374 MR J. G. MILLAIS ON THE SKIX OF THE [Mar. 1^ 



specimen showed absence of the parietal and occipital bones, the 

 brain being absent with the exception of portions of the frontal 

 lobe. The cut end of the neck exhibited a well-formed spinal 

 cord, its anterior end being lost in the membranous lining of the 

 base of the skull ; there were only two ears. 



Mr. Holding also exhibited the skull of a Spanish Four-horned 

 Ram, showing complete dislocation and pai'tial fracture of the 

 skull fi"om. base of nasal bones to occipital, due to a combat with a 

 rival ram. 



Mr. J. G. Millais, F.Z.S., exhibited some pelages of the Grey 

 Seal {Halichcerus gryphus) taken fi'om the animals in various stages 

 of growth from birth to maturity, and made the following 

 remarks : — • 



There is no European mammal, exclusive of the Whales, the 

 pelages and life-history of which are so little known as those of the 

 Grey Seal. If we look through the recorded history of the animal 

 we find only endless confusion with another large pinniped, namely 

 the Bearded Seal {Erignathi(,s harhatus), to which the Grey Seal 

 certainly bears a somewhat similar appearance in the adult state. 

 After various accounts suggestive of its rank, Fabricius, in 1791, 

 gave the first systematic name to the Gi"ey Seal, and pointed out 

 many of its main chai-acteristics ; but even after this date little 

 was known of the animal, and to this day such experienced and 

 pi'actical men as the Dixndee and Newfoundland seal captains fail 

 to recognise any difierence between the large Ice Seal and the 

 dweller on the rocks. Both species are known to them as the 

 Square 'plirip'per or Square flipper. Even, too, with all the strides 

 that have taken place in modern zoology, we find, on turning to 

 recent literature, but few references to the Gre}' Seal, little being- 

 said of its habits and practically nothing as to its pelage, growth, 

 and the finer points of its life-history. 



Dr. Edmonston gave us an admirable little paper on the Seals 

 of the Shetland Islands in 1837, which included many excellent 

 i-ef erences to the Grey Seal ; and Prof. Robert CoUett a good account 

 of the breeding- habits of the species, taken from observations in 

 the Fros and the Vigten Islands in Norway, and published in the 

 Zoological Society's 'Proceedings,' 1881; but Mr. Allen, in so 

 comprehensive a work as ' Pinnipeds of North America,' confessed 

 that he was able to describe the species only from two skulls and 

 skins, whilst his general descriptions were taken from the writings 

 of many who knew the animal only slightly or fi-om hearsay. 

 European museums, too, even our own admirable National Col- 

 lection, seem to sufier from a lack of specimens, and without the 

 examination of a very large series, it is impossible to describe 

 accurately this interesting animal. 



It is this difficulty of obtaining skins, and the fact that the 

 animal must be hunted in dangerous and exposed situations, that 



