THE ZOOLOGIST 



No. 207.— March, 1894. 



ON THE OCCURRENCE OF THE BEARDED SEAL 

 (PHOCA BARBATA) ON THE NORFOLK COAST. 



By Thomas Southwell, F.Z.S. 



The vertebrate fauna of the British Isles is so thoroughly 

 worked out that the addition of a new species must of necessity 

 be of rare occurrence, and it cannot even be hoped, so closely 

 have all the residents been studied, that such addition is likely 

 to be 4nade by the subdivision of any recognised indigenous 

 species, as happened with Arvicola glareolus ; it follows, there- 

 fore, that we must look for such increase to exotic stragglers, 

 and even these must be confined to birds and marine mammals. 

 Of the former the county of Norfolk has been exceptionally prolific, 

 and of the latter we can point to at least one species, viz., Phoca 

 hispida. It gives me great pleasure, therefore, to record the 

 occurrence of yet another species, which I think I am right in 

 saying has not previously been recognised as British. 



On Dec. 10th, 1892, Mr. H. Laver, of Colchester, very kindly 

 informed me that a living Seal was being exhibited in that town, 

 which he could not recognise, and which he suggested, from its 

 hairy muzzle, might be Phoca barbata. The description which 

 Mr. Laver gave of the animal was briefly as follows : — Length, 

 five or six feet ; sex, male ; skin, black with a few hairs only on 

 the shoulders, which were otherwise quite bare ; head remarkably 

 narrow and flat, suddenly falling off to a broad nose ; fore flippers 

 armed with strong claws, fully two inches long, curved, the third 

 digit the longest; beard long, curved, and very abundant, the 

 individual bristles flat and smooth. 



ZOOLOGIST, THIRD SERIES, VOL. XVIII.— MARCH, 1894. H 



