556 MR. T. SOUTHWELL ON THE BEARDED SEAL (PHOCA BARBaTa). 
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, very abundant, and the individual bristles flat and 
smooth. 
It had, when Mr. Laver saw it, evidently been captured some 
time as it was very gentle, and would allow 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, and promised to communicate with me, but failed to do so, 
I therefore did not see the animal, but from one of the bristles 
which Mr. Laver sent me, and from his description, I was strongly 
of opinion that his suggestion as to its species was correct, although 
the bristle differed in length and curvature from those in my 
possession which I had obtained in the Dundee warehouses from 
undoubted skins of the Bearded Seal. 
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 passed into 
the hands of a man named Williamson of that town, where it died 
early in February, 1893, and was buried in his garden in a bed 
subsequently 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, Cambridge, 
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 Phoca barbata. 
It is to be regretted that the skeleton alter maceration, proved to be 
too imperfect to be worth articulating ; but the skull and bones, 
Mr. Harmer informs me, will be preserved in the University Museum, 
and its history duly recorded in the catalogue. 
