336 



PHOCID.E. 



PHOCID.E. 



3C6 



SItmniatopta crittatus, 



.Wacrorkinia (F. Cuvier). Differing widely from that of the other 

 seals. Incisor teeth curved like the canines, but smaller; canines 

 strong and well developed ; molars with simple roots, larger than the 

 crowns, which last resemble a pedunculated mammilla. 



Tth of JbtrorliinlH. 





Bknll of ilacrarhinvi. 



M. proboiciit'-ut. This is the Phoque h Trompe of Pdron ; Pltoca 

 proltotriitea, Uesiu. ; Elephant Marin of the French ; Sea-Elephant 

 and Elephant-Seal of the English; Bottle-Nose of Pennant; and 

 Miouroung of the Australian?. 



Dental Formula: Incisors,-: Canines, -^^; Molars, _H_ = 30. 

 2 11 55 



This species i remarkable for the nose of the male being prolonged 

 into a kind of proboscis, which respires violently when the animal is 

 excited, or is elongated in the form of a tube about a foot long, when 

 it is preparing for attack and defence. When the animal is in a slate 



WAI. HI*T. DIV. YOU IV. 



of repose, the nostrils are shrunk, and the proboscis flaccid, giving 

 the face a larger appearance. The female has no proboscis. 



It is found in the southern hemisphere, both in the Atlantic and 

 Southern Oceans, between 35 and 55 S. lat., Kerguelen's Land, 

 South Georgia, Juan Fernandez, South Shetland, and the Falklands. 



Klephant Seal (Afacrorhintu proboicidftts}. Males. 



Elephant Seal (Macroi-liiim* probotcirleus). Female. 



This enormous animal, which, to use the expression of Mr. Lizars, 

 " compared with any ordinary seal three or four feet long, appears like 

 an elephant when compared to a sheep," owes its name to its size and 

 bulk, most probably, quite as much as to the proboscis with which 

 the male is furnished. These seals are fond of wallowing in fresh- 

 water swamps, and resort to lakes and rivers, whose waters they drink 

 with apparent pleasure. They sleep both afloat and on the sands of 

 the shore : when a flock reposes in the latter situation, some of them 

 keep watch, and if alarmed, down they go to the sea. Those who 

 have seen them in progress describe their gait as very singular, their 

 motion being a kind of crawling, during which their body trembles 

 like a great bag of jelly. At every 15 or 20 paces they halt, as if 

 from fatigue. If any one gets before them, they stop, and if urged 

 to motion by repeated blows, appear to suBer much, and the pupil of 

 the eye, which is ordinarily bluish-green, becomes blood-red. Not- 

 withstanding their unwieldiness however, they have been known to 

 ascend low downs of 15 or 20 feet elevation, in order to reach small 

 ponds of water. The cry of the female and the young is said to 

 resemble the lowing of an ox, but the hoarse gurgling singular voice 

 of the male, strengthened by the proboscis, is described as being 

 audible to a great distance, and as wild and frightful. To obtain 

 shelter from the heat of the sun, when lying on the shore by day, 

 they cover themselves, by the aid of their paws, with the moist 

 sand. They perform a sort of migration in order to avoid the 

 extremes of heat and cold, leaving the south in the beginning of winter 

 for more temperate climes, and retiring southward again in summer. 

 About a month afterwards, the females bring forth one, very rarely 

 two, according to Pe'ron; generally two, according to Ansou. The 

 young weigh about TOlbs., and ore between four and five feet long at 

 their birth, the male, even at that early period, being larger than the 

 female. At this time it is stated that the mothers are all collected 

 near the shore, surrounded by the males, who prevent them from 

 returning to sea till the period of suckling is past, during which 

 operation the female lies on her side. The young grow so rapidly 

 that they are said to double their original dimensions in eight days, 

 and at the end of the third year they have attained a length of from 

 18 to 25 feet and upwards, when they increase principally in fatness. 



