GREY SEAL. 263 



large in proportion to the brain-case, which is much 

 narrowed ; the nasal opening is extremely large, the hind 

 margin of the bony palate is concavely rounded, and the 

 posterior foramena open on the palatine bones. The 

 grinders are conical, and very simple in form, with 

 hardly any tubercules, and only the last two of the 

 upper, and the last one of the lower jaw, have double 

 roots. Externally the body is elongated, the head 

 flattened, and the muzzle deep and obliquely truncated. 



The Grey Seal inhabits the temperate northern seas 

 rather than the polar waters. It frequents the shores of 

 the North Sea and Baltic, and is well known on the 

 coasts of Iceland, Scandinavia, Denmark, and North 

 Germany. According to Blasius, it is the commonest 

 species in Iceland, where (as in Ireland) it is more 

 gregarious than in the Baltic. Dr. R. Brown cannot 

 claim it with certainty as a native of Greenland, though 

 he believes that it sometimes visits the southern parts 

 along with the Harp Seal, and Herr Malmgren states 

 that it is unknown at Spitzbergen, but considers it to 

 be the Gronfdlg of the Laps, occasionally seen in small 

 numbers on the coast of Finmark. 



The existence of a very large Seal on the British 

 coasts has long been known, but it was always referred 

 to Ph. barbata, and it is to the investigations of Mr. 

 Ball of Dublin that we are indebted for its proper 

 identification. That gentleman having obtained speci- 

 mens in Ireland which he was unable to name, brought 

 the matter before the British Association in 1836, when 

 his specimens were recognized by Prof. Nilsson as 

 belonging to his Halicharus griseus. On examining 

 Donovan's Orkney Seal, attributed to Ph. barbata, in the 

 British Museum, Mr. Ball found that it was an ill- 

 prepared example of the same species. Since that time 



