258 PHOCID^. 



the bony partition of the nostrils is continued forward 

 in front of the shortened nasal bones ; while there are 

 four incisors in the upper jaw, and only two in the lower. 

 But the most remarkable peculiarity is the large tuber- 

 culous hood, or bladder-like appendage, on the nose of 

 the adult male, which is capable of being expanded 

 when the animal is excited, and seems designed to pro- 

 tect its most vulnerable point from injury. 



The Hooded or Crested Seal is an inhabitant of the 

 polar seas, but does not appear to extend very far north. 

 It is migratory in its habits, being found in South 

 Greenland from April to June, and reappearing in 

 August. Dr. R. Brown gives the yearly take in the 

 Danish settlements at about two to three thousand ; in 

 North Greenland, this species is only a straggler, but he 

 has seen it not uncommonly at Disco Bay, and killed it 

 at Melville Bay. It is found on the American coasts, 

 and is common in March and April at Jan May en. 

 Occasionally it occurs on the coasts of Iceland and 

 Northern Scandinavia, and it is recorded as a native of 

 the Spitzbergen seas by Martins and Scoresby, but Herr 

 Malmgren says that it has not been observed by more 

 recent voyagers. What appears to have been a Bladder- 

 nose is recorded to have been killed in the Sound so far 

 back as 1549, and in France a young male was taken 

 at rile d'Oleron in 1843, and is figured in Gervais's 

 " Zoologie et Paleontologie Frangaises." 



Two specimens of the Hooded Seal are certainly known 

 to have been killed in Britain, and it seems probable 

 that other examples have occurred. A young example 

 was taken in the River Orwell on the 29th June, 1847, as 

 recorded by Mr. W. B. Clarke, and is preserved in the 

 Ipswich Museum ; this specimen is described as being 

 only forty inches in length, of a nearly uniform grey 



