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Show 378 MR. J. G. MILLAIS ON THE SKIN OF THE [Mar. 1, the shoulders 6 feet. The hide weighed 55 lbs., the blubber 145 lbs.; weight of the whole body 6 hundredweight; whilst Prof. Collett states that a full-grown male Grey Seal weighs from 250 to 290 kilogrammes, and contains blubber of the weight of 70 or 90 kilogrammes, a few extremely large ones perhaps reaching 100 kilogrammes. The females weigh from 180 to 250 kilogrammes, as a rule about 220. During the pairing-time the males lose from 50 to 79 kilogrammes. The females, the blubber of which, so to speak, is transferred through the milk to the pups, lose much less, or from 30 to 50 kilogrammes. They do not regain then- good condition before the summer." I do not think that this is quite correct, as three adults examined in March and April were extremely fat. An adult female shot by myself at Langasgeir, North Uist, in August 1890, weighed exactly 21 stone 8 lbs., on some sheep scales the accuracy of which I had previously tested. Length from nose to end of tail 6 feet 1 inch, length from nose to end of hind flipper 7 feet 1 inch; circumference immediately behind the fore flippers 4 feet 7 inches. The usual length of adult females is from 5| to 6| feet. Mr. Ball, writing to Professor Bell in 1837, describes how he captured an old female near Howth. The skeleton measured 7 feet 2 inches*, and the estimated weight over 500 pounds. I should imagine this to be the maximum size of females. Another old female which I shot lying on some rocks near the Holm of Gloup, Yell, Shetland, in August 1901, measured 6 feet to end of tail and 6 feet 11 inches to end of flippers. I had no means of weighing the specimen accurately, as I had in the first case, but should say it was about 20 stone. The young are at first pure white, with sometimes a few grey hairs on the top of the head, the coat being smooth and silky, but in a few days becoming creamy-coloured and woolly. At the end of a week the coat is dull yellow, with more blackish hairs on the head, and blotched with pale grey on the nape. At birth the hair is very white and silky, but soon grows rapidly, and slightly curls as it turns yellow. About six weeks after birth this coat is shed, and gives place to a shorter and closer covering of yellow interspersed with grey and black. Some examples are also green, and some reddish, with a faint dappling of dark markings on the back. Pure melanisms of this Seal must sometimes occur, but are without doubt of great rarity. One undoubted instance of a baby Grey Seal, black from birth, has come under m y notice. Maj.-Gen. Sir John MacNeill and two other men, who are well acquainted with this Seal in its feral state, were rowing past a small island off the west coast of Colonsay when they passed close to 13 Grey Seals' pups about 3 weeks old. One of these was jet-black all over. All the young animals were plainly seen by the occupants • This measurement was evidently taken from the nose to the end of the hind flipper. |
