Mr. Selby on the Great Seal of the Farn Islands. 463 
crania of certain Seals killed upon the Irish coast, and exhi- 
bited by Mr. Ball as those of Halicherus griseus ; and the same 
learned naturalist afterwards pronounced the specimen al- 
ready referred to in the British Museum as also belonging 
to that animal. From Mr. Ball himself, at a subsequent 
Meeting at Liverpool, I received the outlines of the crania 
and dental formule of several British Seals, including those 
of the adult and young Halicherus griseus, in order that I 
might compare them with the skulls of any Seals I might 
meet with upon the eastern coast, and particularly with that 
of the Great Seal of the Farn Islands. No opportunity, how- 
ever, of doing so occurred for two seasons; and it was not 
until the last summer (when a full-grown animal of the Farn 
species, was taken a few miles to the north of these islands, and 
fortunately sent to the Kelso Museum) that its station was 
correctly ascertained, as, upon dissection by Dr. F. Douglas, 
_ it was found to agree in every essential character with the 
Halicherus griseus, Nills., as described in Bell’s ‘ British 
Quadrupeds.’ Since then, or within the last two months, in 
consequence of having requested the person who at present 
rents these islands to send me the heads of any Seals he might 
be fortunate enough to kill, at the usual time of his visiting the 
island to which they retire to calve, (which they do about the 
10th or 15th of November,) I have had an opportunity of exa- 
mining three heads, which I received in a fresh state about 
six weeks ago, one being that of an adult female, the other 
two belonging to younger animals, all of which upon exami- 
nation proved to belong to Halicherus griseus, agreeing in 
every essential character with Mr. Bell’s description of that 
animal, and with the drawings given me by Mr. Ball; and as 
no other species of Seal has hitherto been recognised or met 
with by those who for a long series of years have been in the 
habit of seeing and taking these animals in this particular lo- 
cality, I have now scarcely a doubt but that the whole of the 
colony that has so long inhabited the Farn Islands belongs to 
this species. 
I shall conclude this notice with a few observations on the 
habits and ceconomy of these animals, gleaned not only from 
the frequent visits | have myself made to the Farn Islands, 
but also from the long experience of a respectable individual, 
now upwards of eighty years of age, who succeeded his father, 
and continued to rent these islands till within the last eight 
or ten years. From his account it appears that these Seals 
were much more abundant some forty or fifty years ago than 
they are now, which he partly attributes to the great destruc- 
tion he himself committed among them (having been a first- 
