50 ORDER III. FERJE. SEAL. 



nience. It subsists chiefly on vegetables and roots ; and 

 burrows in the earth with as much facility and expedition 

 as a mole ; being furnished with remarkably strong and 

 crooked claws, generally four on each foot. If seized by 

 the tail while in the act of grubbing up the earth, it will 

 sometimes leave that part in the hand of the person, rather 

 than suffer itself to be pulled back. However, it is fre- 

 quently dislodged by digging ; and sometimes hunted by a 

 sort of small dog bred to that kind of chace, which at 

 once enters its burrows and seizes upon it. It is likewise 

 caught in snares ; but, as if sensible of the various dan- 

 gers to which it is exposed, it seldom ventures far from 

 its retreat. 



Between this animal and the rattlesnake, the closest 

 friendship is said to subsist. They are frequently the 

 tenants of the same subterraneous apartment: it is pro- 

 bable, however, that the rattlesnake is in this case an in- 

 truder ; and that the armadillo merely indures, rather 

 than solicits, the connection. Each, secure in its own 

 powers, preserves a kind of neutrality ; neither of them 

 offering hostility to the other. 



ORDER III. FER^E. 



THIS comprehensive order contains at once some of the 

 most formidable and some of the most contemptible ani- 

 mals. We find in it, among various other creatures, the 

 lion, the tiger, the hedgehog, and the mole ; all of which 

 have teeth similarly constructed, and from that circum- 

 stance arises their association in the system. 



THE SEAL, OR SEA-CALF. 



There are several distinct species of this genus ; but I 

 shall confine my observations principally to the common 

 seal, which is a native of the European seas 



This animal resembles a quadruped in some respects, 

 and a fish in others. The head is round, and the nose 



