ORDER V. THE CARXIVORA. 205 



vidcd with candles. They attack tlic seals with their weapons, stun them 

 with a blow on the head, and imuiediately put them to death. These crea- 

 tures, though inoticnsive, are brave, and boldly step forward in defence of 

 their youn:;- ; they face their destroyers, and with their teeth often wrench the 

 clubs out of their hands. Dut their elforts are vain. The walls of the 

 gloomy recesses are stained with tiieir blood, and numbers of dead victims are 

 canicd off." 



(J. (rn^^nhtmlicux. — Greenland Seal. To Fabricius, jNIullcr, and Crantz 

 we are indebted chiefly for a knowledge of this species. The latter author 

 designates it by the vernacular name Attvi\^oul\ lie states that when new 

 born it is quite white and woolly. In the lirst year it is cream colored ; in 

 the second, gray; in the third, painted with strijjcs ; in the fourth, spotted; 

 and in the fifth, it wears its half moons, as the sign of maturity. 



"We learn from Fabricius that these seals are numerous in the deep bays 

 and mouths of rivers in tircenland. Twice a year the herds leave the coast; 

 first in March, returning in ]\Iay ; and again in June, reappearing in Sep- 

 tember. They bring forth their yt)ung in spring, having one, or rarely 

 two, at a birth, which they suckle on fragments of ice, far from the shore. 

 They never ascend the fixed ice, but live and sleep near the floating islands 

 in vast herds. Among these islands they are sometimes seen swimming in 

 great numbers, having one for their leader, who seems to act as sentinel for 

 the security of the whole. They devour all the nmre common kinds of fish, 

 having a preference for the arctic salmon, and not refusing shell-fish. When 

 engaged in feeding, and one conies to the surface to breathe, he raises his 

 head only above the water, and, without changing his place, quickly dives 

 again. They seldom appear solitary upon the wave, principally swinnning 

 and fishing underneatii, occasionally raising their heads when devouring 

 larger prey. They swim in a variety of ways ; sometimes on their backs, 

 often on their sides, and at times whirling about as if to amuse themselves. 

 They are incautious animals, frequently sleeping on the surface of the water, 

 and are thus liable to fidl an easy prey to the sperm-whale, which is one of 

 their most formidable foes. 



(J. Oceanicus. — The Ocean Seal. This species so nearly resemldcs the 

 one just described, that Baron Cnvier refused to recognize it as a distinct 

 group, although Desmarest and Lesson aflirm that it exliibits spceilic char- 

 acters entirely different. In regard to the habits of these seals, Lepechin 

 remarks that they love the colder parts of the sea ; hence they only appear 

 along the ice of the White Sea ; and having about tlie end of ^Vpril given 

 birth to their young, and reared them for some time, they disappear witii the 

 ice, in the great Frozen Ocean, leaving only the young ones, which remain 

 till the ice which adheres to the shore is thawed, when they, too, follow the 

 others. 



