126 



PHOCID.E MAMMALIA. PHOCID,E. 



from the Trichecidae. According to Reinhardt, 

 upper jaw is frequently furnished with a sixth molar 

 on either side, which would make the total number of 

 grinders to be twenty-two. The superior series are 

 simple, displaying only a single pointed crown, but 

 those of the lower jaw are slightly tuberculated. The 

 head is remarkably flat, terminating anteriorly in a broad, 

 truncated muzzle. One of the most striking peculiari- 

 ties of this species and one in which it very closely 

 resembles the walrus consists in the disproportionate 

 size of the brain, as compared with that of the common 

 seal ; while the bones of the face are, on the other 

 hand, more cogently developed. The late Dr. Ball of 

 Dublin, in a communication to Professor Bell after 

 alluding to the fruitless attempts made by his father to 

 rear and tame specimens has very forcibly remarked 

 that this seal " appears scarcely susceptible of domes- 

 tication, and the development of the skull seems to 

 indicate as much ; for the size of the brain of a speci- 

 men nearly eight feet long, did not exceed that of one 

 of Phoca variegata (i.e., P. vitulina), of less than four 

 feet." 



THE SEA-LEOPABD (Leptonyx Weddellify. TA. 

 Frederick Cuvier formerly associated the various 



the species of Leptonyx, under the generic title of Steno- 

 rhynchus. They are characterized by the possession 

 of twenty-two teeth, of which eight are incisors, 

 besides the usual number of canines, and twenty 

 molars each of the latter being provided with three 

 sharp, conical, prong-like tubercles. All of these are 

 slightly compressed, and point more or less upwards 

 and backwards; the central cusp being the longest, 

 and separated from the lateral pair by a deep notch on 

 either side. The hindermost molars are furnished with 

 double fangs. The skull is narrow, elongated, and 

 rather depressed at the centre of the vertex. The 

 claws of the feet are comparatively small, especially 

 those of the hind pair. This species inhabits the shores 

 of the southern hemisphere. 



THE CRESTED SEAL (Stemmatopus cristatus), or 

 Hoodcap, differs from the ordinary seals, inasmuch as 

 it possesses a remarkable organ, situated at the anterior 

 part of the head. This structure consists of a mem- 

 branous and muscular pouch, which is divided internally 

 into two compartments by the prolongation of the 

 cartilaginous septum of the nose (fig. 37). By closing 

 its nostrils, the animal has the power of inflating this 

 sac, which then stretches back over the cranium, and 



5^< 



The Crested Seal (Stemmatopus erUtadis). 



in the distended condition rises six or seven inches 

 above the vertex. The molar teeth are irregularly 

 tuberculated. The Hoodcap lives chiefly on large 

 floating fields of ice off the coasts of Greenland and the 

 north-eastern shores of America, being seldom seen on 

 land, except in the months of April, May, and June. 

 It is a large species, measuring seven or eight feet in 

 length ; and great numbers are annually destroyed by 

 the seal-hunters. 



THE SEA-BEAE (ArctocepJtalus ursinus) Plate 13, 

 fig. 41 is a native of the north-western shores of 

 America, as well as the coasts of Kamtschatka and the 

 Kurile islands. It is a large, bulky species, upwards 

 of seven feet long. The fur is thick, of a woolly tex- 

 ture, of a greyish-brown tint in the adult, but quite 



black in the young animal. The ears are compara- 

 tively well-developed, being an inch and a half in 

 length, and clothed with hair. There are ten incisor 

 teeth, six above and four below, the four central ones 

 of the upper series having flat and transversely-grooved 

 crowns ; the molars are twenty-two in number. The 

 first toe of the fore-foot is the longest, the remainder 

 gradually shortening in succession, outwards. The 

 interdigital membranes of the hind feet are prolonged 

 considerably beyond the toes in the form of bands. The 

 Sea-bears are polygamous in their habits, a single male 

 jealously guarding upwards of fifty or sixty females. 

 The males are very fierce, as are also the dams when 

 their young are hunted ; if wounded, they utter a loud 

 whining cry. The fur is highly valued. 



