228 MOSTLY MAMMALS 



(which is but a marine creature that has taken to a ter- 

 restrial existence) of the islands of the Indian Ocean, are 

 likewise probably the giants of their kind. At no epoch 

 of the earth's history have we any record of an animal 

 approaching in size the blue rorqual, with its length of 

 between eighty and ninety feet, and its weight of, probably, 

 at least as many tons. The sperm-whale and the Green- 

 land right-whale were, at the time of their abundance, 

 certainly the largest of their respective kinds ; while the 

 basking-shark has probably been unequalled in bulk by 

 any of its predecessors. The great white shark of the 

 present day is indeed considerably inferior in size to its 

 cousins whose teeth now strew the floor of the Pacific ; 

 but these latter lived at no very distant period, and may 

 possibly still survive. Walruses were never larger than 

 they are at the present day, and the dugongs and manatis 

 of the seas of our own days were fully as large as any 

 of their ancestors of which we have ken ; while the north- 

 ern sea-cow of Bering Sea exterminated only a century 

 and a half ago was in this respect far ahead of all other 

 competitors. 



The same is true with regard to the animal forming 

 the subject of the present article the sea-elephant, or, 

 better, the elephant-seal which so vastly exceeds in size 

 all other members of its tribe, that even the largest sea- 

 lions and walruses, when placed alongside its huge bulk, 

 look dwarfs by comparison. But it is not only from its 

 vast size that this seal is of more than ordinary interest, 

 since it is remarkable for many peculiarities in structure 

 and habits, approaching the eared seals (or sea-lions and 

 sea-bears) more closely than is the case with any other of 

 the true or earless seals. It has also, unhappily, an interest 

 attaching to it on account of its impending extermination. 



