The Zoologist— April, 1871. 2549 



shot by the settlers along the coasts. The males are provided 

 with a most extraordinary kind of crest or " hood," consisting, 

 beneath the loose sliin, of a large pulpy mass resembling fat, and 

 which can be inflated to a considerable size, at the pleasure or will 

 of the owner, which makes it very difficult to kill them with the 

 ordinary " seal-bat," or gaff, or even with a heavy load of shot : 

 they are also, at times, very savage, and it requires great dexterity 

 on the part of the seal-hunters to keep from being bitten. The 

 hooded seal is larger than either the harp seal or the harbour seal. 

 The skin of the adult is very handsome, being of a light silvery 

 gray, irregularly spotted with dark brown. The young has the 

 belly white, and the back a very dark uniform silvery gra}'. 

 I brought home skins of the old and young of this and the two 

 preceding species. 



The Square-fipper Seal, Halichcerus gryphus, Nilsson, ex- 

 Fabricius. This is undoubtedly the largest species of seal with 

 which I am acquainted, and probably the largest in the northern 

 hemisphere, some skins being considerably larger than that of an 

 ox. It is comparatively rare in the Straits of Labrador and Belle 

 Isle, although very ievr seasons pass without a few being captured 

 either at the ice or in the " seal-frames." There appears, even at 

 the present day, to be a considerable amount of confusion in the 

 nomenclature of some of our Atlantic seals. Dr. Gray, whose 

 writings on the Phocidas are well known, assures me that this 

 species is the Phoca barbata of Miiller — the " great seal " of Pro- 

 fessor Bell, who figures and describes Halichcerus gryphus under 

 the local name of the "gray seal"; while Professor Gill, of the 

 Smithsonian Institution, to whom also I am much indebted for 

 valuable information on the seals and whales of Newfoundland, 

 informs me that the synonyms should stand as written in this 

 article. Mr. A. B. Brooke (Zool. S. S. 2282) mentions having 

 obtained a species of " gray seal," which he calls Halichcerus 

 gryphus, but this cannot be identical with the "square-fipper,"* 

 as the "very fine old male" shot by Mr. Brooke appears scarcely 

 more than half the length or girth of H. gryphus of Nilsson — if 

 indeed Nilsson refers to the " square-fipper" of the Newfoundland 

 and Labrador settlers. Should 1 be spared to revisit these coasts 

 I will endeavour to bring or send home skins and skulls of each 



* This word is usuallj-, and perhaps properly, spelled " flipper," hut I have here — 

 as Professor Jukes has hefore me — adopted the provincial pronunciation. — H. JR. 

 SECONB SEEIES — VOL. VI. T 



