CHAPTER IV. 



THE FUR SEAL OR "SEA BEAR." 



ITS RELATIVES. 



The fur seals, with their associates, the walruses aud sea lions, constituting the 

 suborder Gressigrada* (Allen), are obviously related to the bears. The animals 

 comprising this group, among other characters, have plantigrade feet, the anterior 

 limbs modified as oars, and with rudimentary claws, if any. The posterior limbs 

 bend forward at the knee and the long, webbed toes extend beyond the claws. Only 

 the anterior limbs are used ill swimming. The head and neck can be elevated as 

 in the bear, and the external ear is moderately developed. The animal can run or 

 lope along the ground as do ordinary mammals, and with considerable rapidity. 



THE SEA BEAR AND TRUE SEAL. 



Much misconception as to the nature and habits of the fur seals has arisen from 

 their supposed resemblance to the animals in the .North Atlantic and elsewhere, 

 called " seals." The fur seal, however, has no close affinity with the suborder 

 Pinnipedia, to which the true or earless seals belong. The various forms of true or 

 hair seals constituting the group Pinuipedia have the feet not truly plantigrade, short, 

 with long claws. Only the posterior limbs are used in swimming, and these are not 

 susceptible of bending forward at the knee. The animal, therefore, can not walk or 

 lope at all, and only wriggles while on land. Its neck is sbort and it can scarcely 

 raise its head. It has no external ear. 



The internal structures of the animals show equally marked differences. The hair 

 seals, whatever their origin, must come from a different parent stock, and their 

 relation to land carnivora is more remote. Beyond the fact that both fur seal and hair 

 seal are carnivorous mammals, feeding on fish and adapted for life in the water, the 

 two types have little in common. In both species the thick blubber under the skin 

 goes with the life in cold water. The resemblances associated with aquatic habitat are 

 only analogies and have no value in scientific classification. In structure, appearance, 

 habits, disposition, and method of locomotion, they are entirely distinct, and their 

 evolution as pelagic animals has been along separate lines. 



THE FUR SEALS OF THE ANTARCTIC. 



The fur seals of the world belong to two distinct groups or genera, closely related 

 to the sea lions. One of these, the genus Arctoceplialm, is widely distributed over the 

 Antarctic oceans, where its members formerly existed in vast numbers along portions 

 of the coasts of South America, South Africa, Australia, and New Zealand, as well 



* Called Remipedia in our preliminary report, page 12, but tbe name (Iressigrada is earlier and 



includes the same forms. 



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