42 VERTEBRATES I MAMMALS. 



the hair is comparatively soft and glossy. Under ordi- 

 nary circumstances this bear is not very ferocious. 



The White or Polar Bear, U. maritimus, Linn!, of the 

 Arctic regions of both hemispheres, is eight feet long, 

 and attains the weight of one thousand to fifteen hun- 

 dred pounds. It is snow-white, wholly carnivorous, and 

 feeds upon seals and other animals. 



The remaining animals of this Order the Seals and Walruses were included by Lin- 

 naeus in the single Genus Phoca. These animals are now regarded as constituting a sub- 

 order called Pinnipedia, or fin-footed animals. Though they spend much time upon the 

 land, their home is the sea. Hence their locomotive organs are fin-like or paddle-like, and 

 thus fitted for swimming. The Pinnipeds include three families. 



OTARIAD^E, OR EARED-SEAL FAMILY. This Family 

 comprises seals which have a rather stout body and dis- 

 tinct external ears. Their fore limbs are fin-like and 

 situated far back, and the digits, decreasing in a curved 

 line, are destitute of nails. The hind feet have the toes 

 of nearly equal length, and terminated with long, cartila- 

 ginous flaps, and the three middle toes are provided with 

 nails. The dental formula is, incisors |^|> canines -j 

 molars ^ or ~. This family has its principal repre- 

 sentatives in the Pacific Ocean. Formerly all of its 

 species were included in the Genus Otaria. Naturalists 

 now recognize about a dozen genera. The Genus Eume- 

 topias has the dental formula for the molars j^ 



Steller's Sea Lion, E. Stelleri, Peters, of the Pacific, is 

 an eared seal twelve or thirteen feet long, and attains a 

 weight of eighteen hundred pounds. 



The Genus Callorhinus has the dental formula for the 

 molars ~ 



The Northern Sea Bear or Northern Fur Seal, C. ur- 

 sinus, Gray, of the continental coasts and islands of the 

 North Pacific, is seven or eight feet long, and attains a 

 weight of five to seven hundred pounds. It occurs in 

 immense numbers at St. Paul's and St. George's Islands 

 off the coast of Alaska. More than a million resort an- 

 nually to St. Paul's Island to rear their young. 



