SEALS. 



23 



life has reached its highest development. They are without 

 external ears, the palms and soles of their feet are covered with 



Fig. 8. 



The Common Seal (Phoca vitulina). 



hair, and their coat has no woolly under-fur, consisting only 

 of long stiff hairs lying closely against the skin ; so that their 

 fur is of value only for the manufacture of coarse wearing apparel. 



The family contains eight or ten genera, separated chiefly by the 

 form of their teeth and the varying development of the toes, which 

 in some are all of about the same length, while in others the first 

 and fifth toes are much elongated beyond the rest, in order to 

 support the web. 



The most noteworthy of the Phocidse exhibited are : the 

 Sea-Leopard (Stenorhynchus leptonyx) , of the Antarctic seas ; 

 the Hooded Seal (Cystophora cristata), from Greenland, the male 

 of which has a peculiar bag of skin on its muzzle, which it has 

 the power of inflating with air when excited ; the Sea-Elephant 

 (Macrorhinus leoninus), the largest of the family, sometimes 

 attaining nearly 20 feet in length ; and various other smaller 

 Seals, such as the Common Seal of the English coast (Phoca 

 vitulina] . 



