THE MARINE CARNIVORA 1S9 



which is but little protruded from the surface of the body, and 

 the reason for this is that the bones of the hind limbs are directed 

 backwards on a Hne with the tail and are bound up with it, so to 

 speak. Another peculiarity of the seals, in which they differ 

 from all the Fissipede Carnivora, is in the arrangement of the 

 toes of the hind feet. In most Mammalia the middle toes (third 

 and fourth) are longest and the first and fifth are shortest.^ But 

 in all the seals the first and the fifth toes have become strong 

 and long, whilst the intermediate toes are shortened and are 

 provided with much thinner bones. Undoubtedly the sea otter 

 {Latax) and the rest of the Lutrine group suggest obvious 

 resemblances to the seals in the shape and conformation of the 

 head, body, and limbs ; but these resemblances are only due to 

 the similarity in the mode of life, and do not require to be 

 explained by the descent of the seals from an otter-like form. 

 Moreover, the seals date back in geological time as far as or 

 further than the otters or bears. 



Consequently we must regard this interesting group of 

 aquatic Carnivora as being, in all probability, direct descendants 

 from the Creodonts, that early group of Carnivores, who died 

 out on land because they could not sufficiently quickly develop 

 large brains to compete with the more highly organised True 

 Carnivora. In the water — in the sea particularly — the aquatic 

 Creodonts met with a less vigorous competition, and had time to 

 turn their attention to enlarging their cranial capacity, with the 

 results that their descendants, the seals, have become large- 

 brained creatures who are (were) able to hold their own on the 

 sea-coasts and the ice-floes until man — Caucasian man especially — 

 decreed their destruction for the sake of their skins, their oils, 

 or their tusks, or merely because they made excellent pot-shots 

 for yachtsmen. 



It would seem from such evidence as we have that the seals 



as a group originated in North America, and thence spread down 



the Atlantic and Pacific coasts of the New World to Antarctica, 



where at the present day they are the only land mammals. From 



^ In man the first toe has become the longest. 



