484 FAMILY PHOCID^E. 



Stand respectively over the second, third, and fourth of the 

 permanent set, those of the lower series being also much larger 

 than those of the upper.* 



GENERAL HABITS AND INSTINCTS. 



The species of the family Phocidce agree,, almost without ex- 

 ception, in possessing strong social instincts and in being almost 

 unsurpassed in their affection for their young. Many of the 

 species are gregarious, at least during the breeding season, while 

 some associate at all seasons in large herds. They are, in gen- 

 eral, patient and submissive creatures, and harmless to man, to 

 whose power and love of gain doubtless not less than a million 

 to a million and a half fall victims each year. The Crested Seal 

 of the North Atlantic is one of the few species that will habitu- 

 ally resist an attack, or whose power is in any degree dangerous. 

 As regards their reproduction, the female, as a rule, brings forth 

 but a single young one, and the period of gestation is supposed 

 to range from nine to nearly twelve months. The Sea Elephants 

 are well known to visit, for the purpose of reproduction, partic- 

 ular breeding stations on land, assembling in large numbers at 

 their favorite resorts, and, like the Otaries and Walruses, crawl 

 up some distance on to sandy shores or rocky islands, to re- 

 main for weeks without food and without visiting the sea. 

 Others, like the common Seal (Phoca mtulina), select outlying 

 rocky islands or rocky points of the mainland for their breed- 

 ing stations, and never congregate in large numbers. The Green- 

 land Seal (Phoca grcenlandica) is at all times gregarious, assem- 

 bling in immense numbers in particular districts to bring forth its 

 young on the ice-floes. The Caspian Seal (Phoca caspica) pos- 

 sesses similar instincts, and is said to be always found in im- 

 mense herds. While most of the species are confined to the 

 neighborhood of shores or firm ice, others are almost pelagic, 

 though rarely found far from floating ice. 



Seals are very fond of basking in the sunshine, and spend a 

 large part of their time on sand-bars, rocks, or on the ice, accord- 

 ing to the season, the species, or the locality. They are very 

 voracious, their food consisting chiefly of fishes, but in part of 

 crustaceans and mollusks. Nearly all the species, and in fact all 

 the Pinnipeds, are known to swallow small stones, often in con- 



* This reference is based 011 Hensel's "Berichfriiber die Leistnngen in der 

 Naturgescliichte der Sangethiere wahrend des Jahres 1864," in Arch, fiir 

 Naturg., 1861, ii, pp. 99, 100. 



