20 
I. 
ON THE OCCUERENCE OF THE RINGED 
OR MARBLED SEAL fPHOCA HI8PIDA) ON THE 
NORFOLK COAST. 
By Thomas Southwell, E.Z.S. 
Read 29th May, 1871. 
Through the kindness of Mr. J. H. Gurney and Professor Flower, 
of the Royal College of Surgeons, London, I was enabled to 
include this species in the list of Norfolk Mammalia, which I 
have just drawn up for our society. It is a species of considerable 
interest, both to the zoologist and the paleontologist, for although 
found in a fossil state in the glacial clays of some parts of the 
kingdom, I am not aware that its recent occurrence upon the 
British coast has before been detected. 
The history of the individual in question is as follows Mr. J. 
H. Gurney in some notes on the Norfolk Mammalia, with which 
he kindly furnished me, remarked that he remembered purchasing 
a seal some years ago in the Norwich Fishmarket, the skull and 
skin of which he had preserved, and that as at the time he did not 
feel quite satisfied as to the species to which it belonged he thought 
the matter worth investigating. Mr. Gurney subsequently in- 
formed me that when he purchased the seal it was in the fiesh, 
quite fresh and in a perfect condition ; the fur was of a grey 
colour. The person of Avhom he bought it told him that it came 
from some neighbouring part of the coast, but the exact locality 
he does not now remember. The date of its occurrence was some 
time previous to June, 184G, probably in the spring of that year; 
it was also examined in the fiesh by the late Mr. 1. Lrightwcll, 
but 1 cannot find that he has left any note upon the subject. 
Alter some little search the skull wa.s found io be in the Norwich 
