length of hind paw lOf 



Length of tail 2 



"The fur is of a nearly uniform dirty ash-gray, black at the 

 base, and gray at the tips of the han\s ; it is slightly mottled on 

 the belly ; it is very close and stiff, and not more than one- 

 fourth of an inch long. The vibrissce or whiskers are from an 

 inch to an inch and three-quarters long ; white, with one on 

 each side brown." * 



Gray's Accounts, 1849-1874. Mr. Gosse, as appears from 

 the foregoing, transmitted a specimen to the British Museum, 



* A Naturalist's Sojourn in Jamaica. By Philip Henry Gosse, A. L. S., 

 fec. Assisted by Richard Hill, Esq., Cor. M. Z. S. Lond., Mem. Counc. 

 Roy. Soc. Agric. of Jamaica. Loudon: Longman, Brown, Green, and 

 Longmans, IciSl, pji. 107-114. 



