544 On the Habits of the Phoca. 
will desert a particular line of coast entirely. In former times, 
when many portions of our coasts were less frequented than at pre- 
sent, and these animals were much more numerous, they were in 
use to clamber to the tops of rocks above water-mark, and there 
fall asleep. On such occasions they were frequently surprised, and 
slain with bludgeons. This appears never to happen now, a proof, 
among many others which might be adduced, that what we call 
the natural habits of animals are often regulated by artificial or acci- 
dental circumstances. 
The third species to which I formerly alluded, is the Bodach, 
or old man. This is by much the least of all the seals indigenous 
to the British shores. Indeed, so small is it, that my correspondent 
for a long time entertained an idea (in opposition to the prevailing 
opinion of the natives,) that it was the young of the common kind. 
This view, however, he afterwards gave up, on seeing specimens not 
larger than an ordinary seal of three months, but with grey beards 
and decayed teeth ; and, moreover, when on shore on the same rock 
with the other seals, they do not lie near them, but a little way 
apart. They are also few in number, and Mr M'Neill does not 
happen to recollect having ever seen two of them together. They 
are not, however, at all so shy as the common seal, nor do they fre- 
quent such wild and desert stations as the Tapvaist. Our knowledge 
of this small species is, however, still extremely obscure, and there is 
no indication of its existence in any of our works on Natural History.* 
* Since the preceding notes were placed in the hands of the editor, the 7th 
No. of Mr Bell's excellent " History of British Quadrupeds" has made its ap- 
pearance. The British seals are there described as four in number, viz. the com- 
mon species, Ph. vitulina / the harp seal, Ph. Grcenlandica of Muller ; the great 
seal, Ph. barbata ; and the long bodied seal of Parsons, Halichcerus gryphus, 
of more modern authors. The last named is referred to a separate genus, chief- 
ly in consequence of the depth and oblique truncation of the muzzle, and the 
simple structure of the upper grinders. It appears to correspond with the identical 
specimen described by Parsons, which, from its great size, was often adduced in 
proof of the occurrence of Ph. barbata along the British shores ; but, as Mr 
Bell has ascertained it to be Hal. gryphus, additional doubt is thus thrown on 
the said Ph. barbata as an indigenous kind. The point, however, will be 
easily determined, on the occurrence of any very large seal, by an examination 
of the teeth, and their comparison with the characters detailed by Mr Bell. I 
have now no doubt of the occurrence of H. gryphus among our northern is- 
lands ; a cranium from Shetland, which I had sometime ago an opportunity to 
examine, corresponding in its simple upper molars with the dentition of that species. 
The chief points then for our Scotch naturalists to pay attention to, are, 1st, 
Whether our great seal is the Ph. barbata or Hal. gryphus : and 2dly, whether 
the small animal indicated in the preceding article is actually a distinct species. 
J. W. 
