SEALS. 263 



little affecting caresses, and generally followed him in his walks. 

 During his absence,, she sought and called for him incessantly, 

 with the utmost inquietude. She recognised his voice at a 

 distance, and seemed on each fresh meeting with him to feel 

 increased satisfaction. Her gait was frank, and her look as 

 gentle as her character. 



SEALS. 



These curious animals, which are probably the mermaids of 

 our superstitious forefathers, have the head generally bearing 

 some resemblance to that of a dog, whose intelligence and soft 

 expressive look they also possess. Some species have the ears 

 very slightly produced and inconspicuous, and others have 

 merely an auditory aperture. Their jaws are furnished with 

 strong teeth, consisting of incisors, canines, and molars, all 

 well adapted for seizing, holding, and crunching the scaly and 

 slippery fish upon which they are required to operate} the 

 tongue is smooth, and slightly notched at the end. The feet 

 are formed for swimming -, the front pair are enveloped in the 

 skin of the body as far as the tarsus, and the hinder pair, which 

 are flattened and directed backwards, are enveloped almost to 

 the heel ; all the feet have five toes, the anterior ones regularly 

 decreasing in length from the thumb to the little toe, while in 

 the hinder feet the thumb and the last toe are the longest, and 

 the intermediate ones the shortest. The tail is short, and, when 

 the animal is out of the water, is generally concealed by the 

 hind legs pressing close to it. The stomach is of a simple 

 organization, having a short coecum, but a long and tolerably 

 regular intestinal canal. When they dive, they close their 

 nostrils by a kind of valve j and the large venous sinus in the 

 liver must assist them in diving, by rendering respiration less 

 necessary to the circulation of the blood, which in them is very 

 abundant and very black. 



