134 Notices respecting New Booh. 



"The Pkocce * are the most numerous class of animals which 

 frequent Spitzbergen, where they are found in vdit numbers. 

 Though the specific characters of each particular tribe are di- 

 stinctly marked, their general resemblancp is, upon the whole, so* 

 very striking, that the following observations may be applied to 

 them all indiscriminately. In the scale of nature, the Phocaa 

 hold an intermediate station between amphibia and perfect lish; 

 but nearer the latter than the former. The organization of other 

 amphibious animals, such as the beaver, castor, otter, &;c. fits 

 them better for living on the land than the water. In this genus 

 the contrary takes place. The arms and legs of the Phocae (if 

 we may emj)lov these terms) are wholly enveloped in the flesh of 

 the animal, the hands and feet being alone protruded ; these too 

 are webbed, and are instruments evidently more calculated for 

 swimming than moving on land. 



" This unaptness of organization is strongly displayed in the 

 painful motion of the animal, which, from the shortness of its 

 legs, has to rest at every step, on its belly, until it prepares for a 

 new advance. Its agility, considering these defects, is indeed as- 

 tonishing, and is certainly the effect of great exertion. 



" The eloquent and ingenious Buft'on was of opinion, that the 

 Phocae approached to fish by a still more decisive criterion. 

 * They are the only animals,' says he, ' who have the foramen 

 ovale open, and who can therefore live without respiring, and to 

 whom water is as proper and suitable an element as air.' The- 

 oretic views appear to have here led this excellent writer into an 

 error, as it is now well known that the Phocae cannot remain long 

 in the water without coming to the surface to breathe. 



" The Phoca vitidina, by the English termed seal, and by the 

 French phoq^ie, is the most conmion species of those animals in 

 the North, and is dispersed with some variety throughout the rest 

 of the Ocean. Its head is large and flat ; the teeth strong, and 

 so sharp, that I have s^en it bite in two the handspikes with 

 which the men were attempting to kill it; the tongue is forked ; 

 and it is well furnished with whiskers around the mouth ; has al- 

 most no external appearance of ears, but merely an aperture to 

 convey the sound to ihasensorium ; the eyes are small, and have 

 a haggard appearance ; the neck thickens as it approaches the 

 ihoulder, the thickest part of the animal ; from whence the body 

 gradually tapers in a cylindrical form, to the extremity, where 

 the hind legs are j)laced, between which is a very short tail; the 

 fore paws consist of five fingers, joined together by a membrane, 

 and furnished with very strong cylindrical nails; the hind paws 

 are formed in the same way, except that the fingers are longer 



• Under this general appellation I include the seal, walrus, or morse, 

 dugon, &c. 



thaa 



