292 



KEMAEKS ABOUT SEALS. 



tlio Wyo, iicav Chepstow, about eigliteen months ago. Seals 

 are very fond of salmon— a good taste not limited to seals ; 

 and thoy frequently pursue this desirable prey up the 

 estuaries and rivers for many miles. Fishermen know this 

 predatory habit of seals but too well, for in pursuit of the 

 salmon they offen do great damage to the nets. 



However the one now in captivity in the Gardens was, I 

 suppose, too venturesome, and got trapped in the net, and 

 was brought over to Clifton and purchased by the Society; 

 and then became a companion to another animal, which had 

 most kindly been presented by C. T. Bennett, Esq., the 

 Newfoundland merchant of this city. 



The two had not been companions very long when the 

 latter one died. An examination of the body revealed the 

 fact that its stomach was full of stones— the gravel chiefly 

 of the Gardens— nuts uncracked, and pieces of hair and 

 stick. The intestines were small and contracted, as though 

 but little food had passed along them recently ; and in 

 some brief notes which I made at the time I entered the 

 cause of death as being due (secondarily at least) to starva- 

 tion or inanition. This I now believe to have been an 

 incorrect statement, as the sequel, I think, will show; but 

 anyhow I knew then no other cause of death, nor do I now. 



During this last summer I visited a relative, the Ilev. ¥. 

 W. Bindley, Vicar of Gosforth, near Newcastle-on-Tync, 

 atid who had lived for many years at the Cape of Good 

 Hope. As a boy he took a deep interest in natural history, 

 and inherited a fondness and aptitude for noticing the 

 habits of birds and animals. 



At the Cape there are or were very extensive seal lisheries, 

 the Cape seal being the Olaria pmilla— one of the so-called 

 sea-lions. These are a large species, and some of them 

 display a magnificent growth of hair, which forms a regular 



