58 MARINE AND AQUATIC TRESPASSERS. 



Gardens, and induce the keeper to bring some fish. 

 The intelligent animals know his step as well as pos- 

 sible, and as soon as they hear it will scuttle over the 

 pavement of their enclosure, plump themselves into 

 the water, shoot themselves out on the opposite side, 

 and raise themselves against the bars, anxiously ex- 

 pecting the food. He will then fling a fish to the 

 opposite side of the enclosure, whereupon the animals 

 gallop along as has been described, race for the fish, 

 and then come back for more, the same gallop and 

 scramble being repeated each time, and the Seals 

 appearing to enjoy the game as much as if they 

 were children scrambling for sweetmeats. 



That the gallop is the only way by which a seal can 

 proceed on land with any rapidity, is evident from the 

 structure. The reader will remember that in the whale 

 the hind limbs are entirely absent, so as to leave the 

 body free and flexible, and that there is not even a 

 pelvis. Now, the Seal has to move about on the land 

 as well as to be active in the water, and these two con- 

 ditions are fulfilled in a very simple manner. 



It is evident that there must be hind limbs, and 

 that, therefore, there must be a pelvis to which the 

 limbs can be attached. But the pelvis is very small, as 

 the animal does not need to support the weight of the 

 body upon the limbs, and it is set so far back that the 

 body is as flexible as that of the whales or the dolphins. 

 The limbs themselves are short, but the actual feet are 

 rather long, flat, and set vertically, like the tail of a 

 fish, the functions of which, indeed, they perform. 



The long toes are connected with skin, like the 

 webbed feet of a duck, and when the Seal wishes to 



