THE SEAL. 



PLATE XLIX . T HE SEAL. 



THE Seal familyisvery numerous. Naturalists are by 

 no means agreed as to the number of species under the 

 genus Seal, All that can be expected in this number of 

 the History, is that we group the different kinds that have 

 been determined upon by Zoologists, sketch the general 

 character of the animal, then give a more detailed account 

 of those represented by the plate, and close with such 

 anecdotes illustrative of the nature and habits of this curi- 

 ous sea-animal, as are within our reach. 



Writers of the history of animals have given us the fol- 

 lowing classification of the Seal tribe : " The common 

 Seal, the marbled Seal, the bearded or great Seal, the 

 pied Seal, the harp, or Greenland Seal, the ocean Seal, the 

 rough or bristled Seal, the hair-like Seal, the grey Seal, 

 the small-nailed Seal, the leopard Seal, the monk Seal, the 

 crested Seal, the mitred or hooded Seal, the elephant Seal, 

 the fur Seal of commerce. These are the principal kinds, 

 differing in some traits of character, some more and 

 some less." 



Every step we proceed in the description of amphibious 

 quadrupeds, we make nearer advances to the tribe of 

 fishes. We first observed the otter with its feet webbed, 

 and formed for an aquatic life ; we next saw the beaver 

 with the hinder parts covered with scales, resembling those 

 of fishes ; and we now come to a class of animals in which 

 the shape and habitude of fishes still more apparently pre 

 vail, and whose internal conformation attaches them very 

 closely to the water. The Seal, in general, resembles a 

 quadruped in some respects, and a fish in others. The 

 head is round, like that of a man ; the nose broad, like 



