CARNARIA. CARNIVORA. 117 



This individual was accustomed to devour thirty 

 pounds of living fish, usually eels, every day : these 

 were more agreeable to its palate, when rolled in 

 salt. It was seven feet and a half long. 



Perhaps the most remarkable species of the tribe, 

 as it is undoubtedly the most gigantic, is the Ele- 

 phant Seal (P. Proboscidea). With the exception 

 of the Whales, it is the largest living animal known 

 to naturalists, sometimes attaining a length of thirty 

 feet, with a thickness of eighteen. It delights in 

 the barren and inhospitable islands which surround 

 the southern Horn of America, on whose shores 

 they lie in herds, wallowing their ungainly bulk and 

 basking in the sun. The male has the snout pro- 

 duced into a sort of contractile proboscis, a foot in 

 length when extended. The teeth are formidable, 

 and the jaws powerful, yet they seem unconscious 

 of their power, manifesting the mildness of their race. 

 One individual will sometimes yield fifteen hundred 

 pounds of oil of superior quality. 



The many animals which have been described 

 under the vague appellations of Sea-lion and Sea-bear, 

 (P. Jubata,) Leonina, Ursina, &c.) belong to the Ota- 

 ries or Eared Seals. They do not exhibit sufficient 

 peculiarities to require a separate description: they 

 seem, however, more bold and fierce than those which 

 we have noticed. 



Trichechus,* the Walrus. 



The great peculiarity of this genus, which com- 

 prises but a single known species, consists in the 



* <, tJiriXy hair. 



