CHAP. viii. SEALS AND SEA-LIONS. 109 



At the present time there are at Kegent's Park two kinds 

 of sea-lions, one from the Auckland Islands, and one from 

 Patagonia ; a fur-seal from the Cape of Good Hope ; and 

 two of the pretty soft-eyed little harbour seals (Captain 

 Mclntyre's friend, the phoca) that are sometimes found on 

 our own coasts. In addition to these there may often be 

 seen the noisy barking Californian sea-lion and the grey 

 seal which is found on the coasts of Ireland, Scotland, 

 and the Hebrides. And if you visit the Natural History 

 Museum at South Kensington you will see many other 

 kinds of seals and sea-lions, among them the curious 

 bladder-nosed seal of the North Atlantic. 



Let us note in the stuffed specimens some of the 

 peculiar features in the structure of these interesting 

 animals. We shall soon be able to distinguish the seals 

 from the sea-lions and the fur-seals, for they have no 

 external ears. It is as if the outer ear had been shaved 

 off, leaving only the ear-hole visible amid the fur. For 

 you must not suppose that when zoologists speak of the 

 earless seals they mean that these animals are destitute of 

 the sense of hearing, which is, on the contrary, remarkably 

 acute. It is only the outer ear-shell that is wanting ; the 

 delicate and sensitive organ of hearing lies deeply embedded 

 in the skull and protected by special bones. In both the 

 seals and the sea-lions the limbs are converted into paddles, 

 and if you compare the stuffed creature with the skeleton, 

 you will see that both arms and legs are so enveloped in 

 the skin of the body that not much more than the wrists 

 and hands of the front legs and the ankles and feet of the 

 hind legs are free to move. It is as if my tailor had made 

 me a coat without arms, and with only a pair of holes on 

 each side through which I could pass my hands, and had 

 also made my trousers with only one leg, into which I was 

 obliged to insert both mine, with my ankles and feet pro- 



