THE CETACEANS. 281 



walrus lives with Ms dam for two seasons*, 

 while the young seals are believed to leave the 

 protection of the old ones at a few days old 

 and to shift for themselves like young fishes. 

 I believe a young seal is never found along with 

 its dam. The food of the walrus is chiefly 

 obtained by ploughing the submarine banks 

 with his tusks, and the seal catches his prey 

 swimming in the water. 



This evidence would seem to argue that the 

 seal is a further intermediate link between the 

 walrus and the whale, but I cannot presume 

 to hazard any opinion on that point : he may 

 have diverged from the walrus, or he may have 

 sprung more directly from some other race of 

 animals living or extinct, without the interven- 

 tion of the walrus. 



But in whatsoever way the numerous tribes of 

 seals may have originated, I think that we have 

 strong evidence before us in the appearance 

 and habits of the great seal and the walrus, 

 to induce us to entertain the belief that one or 

 other of them, or some allied animal now 

 extinct, has been the progenitor of the whales 

 and other cetaceans. 



* "We always found one-year-old calves with their mothers, 

 i. e. calves of the preceding season. 



