URSAL ; FUR SEAL. 



233 



remains of both having been taken in its stomach. The name of 

 Elephant Seal is given to it, in part from the large size of its 

 tusk-like canines ; and in part from the prolongation of its 

 snout into a kind of proboscis. Several species of Seal are 

 known under the names of Sea-Lion, Sea-Bear, &c. One of 

 these, the Ursal, an inhabitant of the shores of the North Pacific 

 Ocean, is represented in the accompanying figure. It is said to 

 be one of the most pugnacious and ferocious of the whole tribe. 

 There is a remarkable disproportion in the number of the sexes 

 in this species ; each family consisting of but one male with a 

 crowd of females. If one family encroaches on the station of 

 another, a general fight is the consequence; and Man, if he 

 approach within their range, is by no means safe from their 

 attacks. The Fur Seal, which is nearly allied to this, is an 

 inhabitant of the Southern Pacific ; it was formerly very abun- 

 dant in certain localities, so that for a period of fifty years, not 

 less than J ,200,000 skins were annually obtained from a single 



FIG. 119 THE URSAL. 



island ; but its numbers have been much thinned by this exces- 

 sive destruction. 



203. A very aberrant form of this family is presented by the 



