68 COMPARATIVE ANATOMY OF 



of the most eminent Naturalist of his day. When 

 discoursing about the Caspian, Pallas states the par- 

 ticular situations in which he had seen them, and the 

 spots which were famous for the numbers which they 

 harboured. We shall quote a few words. " Seals 

 sometimes ascend the Jaik or Aural in winter. 

 Many have been killed both on the banks and inlets. 

 The Seal of the Caspian is much fatter in autumn 

 than those of the Baltic which I have seen. They ap- 

 pear more like a skin filled with oil than an animal, as 

 you can scarcely recognise their head and fore paws 

 for the fat. Their skin and blubber are taken to 

 Astrakan, which supplies the oil throughout the 

 Empire."* He is equally specific respecting the 

 Seals of Lake Baikal, as will appear in the se- 

 quel. These statements leave, we think, no room 

 for scepticism ; and they might be multiplied by 

 additional quotations from Anderson and others.f 

 Bearing upon a somewhat similar point, we add 

 the following fact : " Lochaw, in the parish of 

 North Knapdale, abounds with plenty of salmon, 

 and the Seals come up from the ocean through a 

 very rapid river, in quest of this fish, arid retire to 

 the sea at the approach of winter ."f 



Most of the Seals are pre-eminently gregarious. 

 Seldom are they seen except in flocks, amounting 

 sometimes to hundreds, and in some instances even 

 to many thousands. 



Voy. de Pal. t. i. pp. 674, 680-2. 



t See Anderson's Iceland, t. ii. p. 169. 



* &UtUt. Ace. vi. 260. 



