THE CRESTED SEAL. 505 
greyish-white spots, which have earned for the animal the name of Leopard Seal. The 
external ears are wanting. 
It may be observed in this place, that the situation of these organs is rather remark- 
able. The external orifice is not placed exactly over the passage that leads to the 
internal ear, but is situated below and a little behind the eyes, so that there is a tubular 
passage below the skin that seems to conduct the waves of sound towards the hidden 
organs of hearing. Partly on account of this structure, and partly because the Seals pass 
so much of their time below the surface of the water, it has been supposed that the sense 
of hearing will be little needed by them, and that it is not at all acute. 
Yet, any one who has been accustomed to diving must have discovered that when 
the body is entirely submerged in the water, the auditory organs are very sensitive to 
sounds which are conveyed through the water, although not to those which are produced 
on land and are only transmitted through the upper atmosphere. For example, although 
when a man is entirely submerged he is unable to hear the loudest shouts that can be 
raised by persons on shore, his ears are almost painfully sensitive to any sound that 
is produced in the water and is transmitted through its mediumship. A stone thrown 
into the water, or a blow struck upon its surface, is heard with perfect distinctness, 
while the measured stroke of oars and their peculiar grinding roll in the rowlocks 
become perceptible to his ears long before the sound is audible to those who are 
on land. 
We must be extremely cautious in offering any conjectures on the supposed efficiency 
or dulness of certain organs because we fancy that if we were placed under the same 
conditions our own organs would serve or fail us. In many cases these conjectural 
assertions, among which we may reckon many of Buffon’s brilliant disquisitions, are 
found to be in direct contradiction to the real facts, and in all instances it is necessary 
to be exceedingly cautious lest we should overlook some circumstance which may entirely 
alter the whole aspect of affairs. 
Very little is known of the habits of the Sea Leopard, which are probably much the 
same as those of the common Seal, as Captain Weddell, who first noticed this species, 
speaks of it casually as a well-known animal, merely mentioning that his men caught 
so many Leopard Seals, or that they secured so many Seal skins and so many Leopard 
Seal skins in the course of their hunt. 
It does not appear to be a very large animal, as the average length of the largest 
specimens is scarcely ten feet. Around the largest part of the body, ‘the circumference 
measures nearly six feet and a half, round the root of the tail about two feet three inches, 
and round the neck barely two feet. It was recorded by Captain Weddell to have been 
seen off the South Orkneys. Some specimens in the British Museum were taken off the 
eastern coast of Polynesia. As far as is yet known, these animals are only found in the 
Southern hemisphere. 
The CrESTED SEAL is a very curious animal, being chiefly remarkable for the singular 
structure to which it is indebted for its title. 
The head of the Crested Seal is broad, especially across the cranial region, and the 
muzzle is very short in comparison with that of the preceding animal. The teeth are 
also rather remarkable. The wonderful protuberance which decorates the head of this 
species with a projecting crest is confined to the adult males, and even in them is not 
always so conspicuously elevated as is represented in the figure. In the females and the 
young of both sexes it is hardly perceptible. 
From the muzzle arises a cartilaginous crest, which rises abruptly over the head to 
the height of six or seven inches, and is keel-shaped in the middle. This crest seems to 
support the hood-like sac or cowl which covers the head, and is nothing but an extra- 
ordinary development of the septum of the nose, the true nostril opening at each side of 
it by oblong fissures. The sac is covered with short brown hair, and as it can be inflated 
or allowed to collapse at the pleasure of the owner, it presents a very grotesque sight. 
The real object of this appendage is not known. Some writers lean to the opinion that 
it is intended to aid in some manner the sense of smell. This conjecture, however, seems 
