THE PEDRO SEAL. 307 



of her neck, oft. oin. ; the widest part of her fore 

 fins, 18in. ; her hind fins 2ft. 4in. in length. Her 

 back is formed like a round top of a trunk, with 

 small white bumps in straight lines resembling the 

 nails on a trunk ; her colour is variegated like the 

 rainbow [probably the living skin displayed opaline 

 reflections] ; there is no shell on her back, but a 

 thick skin like pump-leather : " &c., Sec. 

 "Negril Bay, 13th April, 1846." 



THE PEDRO SEAL. 



In the Jamaica Almanack for 1843, Mr. Hill 

 published a Memoir on a Seal inhabiting the Pedro 

 Kays, a reef of rocks, lying off the south coast of 

 Jamaica. As it appears to be a species unknown to 

 naturalists, and as the publication in which it vi^as 

 described had only a transient and local interest, I 

 transcribe the Memoir at length, adding to it such 

 particulars of the natural history of the animal, as 

 have since been communicated to me by my friend. 



" The differences which exist in the crania of the 

 PhocidcB, and other discrepancies of structure which 

 have been remarked as distinguishing the several 

 genera into which the family is divided, would appear 

 to make the Seal from the Pedro Shoal more allied 

 to the Ph. vitulina of Linn. [Calocephalus, Fr. Cuv.) 

 than to any of which we have detailed accounts, 

 although very different from all.* The shoulders, 



* From Mr. Hill's description it appears to have the incisors and 

 nail-less hind feet of Stenorhijnchus, with the molars of Calocephalus. 

 The data are perhaps not sufficient to warrant the formation of a new 



