CETACEA. 247 
the femur remarkably short, the shank-bones and the bones of the feet 
very long. In walking on land the feet are, in the case of the Otaria or 
eared seals placed flat on the full sole; the common seals never use 
their hind limbs on the shore. The dentition is essentially carnivorous, 
but varies considerably in the different families, and even in the Phocide 
themselves. ‘The stomach is simple, but the intestines are considerably 
longer than in the Fedde, averaging about fifteen times the length of 
the body ; the digestion is rapid. ‘The bones are light and spongy, and 
the spine particularly flexible, from the amount of cartilage between the 
bones. ‘They have a large venous cavity in the liver, and the lungs are 
capacious, the two combining to assist them in keeping under water ; 
the blood is dark and abundant. ‘The brain is large, and in quantity 
and amount of convolution exceeds that of the land Carnivores. Their 
hearing is acute, but their sight out of water is defective. 
Their external features are an elongated pisciform body, the toes 
joined by a membrane converting the feet into broad flippers or fins, the 
two hind ones being so close as to act like the caudal fin of a fish. The 
head is flattish and elongated, or more or less rounded, but in com- 
parison with the body it is small. Except in the Osaride@ there are no 
perceptible ears, and in them the ear is very small. The fur is of two 
kinds, one long and coarse, but the other, or under fur, is beautifully soft 
and close, and is the ordinary sealskin of commerce. ‘The roots of the 
coarse hair go deeper into the skin than those of the under fur, so the 
furrier takes advantage of this by thinning the skin down to the coarse 
roots, cutting them free, and then the hairs are easily removed, leaving 
the soft fur attached to the skin. 
The Pinnigrada are divided into three families—the Z7ichechide, or 
walruses ; the Ofarid@, or sea-lions or eared seals ; and the Phocide, or 
ordinary seals. 
As none of these animals have been as yet observed in the Indian 
seas, being chiefly denizens of cold zones, I will not attempt any further 
description of species, having merely alluded to them ew passant as 
forming an important link in the chain of animal creation. 
We must now pass on to the next order, a still more aquatic one. 
ORDER CETACEA—THE WHALES. 
THESE curious creatures have nothing of the fish about them, save 
the form, and frequently the name. In other respects they are warm- 
blooded, viviparous mammals, destitute of hinder limbs, and with very 
short fore-limbs completely enclosed in skin, but having the usual 
number of bones,though very much shortened, forming a kind of fin. 
