94 



The Irish Naturalist. 



October 



As regards Ireland we possess several somewhat vague 

 stories of the appearance on the coast of sea-monsters with 

 huge heads which probably were founded on fishermen's 

 tales about this seal. One of the clearest and most 

 unmistakable reports of the occurrence of the Hooded Seal 

 in Irish waters was furnished to the late Dr. Robert Ball 

 by Mr. R. W. Mcllwray of Westport, Co. Mayo, in 1836.1 

 Mr. Mcllwray stated that he saw no less than 150 seals 

 basking on Inniscarrow Reef near Westport. Landing 

 cautiously he crept within lifty yards of them. He then 

 noticed that among them was one extraordinary seal with 

 a very large head which had immense bladder-like pro- 

 tuberances over the eyes. It had external ears like a 

 hound, but much smaller in proportion to the size of the 

 head. The colour was light brown and it did not appear 

 to have spots like the Common Seal. It was much more 

 than twice as large as the common kinds. From the 

 uncouth appearance of the animal Mr. Mcllwray's boatman 

 fell forward on the rocks from fright, causing the rifle to 

 go off accidentalh^ which led to the precipitous flight of 

 the seals. 



We are indebted to Mr. R. M. Gilmore for a more recent 

 account of the occurrence of the Hooded vSeal in Irish 

 waters.^ It was in the summer of 1898 that he observed 

 a large seal with an inflated hood on . its head as it was 

 leaving the shore to swim out into deep water of Galway 

 Bay. 



Some reader of the Irish Naturalist may be able to 

 supply me witli still more recent accounts concerning this 

 or other rare Irish seals. 



National Museum, Dublin. 



^ Ball, Robert. — Remarks on the species of seals inhabiting the Irish 

 seas. Trans. R. Irish Acad., vol. xviii., 1838. 



2 Irish Naturalist, vol. ix., 1900, p. 82. 



