136 LECTURE IV. 



thence towards the extremity : the legs are so 

 very short as to be scarcely perceptible, but the 

 feet are large, and the hinder ones are so placed 

 as to be of the highest use to the animal in swim- 

 ming, being situated at the extremity of the body, 

 and close to each other : the tail is very short : 

 the whole animal is covered with short, thick-set, 

 glossy hair, and its general colour is a dark grey- 

 ish brown. In this respect, however, it is known 

 to vary, like most others of its genus, being some- 

 times seen spotted or variegated. Like the rest 

 of the genus it feeds on various fishes, shell 

 animals, and marine plants. A species much re- 

 sembling this, but larger, is often seen about some 

 of the European coasts: it differs in having a 

 somewhat more lengthened snout than the com- 

 mon Seal, and is generally black above, and white 

 beneath, but, like the former, it varies in colour. 

 It is the Pied Seal of Mr. Pennant, which in the 

 first or folio edition of the British Zoology, was 

 not considered as distinct from the common Seal. 



I shall not pursue the description of this genus 

 farther, than to observe that it is of considerable 

 extent, and that several species inhabiting the 

 Asiatic and American seas are of vast size, and 



