PROCEEDINGS 



OF 



THE ROYAL IRISH ACADEMY. 



1836—1837. No. 2. 



December 12. 

 RICHARD GRIFFITH, Esq., in the Chair. 



A paper was read " On the Seals of Ireland, (Phocidae.)" 

 By Robert Ball, Esq., M. R. I. A. 



The author stated the circumstances by which he was 

 led to discover that the seal of most frequent occurrence on 

 the Irish coast was not defined as a British species, together 

 with the subsequent identification of that animal, by Profes- 

 sor Nilsson, as the Halichaerus Griseus of his Scandinavian 

 Fauna, (Phoca Gryphus of Fabricius,) found in the Baltic 

 and North Sea. He asserted, however, that the habits of 

 the Halichaerus of this country differed so much from those 

 ascribed to it in the Baltic, that it appeared to him not un- 

 likely, on comparison, to prove a distinct species. He showed 

 that the colour of the animal here varied so much from sex, 

 age, season, &c. that it could not be considered of any value 

 as a character of species in the present state of our know- 

 ledge of the subject. He alluded to the very small size of 

 the brain compared with that of the genus Phoca, and stated 

 that the intellectual powers bore the same proportion. Mr. 

 Ball then proceeded to show that the simple form of the 

 teeth of Halichaerus (approaching closely to those of some 

 species of Delphinus) furnished sufficient grounds for sepa- 

 rating it from the genus Phoca ; and observed, that the Hali- 



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