146 



OR SEA-ELEPHANT. 



Ray and Linnaeus; and with Cuvier, the Linnaean genus Pho- 

 ca is joined with the walrus to form his third and last tribe 

 of Camivora. In this tribe the feet are so curtailed and en- 

 veloped in integument, that on land they serve only to drag 

 along the body with a clumsy, unequal motion ; but as the 

 intervals of the toes are filled up by membrane, they form ex- 

 cellent instruments for swimming. Accordingly it is found 

 that these animals pass the greater part of their lives in the 

 sea, and come on shore only to sleep and bask in the sunshine, 

 and for the purposes of procreation and of suckling their young. 

 Their elongated body; their very moveable spine, endowed with 

 great strength of muscle to bend it in different directions; their 

 narrow pelvis ; their close- set smooth fur, — all contribute to 

 make them excellent swimmers ; and this idea, which would 

 be formed on a superficial inspection, is confirmed by all the de- 

 tails of the anatomical structure of these amphibious carnivora. 



The seals, which form the first division of this tribe, have 

 all the three kinds of teeth, which vary, however, as to form 

 and number, in the different subgenera. Some have six, others 

 four incisors only in the upper jaw, with four, or two in the 

 lower jaw ; they all possess the usual number of laniaries, 

 viz. two above and two below; themolaries are twenty, twen- 

 ty-two, or twenty-four in number, always trenchant and co- 

 nical, without any tubercular or grinding surface. Each ex- 

 tremity has five toes, which in the fore- feet decrease in length 

 from the thumb to the little finger, while in the hind-feet the 

 toes analogous to these two are the longest, and the interme- 

 diate ones the shortest. The hind-feet are directed backwards, 

 and are united to a short, flattened tail, so as to form with it 

 a rude resemblance to the tail of the manatee or whale. 



The form of the head varies in different seals ; it is always 

 large, and in our common species resembles that of a dog. 

 There is much intelligence in the eye, with a sweet and expres- 

 sive aspect; and we find that from the earliest periods the seal 

 has been celebrated for its docility. <c The structure of this 

 animal is so strange," says Buffon, " that it served as a model', 

 upon which the imagination of the poets framed the tritons, 

 sirens, and sea-gods, with a human head, the body of a qua- 

 druped, and the tail of a fish. The seal, in fact, reigns in this 

 mute empire by his voice, his figure, his intelligence, and his 

 talents, which are common to him with the inhabitants of the 

 land, and render him so superior to the fishes, that they seem 

 not only to belong to another order of beings, but to a dif- 

 ferent world. This amphibious animal, though his nature be 

 very remote from that of our domestic animals, is susceptible 

 of a species of education. He is reared by keeping him often 



