12 SEALS OF THE SHETLAND ISLANDS. 



But a name is not a proof, and until his ipsnm corpus be 

 produced, I think we are fairly entitled to maintain that no 

 such animal is to be found. I therefore retain the name 

 barbata for our Haff-fish, or well-known Great Seal, and 

 resign the poetical title of Gryphus to the yet undiscovered 

 species which has so obscured the distinctions, and increas- 

 ed the labours, of some modern zoologists. 



Phoca Groenlandica. — A specimen of this was shot in the 

 bay of Burrafirth in this island, in October 1830, which I 

 witnessed — it was evidently from its size a young one of the 

 same j'ear — was very tame, and much emaciated — on one of 

 its sides was a large ulcer, which presented the appearance 

 of a sore produced by burning. It occurred to me that pro- 

 bably this animal had been kept as a pet in one of the re- 

 turning Greenland ships, and had fallen overboard near this 

 coast ; from what I have heard, however, I dare say that 

 occasionally an individual of this species wanders thus far 

 south. This species seems to be the most incautious of the 

 family — whether this effect may be considered to proceed 

 from boldness or stupidity. Mohr mentions in his Nat. 

 Hist, of Iceland, that they are often met with on that coast 

 during winter, that they are always found in flocks, and 

 from their frequent habit of swimming on their backs, are 

 easily taken in nets which are stretched across their course. 



Phoca cristata. — I know no instance of an individual of 

 this having been seen in Shetland. 



Of the species P. Annellata and Leporina I can say 

 little — no such strangers have ever visited Shetland, and I 

 am really much inclined to suspect that further observations 

 will prove them to be merely varieties of the vitulina. 



