The Seal] OF ORKNEY. 15 



lakes, but can observe no difference, notwithstanding Lin- 

 naeus tells us they never are seen in the sea. 



GENUS FIJI. THE SEAL. 



SEAL. Gen. Char. Cutting teeth, and two canine teeth in each jaw ; five palma- 

 ted toes on each foot ; body thick at the shoulders, tapering towards the tail. 



The Common Seal. 



'-; 



Seal, Seoile, or Sea-Calf; Phoca, seu Vitulus Marinus, Rail Syn. Quad. 189. 

 Sea-Calf, P kilos. Trans. No. 469. tab. 1. Phoca Vitulina, Lin. Sys. 56. 

 Pen. Brit. Zool. 71. Ejusd. Syn. 339. Ore. Selch, orSelchy. 



SEALS with us are very numerous, especially in the de- 

 sert isles, or sea rocks, that are separated from the land ; 

 here they lie, while the sea is low, in droves, and in season 

 bring forth their young. Not having a specimen before me, 

 I shall give that of my honoured friend Mr Pennant, as pub- 

 lished in his works, to which, and his correspondence upon 

 any difficulty, I have been often and much obliged, and think 

 myself happy in having it in my power to return him, in this 

 manner, my most grateful acknowledgments, for the coun- 

 tenance he has all along shewn me in the prosecution of this 

 work, and ever since I had the honour to be known to him. 



" The head and nose broad and flat, like those of the otter ; 



