210 



NATURAL HISTORY. 



Unless as the merest rudiment, there are no eyelashes or eyebrows. The muzzle is dog-like, but with 

 long, stiff, though exceedingly mobile moustaches. In the Walrus, however, chiefly on account of its 

 huge tusks, this part of the face is immensely dilated, fleshy, and covered with great pliable bristles, 

 like knitting-needles in calibre ; these latter and tusks being adaptations suited to the animal's mode 

 of feeding The skin of the body fits loosely, and there is a thick layer of oily fat beneath, its amount 

 depending on general condition, season, and sex. The hairy covering is of two sorts, a stouter, coarser, 

 and at the roots a much shorter, softer kind. As it appears ordinarily, the hair seems uniform and 

 short, and when wetted it clings close to the skin, so that the surface then is smooth and polished, 

 becoming rougher as it dries. Now, it is the soft under-wool, which is in great abundance in. 

 some of the Sea Lions only, that constitutes the fur of commerce. 



In the skeleton it is to the amount of cartilage between the bones, along with the gristly 

 rods attaching the ribs to the back and breast-bones, that the extraordinary mobility of figure 



SKELETON OF OTARIA IN THE ATTITUDE OF WALKING. (Reduced after ifttrie.) 



on land, and easy motions of swimming in the water, which belong par excellence to the Marine 

 Carnivora, are due. Add to this that the hip-bones are narrow and remarkably compressed, 

 the thigh-bones excessively short, the shank-bones long and tied in behind, while great hind-flippers, 

 like double oars rearwards, drive or steer with sculling sweep. The bones of the fore-limb and its 

 modified foot altogether are strong, and remarkably so in the powerful- swimming Sea Lions. All four 

 feet have excessively long toes, the thumb-bones being longest, the fingers lessening to the little toes ; 

 in the hind-foot the three middle toes are shorter than the two outer ones. There are tiny nails on 

 each toe at the bone ends, beyond which is a flat spatula-shaped cartilage, of excessive length in the 

 Otary family. The webbed flat feet are thus altogether very peculiar, and when used the entire sole, 

 even including wrist and ankle-bones, is laid flat on the ground, so that two families of the Pinnipedia 

 are really more plantigrade than the Bears. The Common Seals, or Phocidse, however, never use the 

 hind-feet on land, and the fore-feet but sparingly, while their nails are more claw-like than in their 

 marine congeners. In none of the Seal tribe, though, are the nails or claws retractile, as previously 

 has been shown (p. 12) in the Cat and Lion. 



The skull in the three families presents modifications partly adapted to their different habits and 

 modes of life, and partly to their race characters. In none, however, do we find the peculiar scissor- 

 like or cutting teeth (see p. 13) of the typical Land Carnivora, but, as in the Bear tribe, the den- 

 tition exhibits a diminution in the cutting form of the teeth, and a tendency in some of the 

 creatures to a levelling and conical production of the crown of the molars, while in others these latter 

 show a serrate or saw-like character. For example, in the Walrus all the teeth, save the canines, are 





