COUNTER-CASE OP GREAT BRITAIN. 89 



still at times frequents the sheltered channels and straits 

 of that coast; but the accuracy of the general statement 

 that the fur-seal is pelagic in its mode of life cannot prop- 

 erly be disputed. 



ALL AUTHORITIES CLASS THE FUR-SEAL AS MARINE, 



NOT TERRESTRIAL. 



It may be necessary, however, in view of the confident 

 assertion by the United States that the fur-seal is " essen- ji,^^ ^ 295 

 tially a land animal;" and the dependent suggested infer- 

 ence that the United States has some property right in the 11,1,1., p. 300. 

 fur-seal as " the natural product of its soil, made chiefly 

 available by its protection and expenditure;" to adduce 

 some further evidence as to the marine or i^elagic nature 

 of the animal. 



PROFESSOR J. A. ALLEN IN HIS '"MONOGRAPH." 



Professor J. A. Allen, the Curator of the American 

 Museum of Natural History, is specially referred to and 

 relied upon in the United States Case in connection with 

 the natural history of the fur-seal. He is well known to 

 naturalists from his excellent " Monograph on the North 

 American Pinnipeds." It is therefore of importance to 

 quote the terms in which, in the monograph named, he 

 characterizes this groui) of animals. He writes: 



Tbo Pinnipeds or Finnipedia, embracing the Seals and Walruses, are xWen "Mono- 

 comuionly recognized by recent systematic writers as coustitnting a snlj- grapli of North 

 order of the order I'env or Carnivorons Mammals. They are, in short, American Pinni- 

 true Carnivora, modified for an aquaiic exisienee, and have consequently peds,'^ Washiug- 

 beeu sometimes termed "Amphibious CarniA'ora." Their whole foi'm is *""' ' ^^' ^' 

 modified for life in the water, tchich element is their true home. Here-they 

 dixplaij extreme activity, bnt on land their movements are confined and 

 laboured. They consequently rarely leave the water, and f/enerally only 

 for short periods, and are never found to move voluntarily more than a few 

 yards from the shore. Like the other marine Mammalia, the Celacea and 

 Sinnin {WItales, Dolphins, Porpoises, Manatees, c^c.), their bodies 

 103 are more or less fish -like in f/eneral form, and their limbs arc trans- 

 formed into swimminy organs. As their name implies, they are fin- 

 footed. Generally speaking, the l)ody may be compared to two cones 



joined l)asally In contrasting them with the ordinary or 



terrestrial mammals, we note tliat the body is only exceptionally 

 raised, and the limbs are confined witliin the common integument to 

 beyond the knees and elbows, and are hence to only a slight degree serv- 

 iceable for terrestrial locomotion 



The existing Pinni|jeds contain three yery distinct minor groups or 

 families, differing quite widely from each other in important cliarac- 

 ters : these are the Walruses or Odohamida', the eared seal or Otaridce, 

 and the earless seals or Phocidce 



PROFESSOR J. A. ALLEN IN HIS SPECIAL REPORT. 



The language above quoted may be contrasted with that 

 used by Professor Allen in the paper specially prepared 

 for the pur])oses of the Case of the United States. He 

 (Professor Allen) there writes as follows: 



The common seals, the eared seals, and the walruses form a well- 

 marked group of the carnivorous mammalia, constituting a sub-order TTnited States 

 (Pinnipedia) of the order Carnivora. They are carnivores sjiecially ^'Y**- "^PJ^y"*^'^' 

 modified for aquatic locomotion and semi-aquatic life. Their ancestors ^° • '■ P- 

 tvere doubtless land animals, probably more nearly allied to the bears than 



