SEALS. 73 



that of the adult male, and they, in consequence, being 

 equally liable to be knocked on the nose. 



It has also been suggested that the sac is intended 

 to increase the loudness of the voice; but the fact 

 that it communicates with the nostrils, which are used 

 for breathing, and not with the throat, which is used 

 for the production of sound, militates strongly against 

 this theory. All known species of Seal can bellow 

 loudly enough when they are angry, but they do so 

 with their throats, and not through their noses. 



An appendage of an equally mysterious character 

 belongs to the gigantic seal, which is called the Sea 

 Elephant (Morunga proboscidea) . The name is doubly 

 appropriate, the animal being of gigantic dimensions, 

 and the snout of the adult male prolonged into a 

 form that somewhat resembles the proboscis of the 

 elephant. 



Even the Walrus looks small in point of size by the 

 side of the Sea Elephant, the former averaging some 

 fourteen or fifteen feet in length, while an adult male 

 Sea Elephant has been known to measure thirty feet in 

 length. 



The enormous snout of the male is, in one respect, 

 like the head-pouch of the Crested Seal. When the 

 animal is undisturbed, it hangs down quite loose and 

 flaccid, and is scarcely noticeable at a little distance. 

 But when it is angered, especially by a rival of its own 

 species, it has a way of expanding the proboscis to a 

 wonderful size, thereby giving itself a most formidable 

 aspect. 



Its enormous dimensions, and the powerful teeth 

 with which its jaws are armed, render it a very un- 



