Mr, R. Hamilton on the Fur Seal of Commerce. 93 



a paper on seals in 1750, supplies the next notice concerning 

 this animal ; and to Dr. Grew^s description he merely adds, 

 " that the head and neck of this species are exactly like those 

 of the otter */^ But the most satisfactory witness as to the 

 existence of this animal, if not to the identical specimen, is 

 the illustrious coadjutor of BufFon, in the Paris Museum, and 

 in the publication of the ' Histoire Naturelle.' In their first 

 united treatise, published Ave believe in the year l767j we find 

 the learned Daubenton, when treating of quite a different seal, 

 remarking, " I have seen the dried specimens of two indivi- 

 duals of the same kind of seal. The largest appeared fiill- 

 grown, and was not 2^ (English) feet long, from the end of 

 the snout to the origin of the tail ; the neck was longer and the 

 body shorter than the common seal ; the fore feet were near the 

 middle part of the whole body, and it had a small external 

 ear. The hair was longer and softer than that of the other 

 seals, being an inch long ; it was glossy, waving and curled 

 in some places. It was black on the upper part of the head, 

 neck, and body, and dark brown underneath, and on the feet. 

 On separating the hairs, it appeared they were of a pale fawn 

 colour at the root. The skin of the sole of the foot was naked, 

 and of a brown colour, with very marked ruga? or longitudinal 

 lines ; the nails were very small, and the skin which united 

 the toes extended below the nails, and was prolonged much 

 beyond them, and terminated in a divided membrane, each 

 projecting part of which was of a size proportioned to the toe 

 to which it belonged t." This is the animal which is figured 

 in the 47th vol. of the Phil. Trans. From this it will be seen 

 that Dr. Shaw, especially after the time of Daubenton, had no 

 authority, and on the other hand acted alike gratuitously and 

 erroneously in designating this the earless seal of Pennant ; 

 by which statement he misled the eminent French naturalists 

 we have named, and was the means of introducing that erro- 

 neous classification which has so long prevailed. 



Nothing is added concerning the habitat and habits of this 

 seal, or of any oeconomic use to which it was apphed ; which 

 is the less to be wondered at, as probably the value of the fur 



* Phil. Trans, vol. xlvii. p. 112. 



t Hist. Nat. 4toedit. Tom. xiii. p. 414. 



