92 CARNIVORA. 



for the blood, during the suspension of breathing under water. 

 It can remain in that element a long time without injury ; when 

 it is submerged, the blood not freely circulating, and thus accu- 

 mulating in the larger veins. Its tissue appears designed in 

 part to relieve the animal from the pressure of the superincum- 

 bent water. The blood is abundant and dark in appearance, 

 showing that it has less oxygen than that of strictly terrestrial 

 animals. 



Seals are found in almost every quarter of the globe, but they 

 are most numerous in frozen and temperate regions. They exist 

 in vast numbers in the seas around Spitzbergen, and on the coasts 

 of Labrador, and Newfoundland. About thirteen species are 

 included in the genus Phoca. In their wide range, seals are 

 sometimes found within the waters of the state of New York, 

 About the middle of the Spring of the year 1857, one wa% 

 taken in the Hudson river, and another on the borders of Long 

 Island. Dr. Dekay (N. Y. State Nat. Hist.) describes a female 

 seal caught in Long Island Sound, near Sand*s Point. At a for- 

 mer period, these animals were abundant in our waters. "A 

 certain reef of rocks in the harbor of New York, is called Robin's 

 Reef, from the numerous seals which were accustomed to resort 

 thither; robm, orrobyn, being the name in Dutch for seal."* In 

 the Kingston (U. C.) Chronicle, of February, 1823 or 1824, 

 there was a notice of a seal taken on the ice of Lake Ontario, 

 near Cape Vincent, (Jefferson county,) N. Y. In August, 1824, 

 a seal was exhibited alive in New York, which had been taken 

 in a seine in the Chesapeake, near Elkton, Maryland. A seal, 

 said to have been beautifully spotted on the under side, was taken 

 some years since near Lynn, Mass. 



The length of the common seal, Phoca concohr, or P. vitutina, 

 (Lat. calf-like,) (see Plate VIII. fig. 1.) is, on an average, about 

 five feet; the color, yellowish gray, clouded with brown or 

 yellow. The female produces her young during the winter, 

 taking care of them at the place of birth for a few weeks, until 

 they become sufficiently strong to be taken to the water, to 

 which they are then removed by the parent, not without solicitude 

 for their safety. By her they are taught to swim, and seek for 

 fish, and when they are fatigued, she carries them on her back. 

 As might be expected from the nature of its food, the seal has a 

 fishy smell. It is reported that when assembled in numbers on 

 shore, the odor is perceivable at some distance. In pursuing their 

 watery prey, seals display much cunning and power of swimming. 



* Nat. Hist, of State of New York. 



