40 THE BRITISH MAMMALS I THEIR GENERA AND SPECIES, 



Halichcerus. Plate ix. CARNIVORA. 



33- grypus, GREY SEAL. Colour grey, spotted and blotched with 



blackish brown ; whiskers crinkly. 



The Grey Seal has a short, somewhat flattened, head, a broad 

 muzzle, and an arched skull. In the upper jaw are three incisors, a 

 canine, four premolars, and one molar; in the lower are two incisors, 

 a canine, four premolars, and a molar. The premolars have but one 

 root, and the crowns are large, conical, and recurved. It has a 

 claw on each toe, the hind claws being all about the same length. 



GREY SEAL. 

 (Halichcerus grypus.) 



In colour it ranges through almost every shade of grey to the 

 darkest ; in length it has been measured at eight feet. Like the 

 other seals it would seem to spend much of its time out of water 

 in fine weather. It is a native species, frequenting rocky islands off 

 the cost of Ireland and among the Shetlands and Hebrides. It has 

 not as yet been found out of the North Atlantic. In British 

 waters the young are born in October or thereabouts, but in Norway 

 not until February. 



Hyperoodon. Plate xxii. CRT ACE A. 



60. rostratus, BOTTLENOSE WHALE. Skull crested, head elevated ; 

 beak broad and short ; tail without notch. 



Twice a year this whale appears off the Shetlands on its migra- 

 tion, and at odd times it is met with off the east coast and even in 

 the English Channel. It is at once recognisable by its beak, which 

 is more conspicuous in the female, and by its large head, which is of 

 the same character as that of the sperm-whale, but more rounded. Its 

 only teeth are a pair in the fore part of the lower jaw, which are longer 

 in the males. The throat is expansible, and therefore grooved. 

 The eye is in a line with the angle of the mouth. The blowhole is 



