1904.] GREY SEAL AT VARIOUS STAGES OF GROAVTH. 375 



has caused our want of knowledge. Some years ago, when I began 

 "to study the Seals inhabiting our coasts, I saw how necessary it 

 was to obtain a large series of skins before expressing any opinion ; 

 but now, after several expeditions to nearly all the British haunts 

 ■of this animal, and the examination of over a hundred and fifty 

 skins, I am able to come to some definite conclusions with regard 

 "to the pelage and gradual life-growth. 



In the first place, there is no mammal, not subject to a very 

 wide distribution, such as Ursus arctos, which evinces so many 

 types of pelage and intermediate forms, and this is all the more 

 remarkable because all these various colourings and modulations 

 may be found in a single colony of animals inhabiting one group 

 of rocks. These types are as follows : — 



Adult Males. 



Four distinct types are found, as well as every intermediate 

 form between them, that is, specimens may occur which ai'e com- 

 posite of two, three, or even four types, 



1 . The Black Male. — Hair all over body veiy dark ash-grey and 

 sometimes jet-black. Commencing at the angle of the jaw and 

 ■extending round sides of neck are certain bands of hair usually 

 darker than the rest of the pelage and often curling*. In this 

 type the under parts are generally slightly lighter, with a bi'ownish 

 tinge, and whole crown of the head light grey. However, I have 

 seen two complete melanic forms which were quite black all over. 

 The black type is somewhat rare, and occurs about one in twenty 

 individuals. 



2. The Light Grey Male.- — This form usually has dun-coloured 

 under parts and flipper- pits. All the upper portions are pale grey, 

 find black " ropes" of curling hair partially encircle the neck and 

 extend as far as the shoulders. Crown of the head silvery grey, 

 and mvizzle slightly darker. An uncommon type, 



3. The Blotched Male. — This is practically a composite form 

 ■of the two preceding types, but the belly shows generally a 

 white ground with heavy grey and black blotches superimposed. 

 The upper surface is light grey with large dark blotches of blackish 

 grey. Crown of head pale silvery grey and muzzle brownish black. 

 Occasionally this type has dun markings on the belly and flipper- 

 pits. A common type. 



4. The Gh-ey Spotted Male. — This pronounced type shows a 

 strong line of demarcation between the upper parts, which ai-e a 

 pure grey, and the throat and belly, which are a pure white. 

 Over the whole of the upper and lower portions of the pelage are 

 scattered a number of large black spots. A few small spots are 

 sometimes seen on the sides of the head, the muzzle, and the flippers. 



* When in full coat in October the old males frequently grow hair on the neck, 

 which is much longer than the pelage on the rest of the body, and in the case of 

 the light grey males these ridges of hair are often long lines of black, which, as 

 Edmonston has already noted, give the animal the appearance, when rearing his 

 head out of the water, as if several small ropes encircled the throat. 



