CARNIVORA. 25? 



riable in number and structure ; six of four above, 

 and four or two below. Their character is passive, 

 in general gregarious and affectionate, willing to aid 

 each other in distress. The species appear to be 

 distributed in three general localities, namely, the 

 Northern Atlantic, the Northern Pacific, and the 

 Southern or Antarctic region. We refer, for details 

 of the genera and species, to Volume VIII. of the 

 Mammalia of the Naturalists' Library, confining our 

 notice, in this place, merely to our arrangement of 

 them, and to point out a few species, which appear 

 to have escaped the notice of the author of that vo- 

 lume. But, before we enter upon them, it is proper 

 to notice the fossil remains of Phocidce^ which, it ap- 

 pears, Baron Cuvier first mentioned as being found 

 in the marine and shell deposits of Angers, by Pro- 

 fessor Renou : there were but few fragments, indi- 

 cating two species, or perhaps individuals only, of 

 Phocce, of much greater size than the common. Those 

 which Esper described, from the caverns of Fran- 

 conia, are not of seals, but of terrestrial carnassiers. 

 The Angers specimens were found along with frag- 

 ments of dolphins and manatees ; and it is rather a 

 singular fact, that fossil remains of seals are not 

 more common than they appear to be ; for even in 

 England they are rare in the Pliocenes and Miocene 

 strata. 



In the first group we place the Phocce proper, 

 which have no external ear ; they embrace the ge- 

 nera Calocephalus, which includes the common seai, 

 containing varieties so constantly distinct in size* 



