30 



CLASS M A M MALI A. 



ORDER S ARCOPHAGA. 



nit-nts and working tools. The Greenlander catches Seals either accom- 

 panied by other fishers, which occupation is then called a Clapper-hunt, l>y 

 shooting them, or by other contrivances. The Clapper-hunt consists in a 

 party going out together in their kajaks, or boats, and cutting off the Seals' 

 retreat; they then frighten them under water by hallooing and pelting them 

 with stones, and as the Seals are obliged to come up for air this is repeated 

 till they are tired, when the hunters destroy them with the agligak, an in- 

 strument resembling the erneinek, or harpoon dart, but differing from it in 

 having the shaft only a foot and a half long. If the Seal has a good broad 

 water of three or four leagues in extent, it will keep the sportsmen occupied 

 for a couple of hours before they can approach near enough to kill it, as in 

 the early part of the chase it will often start up three-quarters of a mile 

 distant from the spot at which it had dived. But if it approach the land 

 in order to escape, it is driven off by the women and boys, and soon 

 destroyed by the men who are in its rear. (Plate 9.) 



The Leporine Seal, the Harp Seal, the Hock Seal, the White-clawed Seal, 

 the Hough Seal, and the Great Seal, inhabitants of the White Sea, coast of 

 Iceland, and within the Polar circle from Spitzbergen to Tchutki Noss. 

 The Hare-tailed Seal, from Terra Neuve, and the Griffin Seal, Baltic Sea ; 

 the White-tailed Seal, and the Marbled Seal haunts not known. 



2. The Stenorhyncha ; narrow muzzles. There are two species; the 

 Small-tailed Seal (P. Leptonyx). From seven to nine feet in length : conies 

 from the Falkland Islands and from New Georgia. The Weddell Seal, 

 common on the shores of the Southern Orcades. 



3. The Pelaffia; inhabitants of the deep seas. The specific name is 

 Monk (P. Monachus), arising from the fact that when placed on its back, 

 the skin wrinkles up like a monk's hood. It is found hi the Adriatic 

 Gulf. 



4. The Stemnopata, the Hood-cap, so called from having a moveable and 

 inflatable membrane upon the top of the head, the structure of which, how- 

 ever, is not satisfactorily made out. One species, the Hooded Seal (P. 

 Cristata), has upon its forehead a thick folded skin, " which," says Crantz, 

 " it can draw over its eyes like a cap, to defend itself against the storms, 

 waves, stones, and sand." It is found in the southern part of Greenland ; 

 and, according to Crantz, makes two voyages annually to Davis's Straits. 



5. The Macrorhyncha, from the large size of its muzzle. The Proboscis 

 Seal, which belongs to this subgenus, is the largest of the seals. It mea- 

 sures from twenty to thirty feet in length, and fifteen or eighteen in circum- 

 ference. The male is distinguished by having the power of projecting the 

 muzzle in form of a proboscis : this, when the animal is at rest, being loose 

 and pendent, gives great breadth to the face, but whenever it breathes 

 strongly, or is about to attack or to defend itself, the muzzle becomes elon- 

 gated into a tube of a foot long. In the female there is not this formation, 

 and the upper lip is merely slightly cleft at its edge. These animals are 

 natives of the South Seas exclusively, and are particularly attached to 

 desert isles, and more especially to some than to others : thus they are 

 found in great numbers on Hunter's, King's, and New-year's-day Islands, 

 are rare on that of Two Sisters, and are entirely strangers to Mary's Island 

 and the He Decres ; nor do they exist either on the continent of New Hol- 

 land, nor on Van Diemen's Land, though occasionally they are driven by 

 tempest on the coasts of the latter two countries. They come northward 

 in the middle of June, and the shores of King's Island are then swarming 

 with them. About a month after their arrival, the females begin to drop 

 their young, surrounded by the males, which will not allow them to return 

 to the sea till they have ceased suckling their young, which increase from 

 seventy pounds to one hundred in the course of eight days, and the dams, 

 as might be expected, become extremely thin. After fifteen days, the teeth 

 begin to appear, and in four months are entirely cut. Their growth is so 

 rapid, that by the third year they have attained from eighteen to twenty- 

 four feet, which is their ordinary length, and after that time they do not 

 grow at all. When six or seven weeks old, their dams conduct them to 

 the sea, and the shores are entirely deserted, and if in swimming about any 

 of the cubs straggle from the herd, they are speedily driven to it again by 

 some of the older Seals. After remaining three weeks or a month at sea 



to accustom the young to it, they return to land for the purpose of mating, 

 and this takes place among those which have attained three years, when the 

 proboscis is developed, but not till then. At this time the contests between 

 the males are very severe. The two rivals drag themselves along heavily ; 

 they close, and putting muzzle to muzzle, raise the whole fore part of their 

 body on their fins, open their wide mouths, their eyes flaming with anger, 

 and then dashing against each other with all their might, thev fall on, tooth 

 to tooth and jaw to jaw ; severe wounds are often inflicted, sometimes the 

 eyes are struck out, and frequently the tusks broken ; but in spite of these 

 they fight on till completely worn out, whilst the females patiently await 

 the issue of the combat which is to furnish them with a spouse. The 

 Proboscis Seal appears to be naturally of a good temper, allowing the 

 smaller species to swim among them without molestation, and when on 

 shore never attacking man unless provoked, so that people may walk among 

 them without danger. 



OTAEIA Otary. The animals forming this genus were separated by 

 Peron from the I'hoci, or Seals, in consequence of their being furnished with 

 an external ear, and also from the variation in the form of their teeth. 

 Like the Seals, however, they are aquatic animals, and spend but little time 

 ashore, except during the breeding season. Although living together in 

 herds, each family remains perfectly distinct from other of their companions, 

 and any even accidental intrusion is speed! Iv repelled by violence. Kadi 

 male is accompanied by many females, sometimes amounting to sixty or 

 seventy in number, but varying in the different species ; these they guard 

 with great jealousy, and fierce contests are frequently the result of any 

 attempt at abduction. They live upon fish, mollusca, marine plants, and 

 occasionally prey upon each other. The females produce one or two cubs 

 annually, which they suckle and tend with the greatest care. Generally, 

 they are natives of the Polar regions, but some species are found in the 

 Mediterranean, and others off the Cape of Good Hope. (Plate 9.) 



The species are the Lwn-mamd Otary, the Ursine Otary, the Little 

 Otary, the Crowned Otary, the Cinereous Otary, the White-necked Otary, 

 the Yellow Otary, and the Falkland Otary. 



TRICHECHUS the Walrus. The general form of the Walrus, of which 

 but a single species is known, corresponds to that of the seals, excepting as 

 to the head and teeth. The alveolar cavities of the upper jaw are large to 

 receive the large tusks, and thus render the muzzle large and full, whilst 

 the nostrils, instead of being placed at its tip, are directed upwards, and the 

 lower jaw is compressed and narrow, so as to be received between the 

 tusks, projecting about two inches beyond the upjior. There are but two 

 upper incisive teeth, which greatly resemble molar teeth in shape, and in 

 young animals there is also a still smaller tooth on each side, between then 

 and the cuspid teeth ; the tusks are large, and project about two feet from 

 the jaw ; they are of the finest ivory ; the lower jaw has neither incisive nor 

 cuspid teeth ; the molar teeth are four on a side in either jaw, cylindrical, 

 short, and truncated obliquely ; in young animals there is sometimes a 

 fifth. 



The Arctic Walrus (T. Rosmarus) is usually from ten to twelve feet, 

 but occasionally as much as eighteen to twenty feet in length, and from ten 

 to twelve in girth ; the eyes are small, fiery, and sunken ; ears only minute 

 apertures far back on the head ; mouth very small and the lips thick, the 

 latter beset with transverse rows of transparent bristles, as thick as straws, 

 and curving downwards : the neck is very short. The whole animal is 

 enveloped in a thick wrinkled hide, thickest about the neck, and is 

 with short hair, mouse-coloured, reddish or grey. The Walrus, or 

 as it is sometimes called, is gregarious, living occasionally in flocks of thou- 

 sands. They are very timid, and avoid the haunts of man, living almost 

 entirely upon ice islands, where they sleep, as also indeed even in the 

 water. One great use of their tusks is to enable them to hook on to the 

 edge of the ice, and with the aid of their fore-fins to scramble on to its 

 surface. They are monogamous, couple in June, and early in the follow-in-: 

 spring bring forth one, and rarely two, young ones. They feed on mol- 

 luscs and also on sea-weed. They are harmless, except provoked, but then, 

 especially if wounded, are very fierce, and will even attack boats, end. -a- 



