of this volume, the author explains the surge of interest in marine mammals and the lack of a modern, affordable handbook, setting out to provide clear figures, brief diagnostic notes, and pointers to further reading, while acknowledging key helpers. He outlines the three seal families (true seals, the walrus, and eared seals), contrasts their limbs and ears, and then discusses the seal fisheries of Greenland and Newfoundland—quantities taken, wasteful “panning,” legislative attempts at a close season, and the risk of rapid depletion. Brief, focused species accounts follow: Common, Ringed, Greenland, Hooded (Bladder-nose), and Grey Seals—covering British records, Arctic ranges, breeding, coloration, and key identifiers—plus a detailed sketch of the Walrus, its rarity on British coasts, behavior, uses, and looming extermination. The work then introduces the Cetacea, explaining their anatomy (blowhole breathing, blubber, baleen versus teeth), classification, and the British list. A substantial opening treatment of the Greenland Right-Whale questions its true place in British fauna, reviews whaling history and economics, clarifies baleen structure and feeding, and touches on behavior and breeding. It concludes this opening by introducing the Atlantic Right-Whale and the old Basque fishery, setting up a contrast between the northern and the more temperate “right-whales.” (This is an automatically generated summary.)