20S DIVISION I. VEKTEBTJAL ANIMALS. —CLASS I. MAMMALIA. 



same color; tho hind feet wore a iliill white, and tlie rest of tlie animal wa.s 

 entirely hlaek. Jt was prohal)ly a young one. Its nose was taper and elon- 

 gated, and the feet exhibited no peculiarities different from those of the other 

 species. 



C ienus IlALicnrEnrs. A very deep muzzle, obliquely truncated ; licatl 

 quite Hat; molars of the upper jaw simple, those of the lower with an obso- 

 lete tubercle before and beliind the principal one, arc the characters which 

 establish this genus. This seal inhabits the northern shores of Europe and 

 the coasts of Pomerania. The only species described by naturalists is the 

 one which we have noted below. 



H. (r'l-isriis. — The Gray Seal. While the general color of this species 

 is gray, different specimens exhibit a considerable variety of markings, which 

 prol)ably indicate a difference of age. The prevailing color of tho hair in 

 very young females, according to ^Ir. Call, of Dublin, is a didl, yellowish- 

 wdiitc, which is soon superseded by a more shining coat, blotched with gray. 

 From a peculiarity in the hair of the adult, it being considerably- recurved, 

 and its ui)per surface appearing as if it had been scraped flat with a knife, 

 the animal, when drv, and witli its head turned towards the spectator, 

 appears of a uniform silvery-gray, whilst viewed in the opposite direction, it 

 appears altogether of a sooty brown. 



The Gray Seal seems to be very inferior in intelligence to many other 

 species, and all attempts to tame and domesticate the animal have, we 

 believe, proved entirely ineifectual. Tlie brain is very small in eomj)arison 

 with that of the cimnnon seal. On tliis point Mr. Eall well remarks, " It 

 is impossible not to be forcibly struck with the contrast between the cerebral 

 development of this genus and that of the former, and tiie relation between 

 the ditferencc <if structure and tlieir su.s<"cptiljility of domestication. It is 

 exactly analogous to the distitiction between tlie crania of baboons and those 

 of the higher groups of quadrumanous animals." 



In the lower stomach of a specimen examined by Dr. Parsons, there were 

 found about four pounds of flinty pebbles, all of which were sharp and 

 angular, as if the animal employed them for cutting food. This singular 

 habit, however, of taking stones into the stomach is not confined to this 

 species, but appears to be common to all the seal groups. Several theories 

 have been offered in explanation of the phenomenon, but none are wholly 

 satisfactory. 



JMr. Pall has given an interesting account of his method of hunting this 

 seal, which we transfer to our pages. 



" It occurred to me several years since that I could kill these animals by 

 going to the mouths of their caves and striking them with a harpoon as they 

 dived out. Acting on this, I went to llowth properly equi[iped, and took 



