2550 The Zoologist — April, 1871. 



species, to which the local names should invariably he attached, 

 as by this means only can the conflicling opinions, at present 

 existing, be satisfactorily set at rest. The males and females of 

 all the seals are called "dogs" and "bitches" respectively; the 

 young are called " puppies." 



Another species (?) of seal is mentioned by the settlers under 

 the local name of the " horse-headed seal," but I was unable to 

 identify it, from their description, as either Phoca lagura or 

 P. hispida ; probably those specific names are only synonyms of 

 one or other of the above-mentioned seals. From all I could learn 

 respecting this so-called " horse-headed seal," which appears to 

 differ from P. vitulina only in the shape of its head, that it will 

 prove to be nothing more than very old specimens of that species. 

 Tt seems to be rather rare on the coast, as I only heard of one 

 being captured on the N.W. coast during my residence there, and 

 this was shot about fifteen miles west of Cow Head while in the 

 act of robbing a salmon-net, and, although a boat was launched 

 immediately, the carcass was immediately cut in two by a shark. 

 I saw the two halves of the skin the next day, but the skull had 

 unfortunately been thrown into the sea for the benefit of the 

 lobsters. 



The Walrus (Trichecits rosmarus). From the quantity of" tusks" 

 picked up on the coasts of Newfoundland, the walrus must have 

 been an inhabitant of the island, or perliaps, like the harp seal, 

 migrated thither on the drift-ice. One specimen was driven ashore 

 in St. George's Hay during my residence at Cow Head, and Dr. 

 Gilpin, of Halifax, Nova Scotia, has described another in the 

 ' Proceedings of the Nova Scotia Institute of Natural Science,' 

 which was recently taken from the ice off the coast of Newfound- 

 land. The tusks are frequently used as "row-locks" by the 

 settlers: I saw many that had evidently been used in this way for 

 many years. 



The Cetace^, or Whales. 

 Unfortunately during the time I was at Cow Head no species of 

 whale was washed on shore, or rather driven on shore bj^ the drift- 

 ice closing in on it from seaward, although 1 heard the " bellowings" 

 of some, evidently in great distress, among the drift-ice in April, 

 1868. To "bellow like a bull" is a common provincial expression 

 in some parts of England, but to " bellow like a whale" is the usual 



