Rough Seal. No representation of it, however, has ever been published in this country, and little has since been added to its history either by English or French Naturalists, though Baron Cuvier mentions he was in possession of two crania of the species which were sent from Copenhagen.

We cannot, therefore, do better than first present the description of the author of the Fauna Groenlandica. He states that it is the smallest of all the species which are found in the Northern regions, scarcely ever exceeding four and a half feet in length, and usually reaching only four feet, with a perpendicular height of ten inches. The head is short and round, the muzzle extending to about one-third of the whole head. The whiskers are white, with a few black hairs; they are sharp, compressed, and a good deal curved at their extremities; the eyes are small, the pupil white, and the iris brown. The body is almost elliptical and slender; the back somewhat gibbous; the belly flat, especially near the fore paws; the hair is thick set, somewhat erect, rather long, soft and fine, with curly wool at its root. The colour is on the back brownish, intermixed with white spots, and on the abdomen is white, with a few brownish spots; the young are almost without spots, but have the back of a somewhat livid colour, with the belly white. The old have the most distinct markings, and in them the snout is almost naked, with few or no hairs. The old males have a most disgusting smell, which annoys even the Greenlander.

*

This account has all the semblance of accuracy; and so far as the markings of the skin are concerned, entirely agrees with one now before us, and from which the colouring of our plate is taken. Crantz says, "the hair does not lie smooth, but is bristly, and intermixed like pig's hair ;" and again, it is said "to be bristled like the Polar bear." On making some enquiries respecting Seals-skins at a respectable dealer, he informed us that he was quite familiar with two or three kinds, brought from the Northern fishery, and which were perfectly distinct from each other, and of a marked and uniform appearance. Some of these he immediately showed us, and was kind enough to supply for our use. The skin, now before us, is precisely four and a half feet long; and, according to our intelligent informant, those of this sort never exceed this length, whilst their breadth is proportionably small. Its markings, too, are invariably nearly the same, and could not be better described than in the words of Fabricius. The robe is composed of long coarse hairs, some of which, when dry, have a tendency to curve somewhat backwards, and of soft woolly hair beneath. Most of the long hairs are white, but in those parts where the skin has a brownish tint, some of this last colour are intermixed, which produces a grizzly appearance. The colour varies much according to the light in which we regard the robe In some lights it has a silvery brightness, and in others it is quite dull. Crantz says that * Mr Boswell, Nicolson Street, Edinburgh.

when the Greenlanders make garments of this skin, they usually turn the hairy side inwards.

This species, according to Fabricius, scarcely ever frequents the high seas, but delights in retired bays, and in the neighbourhood of the ice of the coasts, from which, especially when old, it very unwillingly departs. Its food is all kinds of smaller fish, such as haddock, but especially lobsters and their congeners. The period of gestation is eight months, and the young are brought forth in February on the fixed ice, its proper haunt. Here it has a hole, not so much for breathing as for fishing, near which it remains usually solitary, rarely in pairs. It is the most incautious of Seals, both in the water and the ice; whilst asleep on the wave, it is sometimes pounced upon by the eagle and borne to shore.

*

According to Giesecké, many thousands of this species are killed every year on the West coast of Greenland, in lat. 72°. Though they emit a disagreeable smell, yet he states they are notwithstanding eaten with great avidity by the Northern Greenlanders.

Their most valuable product is their oil; but many thousands of their skins are also regularly imported into these countries, where they are used in the manufacture of trunks, and for other domestic purposes.

* Article Greenland in Edin. Encyclop.

THE HARE-LIKE SEAI.

Ph. Leporina.

PLATE IX.

Phoca Leporina, Lepechin, Cuv. Des. 374, Blainv. Pennant, Shaw. P. Lepechini, Less. Hare of the Sea of the Russians.

THE only other species referred to this genus which, with any satisfaction, we can adduce, is the Hare of the Sea of the Russians. Lepechin's is the first and almost the only account of this Seal hitherto presented to the public, the descriptions of nearly all the Systematists consisting merely of copies from him.

He states that its length is six and a half feet, and its greatest circumference five feet. The head is elongated; the upper lip as if swollen, and thick like a calf's; the whiskers are strong and thick, covering the whole front of the lip; the eyes are blue, and the pupils black; the fore paws are short

* Acta. Acad. Scient. Imp. Petropol. anno 1778.

and feeble, ending abruptly; the membrane of the hind feet is not lunated, but straight. Its colour is a uniform dull white, with a tinge of yellow, and it is never spotted; the hairs are erect, and interwoven, and soft like those of the hare, especially when the Seal is young. The skin is very thick ; and the dental formulary marks it as belonging to this genus. This species frequents the White Sea, during the summer months, and ascends and descends the mouths of its rivers with the tide, in quest of prey. It is also found on the coasts of Iceland, and within the Polar circle at Spitzbergen and Kamskatka. It is appropriated to the same uses as its congeners.

Pallas makes the following remarks on this Seal. "There are many kinds of Seals in the frozen ocean, and this species, known among the Samoyedes as the Hare of the Sea, differs wholly from the common kind. The young Hares of the Sea, whose skins I have procured, are white as snow, and shining like silver. Their hair is longer than that of other Seals, so that if the head and feet were removed, the skin might be mistaken for that of a young sea-Bear. It is in spring that the Samoyedes usually hunt these Seals, on their leaving the water, near the mouths of the Lina and other rivers, through those holes in the ice which the Seals keep open for the purpose of respiration. They place a number of planks nailed together in the neighbourhood of these holes, and fix a rope to them. They then conceal themselves behind the