442 ABOUT THE SEA-LION. 



Otaries ; and their range includes the Falkland Archi- 

 pelago, the coasts of Tierra del Fuego, and the neigh- 

 bouring islands. Their average length is fifteen feet. 

 They derive their picturesque popular designation from 

 the shaggy yellowish -brown mane which clothes their 

 neck, and gives them an imposing appearance ; and it is 

 fully justified by their fierce predatory habits. 



Here we should state that a genus of sea-lions is found 

 in the North Pacific, among the Kurile Islands, and on 

 the coast of Kamtschatka. It has a thick, heavy mane, 

 and is much addicted to roaring ; the said roaring often 

 proving useful to the mariner, by indicating his approach 

 towards some unsuspected rock or ice-floe. At one time 

 the sea-lions of the north were supposed to be identical 

 with those of the south ; but modern naturalists regard 

 them as constituting a distinct genus. 



To the southern hemisphere belongs the Sea-Elephant 

 (Morunga proboscidea), which haunts the great conti- 

 nental estuaries and the fresh- water lakes and swamps 

 of desert islands ; living in herds of a hundred and fifty 

 to two hundred individuals, migrating in the summer to 

 the southern regions of the Antarctic world, and return- 

 ing in the winter to warmer latitudes. For the first four 

 months of the year it does not quit the sea, growing fat 

 upon a daily banquet of fish, Crustacea, and molluscs ; the 

 rest of the year it spends upon land. As it yields a large 

 quantity of oil, it is much prized by the American sealers; 

 and though a powerful animal, it does not often prove a 

 dangerous opponent. 



The average length of the sea-elephant is twenty-four 

 feet. Its generic distinction is the proboscis-like muzzle 



