1881.] MR. R. COLLETT ON THE GREY SEAL. 381 



number of islets, many of which are invisible at high tide and in 

 calm weather ; but during stormy weather, and when an onshore 

 wind is blowing, the sea breaks on them with great fury, making 

 this part of the sea one of the most perilous along the coast. 



Mr. F. Borthen, the sole proprietor of these islands, has with 

 great readiness on several occasions given me full particulars con- 

 cerning the stay of the Seals at this group. I have already on 

 one or two occasions made known the more important details of 

 these notes (the last time in 1876*), without, however, having ex- 

 amined the specimens themselves, on which account I erroneously 

 referred them to Phoca barbata, the name under which the speci- 

 mens from this locality, all of them in their blackish (not grey) 

 dress, have hitherto been exhibited in our Norwegian museums. 

 In December last year, after having examined a specimen that Mr. 

 Borthen had kindly presented to the University's Museum in Chris- 

 tiania, I discovered that the species from the Fro Islands is Hali- 

 chcerus grypus, and not Phoca barbata, a mistake which I have the 

 greatest reason to regret^. I have carefully gone through the 

 particulars received from Mr. Borthen with that gentleman, both 

 verbally and in writing ; and as they are in every respect quite re- 

 liable, and on certain points more complete than any we have 

 hitherto been acquainted with regarding any other kind of northern 

 Seal, I give them here, together with observations made in sub- 

 sequent years. 



A. Breeding-habits. 



The breeding of H. grypus takes place on the Fro Islands in the 

 autumn. In the middle of September they begin to assemble rapidly 

 from the south on the most northern of the Fro Islands in order to 

 breed, especially about two miles south of the fishing-station Halton, 

 the most northern point of the group. None appear to come from 

 the north ; the coast in this direction being less provided with such 

 sunken rocks and islets as these Seals are in the habit of resorting 

 to. The next breeding-place to the north of the Fro Islands is 

 probably on the outer side of the Vigten Islands, a long and pro- 

 jecting group of islands on the border of Helgeland, about one 

 degree further north. 



The number of Seals belonging to the Fro-Islands breeding-district 



1 Lilljeborg, ' Sveriges och Novges Ryggradscljur.' I. Daggdjureu, p. 701 

 CUpsala, 1874); Fogh, Liilken, Warming, ' Ticbskrift for popiilare Frem- 

 stillinger af Naturvidenskaben,' 5 R. 3 B. p. 14 (Kjcibenhavn, 1876) ; Collett, 

 ' JBemffirkninger til Norges Pattedyrfaima (Nyt Magazin for Naturvideu- 

 skaberne,' 22 B. 1 & 2 H. p. 210, Cbristiania, 1876). 



- In a most exbaustive and excellent work, ' History of North-American 

 Pinnipeds ' (Wasbington, 1880), Dr. Allen has given a monograph of those 

 species of the families Rosmarida3, Otariida;, and Phocidaj which belong to 

 the NortJi-American fauna. In this work, in which Dr. Allen with great 

 critical discernment has reviewed what was previously known through the 

 observations of different naturalists, he has with good reason expressed some 

 doubts whether I may not have confused the two above-mentioned species in 

 the remarks which I have made in ray papers on the subject. 



