378 MR. J. G. MILLAIS ON THE SKIN OF THE [Mar. 1, 



the shoulders 6 feet. The hide weighed 55 lbs., the blubber 

 145 lbs.; weight of the whole body 6 hundredweight; whilst 

 Prof. Oollett states that a full-grown male Grey Seal weighs from 

 250 to 290 kilogrammes, and contains blubber of the weight of 

 70 or 90 kilogrammes, a few extremely lai^ge ones perhaps reaching 

 100 kilogrammes. The females weigh from 180 to 250 kilo- 

 grammes, as a rule about 220. During the pairing-time the 

 males lose from 50 to 79 kilogrammes. The females, the blubber 

 of which, so to speak, is transferred through the milk to the pups, 

 lose much less, or from 30 to 50 kilogrammes. They do not 

 legain their good condition before the su.mmer." I do not think 

 that this is quite correct, as three adults examined in March and 

 April were extremely fat. 



An adult female shot by myself at Langasgeir, North Uist, in 

 August 1890, weighed exactly 21 stone 8 lbs,, on some sheep 

 scales the accuracy of which I had pi-eviously tested. Length 

 from nose to end of tail 6 feet 1 inch, length from nose to end of 

 hind flipper 7 feet 1 inch ; circumference immediately behind the 

 fore flippers 4 feet 7 inches. The usual length of adult females " 

 is from 5| to 6| feet. Mr. Ball, writing to Professor Bell in 1837, 

 describes how he captured an old female near Howth. The 

 skeleton measured 7 feet 2 inches*, and the estimated weight 

 over 500 pounds. I should imagine this to be the maximum size 

 of females. Another old female which I shot lying on some rocks 

 near the Holm of Gloup, Yell, Shetland, in August 1901, measured 

 6 feet to end of tail and 6 feet 1 1 inches to end of flippers. I had 

 no means of weighing the specimen accurately, as I had in the 

 first case, but should say it was about 20 stone. 



The young are at first pure white, with sometimes a few grey 

 hairs on the top of the head, the coat being smooth and silky, but 

 in a few days becoming creamy-coloured and woolly. At the end of 

 a week the coat is dull yellow, with more blackish hairs on the 

 head, and blotched with pale grey on the nape. At birth the 

 hair is very white and silky, but soon grows rapidly, and slightly 

 cui^s as it tui-ns yellow. About six weeks after birth this coat is 

 shed, and gives place to a shorter and closer covering of yellow 

 interspersed with grey aiwJ black. Some examples are also green, 

 and some reddish, with a faint dappling of dark markings on the 

 back. 



Pure melanisms of this Seal must sometimes occur, bvit are 

 without doubt of great rarity. One undoubted instance of a 

 baby Grey Seal, black from birth, has come vinder my notice. 

 Maj.-Gen. Sir John MacNeill and two other men, who are well 

 acquainted with this Seal in its f ei-al state, were rowing past a small 

 island ofi'the west coast of Colonsay when they passed close to 13 

 Grey Seals' pups about 3 weeks old. One of these was jet-black all 

 over. All the young animals were plainly seen by the occupants 



* This measurement was evidently taken from the nose to the end of the hind 

 Clipper. 



