440 MR. A. MURRAY ON THE [JunC 2;"), 



consideration the appearance the young Seals presented on the ice 

 in 1861, they did not approach the numbers reported to have been 

 seen by sealers in many previous years. The South-Sea " fisheries " 

 became extinct in fifteen years, and, making all allowance for the 

 protection afforded to the Greenland Seals by the ice, and supposing 

 the sealing prosecuted with the same vigour as at present, I have 

 little hesitation in stating my opinion that, before thirty years shall 

 have passed away, the " Seal-fishery," as a source of commercial 

 revenue, will have come to a close, and the progeny of the immense 

 number of Seals now swimming about in the Greenland waters will 

 number but comparatively few. This event will then form another 

 era in the northern fisheries. 



3. Note on the Alleged Occurrence of the Rhinoceros in 

 Borneo. By Andrew Mueray, F.L.S. 



It is only lately that I have seen Dr. Gray's paper on the Rhino- 

 cerotidse, published in the third part of the ' Proceedings ' of this 

 Society for 1867; and I should wish to be allowed to enter my 

 caveat against the reception of one statement in it which is, I think, 

 likely to mislead, namely, that the Rhinoceros is a native of 

 Borneo. 



Some time since I was informed by a friend that the theory by 

 which I had attempted to account for the remarkable absence of all 

 large Mammals, and the great scarcity of all but arboreal, aquatic, 

 or aerial animals, in Borneo, was knocked on the head, for the Rhi- 

 noceros had now been actually found in it, and that all doubt as to 

 the locality was set at rest by specimens having been sent to this 

 country which, on examination, were found to belong to a new and 

 distinct species. They not only had specimens of it, but, as Prince 

 Hal said, "we can show it you here in the house" — the British 

 Museum, to wit. 



Of course in the face of such a stunning fact I had nothing for it 

 but to eat my leek in silence, abandon my position, and endeavour to 

 rally my disbanded and scattered ideas to the best of my abihty. 



The perusal of Dr. Gray's paper, however, not only reveals the 

 source of my friend's information, but satisfies me that I have been 

 too hasty in accepting it as correct. 



Literally my friend's statement is quite borne out by Dr. Gray's 

 paper. Dr. Gray says everything that he said ; but I look in vain 

 for any proof in support of it ; and as any statement coming from a 

 man of Dr. Gray's authority is likely to be accepted as probatio 

 probata, 1 think it the more necessary to point out the insufficiency 

 of the grounds on which his statement rests. 



In the first place I observe that the sole evidence offered is that of 

 a skull which " was purchased of a dealer, who said that he received 

 it direct from Borneo." It does not follow, supposing the statement 



