STRANGE SEA CREATURES. 205 



and commonly attributed to creatures belonging to families 

 closely allied to the seals, I do not know that any attempt 

 has yet been made to show that these families possess the 

 power of emitting sounds which can properly be described 

 as musical. It is quite possible that the Romanist sailor's 

 ears were not very nice, and that any sound softer than a 

 bellow seemed musical to him. Still, the idea suggests itself 

 that possibly seals, like some other animals, possess a note 

 not commonly used, but only as a signal to their mates, and 

 never uttered when men or other animals are known to be 

 near. It appears to me that this is rendered probable by 

 the circumstance that seals are fond of music. Darwin 

 refers to this in his treatise on Sexual Selection (published 

 with his " Descent of Man "), and quotes a statement to the 

 effect that the fondness of seals for music " was well known 

 to the ancients, and is often taken advantage of by hunters 

 to the present day." The significance of this will be under- 

 stood from Darwin's remark immediately following, that 

 " with all these animals, the males of which during the sea- 

 son of courtship incessantly produce musical notes or mere 

 rhythmical sounds, we must believe that the females are 

 able to appreciate them." 



The remark about the creature's arms seems strongly to 

 favour the belief that the sailor intended his narrative to be 

 strictly truthfuL Had he wished to excite the interest of his 

 comrades by a marvellous story, he certainly would have 

 described the creature as having well-developed human 

 hands. 



Less trustworthy by far seem some of the stories which 

 have been told of animals resembling the mermaid of an- 

 tiquity. It must always be remembered, however, that in all 

 probability we know very few among the species of seals and 

 allied races, and that some of these species may present, in 

 certain respects and perhaps at a certain age, much closer 

 resemblance to the human form than the sea-lion, seal, 

 manatee, or dugong. 



We cannot, for instance, attach much weight to the fol- 



