148 THE PROBOSCIS-SEAL, OR SEA-ELEPHANT. 



The seals with external ears apparent, are included under 

 the collective term Otaria; they have also been divided into 

 subgenera ; which, however, we shall pass over, and return 

 to the more particular history of the sea-elephant, as it is 

 called by English sailors ; the Phoca proboscidea of Peron 

 and Le Sueur. 



No apology can be necessary for proceeding at once to the 

 translation of the interesting history of this singular animal 

 given by the intelligent travellers and scientific naturalists 

 above mentioned. 



" In rendering it compulsatory on the seals to come on 

 shore to bring forth their young, Nature seems to have volun- 

 tarily devoted them to death and destruction. In fact, devoid 

 of any means of defence, and scarcely able to drag themselves 

 along the ground, the seals everywhere fall victims to the larger 

 animals, and above all, to man; so that, equally avoiding 

 these two kinds of enemies, the timid herds only multiply in 

 abundance on those remote islands, and those solitary rocks, 

 where, in the midst of eternal ice, the savage beasts of prey 

 exist not, and man has not yet fixed his habitual abode. The 

 greater part of the islands in the Australian regions ought 

 therefore, on both accounts, to form an especial retreat for 

 these legions of amphibious quadrupeds; since in these places, 

 there exists no beast of prey larger than a common cat, 

 and the human species, which is so rare on the larger tracts 

 of land, does not inhabit the innumerable neighbouring islands. 

 These, then, form the dominions of the seal; successively oc- 

 cupied by their peaceful invasions, from the Malouin Islands 

 and Tristan d'Acufia, to the land of De Witt, and the middle 

 of the Australian regions. There is no part of this immense 

 space that does not support species of a greater or less magni- 

 tude, herds more or less numerous, of the family of seals, so lit- 

 tle known up to the present time, and which cannot fail one day 

 to form one of the principal sections of the animal kingdom. 



" At the head of these oceanic mammalia of the antarctic 

 hemisphere, must be placed the proboscis-seal, one of the 

 hugest and most extraordinary of those which are known. In 

 indicating it by the specific name of leonina, Linnaeus gave it 

 a character it never possessed, viz. that of a crest or mane on 

 the head, fronte cristatd ; a mistake which evidently origi- 

 nated in the incorrect figures of Anson and Pernetty; but 

 every naturalist after Linnaeus has committed the same error. 

 " The savages of New Holland call the seal we are at present 

 treating of, Mourong. 



" The English sailors employed in the fishery on these 

 coasts call it the Sea-elephant; and the bay in the Isle of King, 



