82 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



It had when Mr. Laver saw it evidently been captured some 

 time, as it was very gentle and would permit any amount of 

 handling ; it seemed very intelligent, and possessed great freedom 

 of motion in its fore limbs. The man who was exhibiting the 

 Seal expressed his intention of visiting Norwich on his way back 

 to Lynn, where he lived, and promised to communicate with me 

 on his arrival here, but did not keep his promise. Mr. Laver 

 sent me one of the bristles of the moustache, and from this and 

 his description I was strongly of opinion that his suggestion as to 

 the species of the Seal was correct, although the bristle differed 

 in length and curvature from those in my possession, which I had 

 obtained from undoubted skins of this species in the Dundee 

 warehouses. 



My endeavours to trace the man William Hudson, who 

 exhibited the Seal at Colchester, were for some time unsuccessful, 

 but Dr. Plowright, of Lynn, learned that the animal had died in 

 that town early in February, 1893, and came into the hands of a 

 man named Williamson, who buried it in his garden in a bed 

 which was sown with onions ; there could be no question as to 

 the identity of this animal, for in addition to Hudson's statement 

 as to his disposal of it, it was described to Dr. Plowright by its 

 last owner as having " no hair on its back, in consequence of its 

 having been kept in too small a box," and its whiskers were stated 

 to be " six inches long." 



At this stage of the proceedings I communicated with 

 Mr. S. F. Harmer, of the University Museum of Zoology, Cam- 

 bridge, with the result that he agreed to purchase the animal for 

 that Museum, and after the crop of onions had been harvested, 

 the body was exhumed and sent to Cambridge. On the 13th 

 October, 1893, Mr. Harmer sent me the skull for inspection after 

 comparing it with other skulls of the same species, and there is 

 not the least doubt that the animal was a young male of Phoca 

 barbata, in evidence of which the mounted skeleton will in due 

 course be placed in the Cambridge Museum. 



The tale told by the man Hudson not being in all respects 

 satisfactory, the Rev. S. E. Blomefield, of Burnham Sutton, also 

 Rector of Burnham Overy, was so kind as to make enquiries for 

 me on the spot, and learned from a man named Rudd that he, 

 assisted by three others — Parr, Atkins, and Smith — captured this 

 Seal in a creek in Overy Harbour by driving it into a strong net 



