C 239 j 
XVIII. On the difference in the appearance of the teeth and 
the shape of the shull in different species of Seals. By Sir 
Everard Home, Bart. V. P. R. S. 
Read February 28, 1822. 
At a time when geology is pursued with so much ardour, 
I am induced to lay before the Society the following facts re- 
specting the skull and teeth of the seal, as their being known 
will be an advantage when incrusted or fossil remains of that 
animal are met with. 
The accompanying drawings were made 30 years ago, at the 
time Mr. Hunter was preparing to lay before the Society some 
observations on the skulls of wolves and bears found in the 
caves of the principality of Bayreuth, in Germany. Among 
these, so great was the difference in the form of the skull of 
the young bear and the old, that where the jaws had been 
destroyed, it required the eye of an anatomist to determine 
that the skull really belonged to the bear. 
W hile engaged upon that subject, I was surprised to find 
in the seal tribe, not only that the skull in the large species 
from the South Seas, differed exceedingly in its appearance 
from that of the smaller ones in the Northern Ocean, but that 
the teeth were equally unlike. At that time the facts had 
less importance ; the study of geology being little attended to, 
the subject escaped my memory, till the recent strides made 
by Cuvier, Buckland, and others, have induced me to re- 
sume it. 
