128 



HA RD WICKE 'S S CTENCE - G OSS IF, 



In the great estuary between the Norfolk and Lin- 

 colnshire coasts, called the " Wash," this species 

 frequents the sand-banks left dry at low water, and I 

 doubt not many young ones are produced there an- 

 nually. At birth, which takes place about the month 

 of June, the young one is covered with a coat of white 

 woolly hair, which is shed at birth or shortly after, 

 and the young one takes to the water when only a 

 few hours old. Mr. Bartlett gives an account of the 

 birth of a young one (at the time believed to be P. 

 hispida) in the Zoological Gardens,* and states that 

 it completely divested itself of its coat of fur and hair 

 in a few minutes, and was swimming and diving 

 about within three hours of its birth ; its mother 

 turned on her side to let it suck, and its voice was a 

 low, soft "ba." The first coat is not shed so 

 quickly in some species, nor do they all take to the 

 water at so early an age ; as, for example, P. gfcen- 

 andica, which is two or three weeks before it leaves 

 the ice. The total length of the adult is about 4 feet, 

 and its coat is generally of a yellowish colour, thickly 

 spotted with black on the back and upper parts, but 

 less distinctly so on the sides. The under parts are a 

 bright silvery hue ; there is, however, considerable 

 variety in colour and in the distinctness of the spots. 

 This species is readily domesticated, and displays 

 great intelligence, and even affection for those who 

 feed and tend it. Almost everybody must have been 

 struck with the docility displayed by the seals which 

 are occasionally exhibited as " talking fish." At the 

 Zoological Gardens and Brighton Aquarium they are 

 a never-failing source of attraction, and their graceful 

 movements in their confined homes cannot fail to 

 excite admiration. Swimming silently and swiftly 

 along, the animal threads with the greatest accuracy the 

 intricacies of its narrow pond, assuming every possible 

 attitude, and turning over and over in its course, as 

 much at ease when swimming on its back as in its 

 usual position. When, tired with this exercise, it 

 comes to the edge of its pond and raises itself out of 

 the water, its rounded head, and bright, full black 

 eyes have something almost human in their expres- 

 sion, and the fabled "mermaid" seems a reality; 

 but when once it leaves the water, it is clearly seen 

 that it is no longer in the element in which it is 

 destined to live and move, for its motions are 

 laboured and awkward in the extreme. It throws 

 itself along, first on one side and then on the other, 

 just as a man tightly sown in a sack would do, but, 

 notwithstanding its clumsiness, contrives to make 

 considerable progress. 



This species may be distinguished by the arrange- 

 ment of its molar teeth, which are placed obliquely 

 along either side of the jaw, not in a line with each 

 other. It has been said that this is only a character- 

 stic of youth, and that the peculiar arrangement 

 disappears "before the skull attains its maximum 



♦ Proc. Zool. Soc, 1868, p. 402. 



size." In the second edition of Bell's " Quadmpeds," 

 however, the author expresses his belief that "it will 

 be found a characteristic of all ages, although cer- 

 tainly more marked in the young than in very old 

 animals." Dr. Brown says that the Greenland Seal 

 {P. grociilandicd) in its second coat has often been 

 mistaken for this species, but that the former may 

 readily be distinguished by having the second toe of 

 the fore-flipper the longest. The hair next the skin is 

 short and woolly, but externally harsh and shining, 

 admirably adapted for irepelling the water in which 

 the animal passes so much of its time ; the whiskers 

 with which the upper lip is furnished, are thick, 

 flattened hairs, laterally compressed, presenting dia- 

 mond-shaped inequalities. The food of this species 

 consists of fish and Crustacea. 



( To be continued. ) 



FERTILIZATION OF CRUCIFERS. 



IT is very easy to ride a hobby "too far, and, 

 perhaps, in assuming every modification of the 

 flower to have some reference to insect fertilization, 

 we run the risk of doing so. The quotation made by 



Fig. 108. Diagram of Cleoine droseyi/oiia. 



Mr. F. H. Arnold from Sir John Lubbock is un- 

 doubtedly correct. There are hardly any specific 

 special adaptations in the flowers of Cruciferoe. But 

 then morphologically and otherwise the Crucifer^e 

 are a " very natural order," as is evidenced, for in- 

 stance, by their wholesome, antiscorbutic properties 

 so general amongst them. The relative length of the 

 stamens seems a purely morphological matter, ex- 

 plicable on Eichler's binary hypothesis. Eichler 

 (Ueberden Bliithenbau der Fumariaceen, Cruciferen, 

 und einiger Capparideen, in Flora 1865 - 1869), 

 derives the flowers from a primitive type, resembling 

 Cleome droserifolia and some species of Lepidium, 

 Senebiera, and Capsella, represented in fig. 108. 

 This typical flower consists of two lower median 

 sepals, two upper lateral sepals, four diagonal petals 



