5U 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. IY., No. M. 



the wind- mill. The two separate flues to the 

 fireplace might prevent the draught from being 

 interfered with by the axle. But would not 

 a fire in a grist-mill be dangerous ? 



The hearth of the fireplace was elevated 

 above the floor, as in a forge. The building 

 had two stories above the ground. Its total 

 height is about twenty-five feet. 



The stones, man}'- of them granite, show no 

 drill-marks and no marks of an axe, but do 

 show marks of the hammer. C. S. Peirce. 



THE 



HOOD' OF THE HOODED SEAL, 1 

 CYSTOPHOHA CRISTATA. 



All the figures of the hooded seal which I 

 have seen represent the animal with a great 

 bunch on the top of its head. This bunch is 

 made to vary somewhat in shape, size, and 

 position, in the different illustrations ; but all 

 agree in placing it on top of the head, no part 

 ever protruding beyond the jaw. It is some- 

 times pictured as extending transversely across 

 the crown, sometimes as a double or single roll 

 reaching from the nose to the occiput. The 

 earliest delineation of it which has fallen 

 under my observation is that given by the 

 old missionary, Hans Egede, in his descrip- 

 tion of Greenland, published in 1741 (fig. 1). 

 Crantz, who was also for many years a mis- 

 sionary in Greenland, said, "The forehead is 

 furnished with a thick folded skin, which the 

 animal can draw over its eyes like a cap, to 

 protect them from stones or sand driven about 

 by the surf in a storm." And even Dr. Rink, 

 in his recent excellent work on Danish Green- 

 land, says that this seal ' is well known from 

 the bladder on its forehead.' In Griffith's 



Fig. 1. 



1 Cuvier ' it is stated that the hooded seal " has 

 the power of bringing a fold of skin placed on 

 the forehead, forward, so as to cover the eyes, 

 which it does when threatened, or about to be 



1 Abstract of a paper read before tbe Biological section of the 

 American association, Sept. 9, 18S4. 



struck. . . . When at rest, or drawn back, it 

 considerably enlarges the apparent size of the 

 neck and shoulders." The only adult hooded 

 seal, so far as I am aware, possessed by any 

 museum in America, is in the American museum 

 of natural history at Central Park, New York. 

 Its head is very well represented in the accom- 

 panying drawing (fig. 2). 



Fig. 2. 



Determined to visit the seal-fishery in per- 

 son, I set sail from Halifax in February, 1883, 

 proceeding northward from Newfoundland in 

 the cabin of the ill-fated Proteus, in her annual 

 cruise to the sealing-grounds. On the 18th of 

 March, after a somewhat laborious walk over 

 an ice-floe, I found myself face to face with a 

 family of hoods, and discovered that the male, 

 — a huge beast, bigger than an ox, — instead 

 of having a crest, or fold of skin, on the top 

 of his head, was provided w 7 ith a great probos- 

 cis, suggesting that of the sea-elephant of the 

 antarctic (fig. 3) . He looked on with appar- 

 ent indifference, while his mate, solicitous for 

 her young, advanced to meet me, growling 

 fiercely, and displaying her sharp, curved teeth. 

 Wishing to observe her actions, I annoyed her 

 for a few minutes with my gaff, — a proceeding 

 which it is by no means safe to undertake with 

 the male. While this encounter, in which she 

 was the aggressive party, was in progress, her 

 spouse began to manifest symptoms of uneasi- 

 ness, and finally became very much enraged, 

 though he did not attempt to drag his ponder- 

 ous bocty to the scene of the conflict. He at 

 first showed his displeasure by frowning, and 

 wrinkling the skin on his long snout. The tip 

 of the proboscis was then inflated and emptied 

 several times in rapid succession, after which 

 the entire ' hood ' was partially inflated. In 



