734 



THE CARNIVORES 



In the crested seal the appendage on the nose takes the form of a large sac> 

 which is in communication with the nostrils, and when inflated covers the head as 

 far back as the eye; but the female has no trace of this appendage, which does not 

 make its appearance in the male till a considerable time after birth. The hind-feet 

 of this species are provided with small claws; and the last cheek-tooth generally has 

 two roots. The ground color of the fur is bluish black, becoming lighter on the 

 flanks and under parts, and marked with small irregular whitish spots; the head and 

 limbs being uniformly black. Sometimes, however, the ground color is light gray- 



SEAI,. 

 (One-twentieth natural size.) 



ish white, varied with dark brown or blackish spots. The woolly fur of the newly- 

 born young is pure white. In size, full-grown males of this seal vary from seven 

 and one-half to eight feet in total length; females measuring about seven feet. The 

 skull is very short and broad; and the bony partition dividing the nostrils is pro- 

 duced above the level of their margin in order to support the sac. This seal is 

 restricted to the colder regions of the North Atlantic and certain portions of the Arc- 

 tic Sea; its range extending from Greenland eastward to Spitzbergen, and thence 

 along the northern coast of Europe. Southward these seals are but seldom found 

 below Norway on the one side, and Newfoundland on the other. 



