544 On the Habits of the Phocce. 



will desert a particular line of coast entirely. In former times, 

 when many portions of our coasts were less frequented than at pre- 

 sent, and these animals were much more numerous, they were in 

 use to clamber to the tops of rocks above water-mark, and there 

 fall asleep. On such occasions they were frequently surprised, and 

 slain with bludgeons. This appears never to happen now, — a proof, 

 among many others which might be adduced, that what we call 

 the natural habits of animals are often regulated by artificial or acci- 

 dental circumstances. 



The third species to which I formerly alluded, is the Bodach, 

 or old man. This is by much the least of all the seals indigenous 

 to the British shores. Indeed, so small is it, that my correspondent 

 for a long time entertained an idea (in opposition to the prevailing 

 opinion of the natives,) that it was the young of the common kind. 

 This view, however, he afterwards gave up, on seeing specimens not 

 larger than an ordinary seal of three months, — but with grey beards 

 and decayed teeth ; and, moreover, when on shore on the same rock 

 with the other seals, they do not lie near them, but a little way 

 apart. They are also few in number, and Mr M'Neill does not 

 happen to recollect having ever seen two of them together. They 

 are not, however, at all so shy as the common seal, nor do they fre- 

 quent such wild and desert stations as the Tapvaist. Our knowledge 

 of this small species is, however, still extremely obscure, and there is 

 no indication of its existence in any of our works on Natural History.* 



* Since the preceding notes were placed in the hands of the editor, the 7th 

 No. of Mr Bell's excellent " History of British Quadrupeds" has made its ap- 

 pearance. The British seals are there described as four in number, viz. the com- 

 mon species, Ph. vitulina ,- the harp seal, Ph. Grcenlandica of Muller ; the great 

 seal, Ph. barbata ; and the long bodied seal of Parsons, Halichcerus gryphus y 

 of more modern authors. The last named is referred to a separate genus, chief- 

 ly in consequence of the depth and oblique truncation of the muzzle, and the 

 simple structure of the upper grinders. It appears to correspond with the identical 

 specimen described by Parsons, which, from its great size, was often adduced in 

 proof of the occurrence of Ph. barbata along the British shores ; but, as Mr 

 Bell has ascertained it to be Hal. gryphus, additional doubt is thus thrown on 

 the said Ph. barbata as an indigenous kind. The point, however, will be 

 easily determined, on the occurrence of any very large seal, by an examination 

 of the teeth, and their comparison with the characters detailed by Mr Bell. I 

 have now no doubt of the occurrence of H. gryphus among our northern is- 

 lands ; a cranium from Shetland, which I had sometime ago an opportunity to 

 examine, corresponding in its simple upper molars with the dentition of that species. 

 The chief points then for our Scotch naturalists to pay attention to, are, 1st, 

 Whether our great seal is the Ph. barbata or Hal. gryphus : and 2dly, whether 

 the small animal indicated in the preceding article is actually a distinct species 

 —J. \V. 



