CHAPTER IV. 



SEALS. 



HAVING now given this brief sketch of those mammalian 

 water trespassers which pass the whole of their lives 

 in the water, we proceed to those mammalia which 

 pass the greater part of their life in the water, procure 

 their food in it, and fly to it for safety, though they 

 produce and nurture their young on the shore. 



These animals we know by the popular name of 

 Seals, scientifically termed Phocidse. They are distri- 

 buted over the greater part of the world, and are never 

 found at any distance from the shore. They cannot 

 be called amphibious that being a term, indeed, to 

 which no creature can fairly lay a claim. 



But in one respect they are superior to the whale 

 namely, that although they procure their food in the 

 water, they are capable of leaving that element for the 

 land, and progressing upon it. Moreover, they are 

 able to live on the shore, many specimens having been 

 kept for years far away from the sea, and without 

 having even access to water in which to disport them- 

 selves. No whale could live for any time under such 

 circumstances, and when one of these huge animals is 

 driven ashore, it soon dies of hunger. 



The method in which the structure of fche body is 



