Order VIII. Pinnipedia. Sea-lions, Seals, etc. 
J. A. Allen, History of North American Pinnipeds, U.S. Geol. & 
Geog. Surv., 1880. 
St. G. Mivart, Notes on the Pinntpedia, Proc. Zodl. Soc., 1885. 
The members of the PINNIPEDIA are constructed for a life in the 
water, although some species, like the Sea-bears and Sea-lions, are 
capable in emergencies of progressing on the land with considerable 
rapidity, but the majority are practically helpless when out of the 
water, and they progress on shore by a series of hitches affected by 
the action of the ventral muscles. Their feet are webbed, and the 
greater portion of their limbs is hidden within the skin. The body 
tapers towards both ends like that of a fish, and is covered with a 
thick coating of fat as a protection against cold, for most species of 
this Order are boreal in their habitats. The food of these animals is 
fish and other marine creatures, which they catch by swimming, or 
as in the case of crustaceans, are taken from rocks, or the bottom of 
the sea. While their lives are for the most part passed in the sea, 
they always come to the land to bring forth their young. Widely 
distributed, they are found in most of the seas of the Globe, and yet 
are not very numerous in species. Gregarious by nature, they often 
go in large herds, and certain of them, like the Fur Seal, are preyed 
upon by Cetaceans, such as the various species of Orcas or Killer 
Whales, etc. Of their skins, that of the Fur Seal is most valuable, 
but the species is rapidly verging towards extinction. Certain of 
these aquatic animals are of enormous size, some, like the Walrus, 
weighing nearly a ton. 
Fam. |. Otariidz. Sea-lions. 
Aquatic carnivora, with the limbs inclosed in the general tegu- 
ment beyond the knees and elbows. Five digits on each limb, the 
first and fifth of the hind limbs generally the longest and stoutest, 
those of the front limbs decreasing in size from first to fifth. Body 
and neck elongate; fore feet nearly as large as the hind feet, the 
latter capable of expansion, and with distinct claws on the three 
middle digits; front feet without claws; tail very short; when walking 
hind feet are turned forward under the body, supporting it; ears 
external; interorbital constriction of skull great; facial portion short, 
rather broad; two central pairs of upper incisors with a transverse 
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