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sand-banks and rocks. Sometimes they are destroyed by recurved iron pikes secured in beams of wood fixed on the banks which they frequent, near low water mark; the Seals, at the proper time of the tide, are surprised, and driven rapidly into the water, when they are interrupted by the pikes, and despatched with clubs. According to Dean Monroe, the Seals of Islay were slain by the help of trained dogs. Martin, in his "Western Islands,"* makes mention of a rock off N. Uist, where there is an annual fishing in the month of October. A number of boats resort to the island with people sufficient to guard all the passages, and, on a signal given, the general attack begins, and sometimes 300 young and old are killed in the encounter. In Shetland, we learn from Mr Edmonston, that they are sometimes taken by setting a net, generally at night, a little before full tide, around those rocks which are known to be their favourite haunts, taking care that the upper edge of the net be sunk to such a depth as shall admit of the Seals swimming over it. The Seals almost universally lay themselves on the rocks when the wind is off shore, soon after the water begins to fall. When they have been observed to have done so, and time has been allowed for the tide to fall sufficiently to bring the edge of the net to the surface, a sudden alarm is given, and the Seals, in their hurry to escape, regardless of every other consideration, become entangled in the

* P. 62.

net, and are taken.* The author of the manuscript already quoted states, that "the Seal-fishing in the sea commences in autumn, and is practised by means of nets stretched across narrow sounds betwixt rocks where the Seals are in use to swim. In these the Seals entangle themselves, and are taken out either by boat, or, in those cases in which the net is left dry, by persons on foot. It is, however, the young ones only that are caught in this way, and that only during a month or two in autumn. In fact, the Seals display considerable ingenuity in evading the net, sometimes creeping out at the bottom, or jumping over it at the surface."

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COMMON SEAL OF THE FRENCH

Phoca vitulina, Linn.

COAST.

PLATE III.

Phoque Commun of the French, Le Veritable Veau Marine, F. Cuv.

AFTER having thus dwelt at some length upon what we regard as the true Vitulina of the British shores, we shall next introduce to notice that variety which Baron Cuvier has selected* as the type of the genus, and which M. F. Cuvier denominates "Le veritable veau marine." This animal, if the true Ph. vitulina, should of course have the same essential characters with the one we have just left; and any apparent differences should be only temporary and insignificant, the consequences of youth, age, &c. Having had no opportunity of examining the identical variety selected by Cuvier, we cannot decide if the two in every essential character coincide. From the examination of the plates, we should be led to suspect that they differ; and this suspicion is

Oss. Foss. t. v. p. 200

confirmed by the authority of Cuvier himself, who, knowing that the Dutch variety, as described by Albinus, (and which we have identified with the Seal of the Scottish coasts,) had long been confounded with the Phoque Commun of the French coast, was disposed to distinguish them ;* and in this decision he is followed by his brother.†

The length of the Common Seal of the French coast is stated, by nearly all the native Naturalists with the exception of Baron Cuvier, to be about three feet; he, however, gives it as between four and five. The ground of the robe is a pale yellowishgrey, clouded and spotted in the upper part of the body with a dark grey, arising from the hair in these parts being black. The circumference of the eyes and muzzle, the lower portions of the body, and the feet, are of a pale yellowish-grey, becoming almost white underneath the upper part of the muzzle and tail are sometimes brown; the nails are black and strong.

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The individual represented in the two figures on the accompanying plate, taken from M. F. Cuvier's Mammifères, was still young: it measured two feet eight inches, from the end of the snout to the tip of the tail; and the length of this member was three and a half inches. In the plate it is represented both whilst wet and dry, that the differences in these two states may be exhibited. When the animal comes out of the water, all the upper part of the

Loc. cit. p. 202.

† Mamm. Mar. 1824.

body and head, together with its hind feet and tail, are of a slatey grey colour. The grey upon these parts is uniform, whilst that on the sides of the body is composed of numerous small round spots, on a ground somewhat paler and more yellow; all the under part of the body is of this latter colour. Again, when the coat is dry, the grey is to be seen only along the back, and even here it is very faint; and, with this exception, the body is wholly yellowish. This difference of colour appears to depend partly upon the effect of the water on the long silky hairs, which are generally flat, and which, when moist, become somewhat transparent, thus modifying the colour of the parts underneath; and partly upon the circumstance that, when out of the water, each hair being opaque, curls up at its extremity, and allows the yellow portion, which is situated deeper, to be seen. The oily matter, which lubricates these hairs, appears to issue from certain glandular organs which abound round the eyes, and upon the shoulders, flanks, and lower parts of the belly. This matter is black, and offensive to the smell.

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