264 



BRANCH YERTEBRATA. 



sands of young lying along the shore and bleating like 

 sheep, till it comes to its single cub. 



The Common Hair Seals are not provided with ex- 

 ternal ears. They abound upon the Atlantic coast, the 



FIG. 4ti1. 



i . 

 .. 



Plw 1 ca vit u W nu. Common Hair Seal. 



different species varying in length from three feet up- 

 ward, and present great variety of color and marking. 

 Their eyes are large, with an intelligent expression,* and 

 the animal is easily tamed. f 



ORDER QUADRUMANA (kwod roo'ma na). 



The characteristics . which separate the members of 

 this order from those already treated are : the opposable 

 position of the inner digits and thumbs of both hands 

 and feet ; the possession of flat nails in place of claws ; 

 the eye-sockets entirely surrounded by bone, and * the 

 cerebral hemispheres generally well developed. The rep- 



* Emerging unexpectedly from the depths of the sea, with dripping manes 

 (which some species possess) and uttering a feminine scream, it is not strange 

 that the imagination has mistaken them for human beings and given rise to the 

 legends of tritons, sirens, sea-nymphs, and mermaids. The Hair Seals have the 

 singular habit of swallowing stones, as many as four pounds of sharp pebbles 

 having been found in a single stomach, but no satisfactory explanation of this 

 phenomenon has been given. 



t The Walrus and the Seal furnish food, light, fuel, clothes, thongs, boats, 

 and hunting implements, to the inhabitants of the Arctic regions. Some Natu. 

 ralists separate the Walrus and Seal from the Carnivora, and class them in a 

 distinct order, called Pinmpedia, 



