MARINE CARNIVORA 139 



been greatly reduced by whalers in search of skins and oil. The first sea-lion ever brought 

 here was one of these. The Zoological Society did not import it; they found it in the pos- 

 session of a Frenchman called Lecomte, who had taken it on the Patagonian coast, trained it, and 

 brought it home, where he showed it in a caravan. Its training was long and difficult ; it bit like 

 a bull-dog, and Lecomte's limbs were scarred all over with its bites. In spite of this it was the 

 cleverest performing animal ever seen up to that time in England. This sea-lion died from swal- 

 lowing a fish-hook concealed in some fish with which it was fed. Lecomte was then sent out by 

 the Zoological Society to obtain some more. With the greatest difficulty several were secured, 

 but all died on the voyage to New York. Lecomte returned and obtained others, one of which 

 he succeeded in bringing here. The cleverness of these animals or rather their power of 

 understanding what they are required to do, and their willingness to do it probably exceeds that 

 of any other animal, except the elephant and the dog. Why this is so is not easy to conjecture, 

 except that the brain is more developed. They have been taught to fetch and carry on dry land 

 like a retriever, in addition to the well-known tricks exhibited by those at the Zoo. One be- 

 longing to Barnum's Show caught strawberry-punnets on its nose when they were thrown to it, 

 and waved a torch, which it held in its teeth and caught after tossing it into the air. 



The sea-lions are much more powerful animals than the fur-seals. The male of Steller's sea- 

 lion attains a length of 10 feet and a weight of 1,000 Ibs. The AUSTRALIAN SEA-LION is even 

 larger than that of the North Pacific. Some specimens are said to attain 12 feet in length. Cap- 

 tain Cook mentions seeing male Patagonian sea-lions 14 feet long and from 8 to 10 feet in cir- 

 cumference. Though none are now seen of such dimensions, skulls found on the beach show 

 that anciently some of the sea-lions were larger than any now known. 



It should be noted that all these creatures are carnivorous, yet the supply of food for them 

 never seems to fail, as undoubtedly it would were the animals dependent for their food on land. 





B) fermiiiion of Herr Carl Haginbtct] 



FEMALE WALRUS 



This is a photograph of the only -walrus -which has ever been tamed and taught to perform tricks. It -was taken "when she -was Pwo years old 

 and -weighed 380 Ibs. At that time she consumed JO Ibs. of boneless fish a day } a year later not less than too Ibs. satisfied htr. She is now 

 an inmate of the Roumanian Zoological Gardens 



