21 () DIVISION I. VEKTEBIJAL ANIMALS. — CLASS I. MAMMALIA. 



they arc lunited and slaiiglitcrccL But they Iiave otlier foes besides man. 

 Tlio lisliei's state that they sometimes sec them imexpeetedly ascend from 

 Ijcneath the wave in tlie greatest apparent ahirni, many of them being 

 co\ered with wounds, and dyeing the water witii tiieir bK:)od. Tlicir 

 panic concurs with tlicir wounds in proving that tliey liave been hunted 

 by some formidable enemies. But what are these? The fishers unani- 

 mously agree that they know no animal that could make such large and 

 deep wounds, and therefore presume that these contests must be carried 

 on with some unknown monsters, dwelling i'nr from the coasts, whilst they, 

 at the same time, allow they have never otherwise been able to detect any 

 trace of thcni. 



The females scarcely ever make any resistance when attacked ; tliey will 

 attempt to flee, but if prevented they become violently agitated, their 

 countenance assumes the expression of despair, and they weep piteously. 

 Peron says that he has himself seen a young female shed tears abundantly, 

 whilst a wicked and cruel sailor amused himself at the sight, knocking out 

 her teeth with an oar whenever she opened her mouth. The [loor animal 

 might have softened a heart of stone, ■ — its mouth streaming with blood, 

 and its eyes with tears. But timid as the i'emalc is, maternal ali'cction in- 

 spires her, on occasions, with the courage of the lion. Anson relates that, 

 "one day a sailor, being carelessly, and, we add, cruelly, cmj)liiyed in skin- 

 ning a young sea elephant, in its mother's presence, she came upon him un- 

 perccived, and getting his head into her moufh, scored his skull in notches 

 in many places, and thereby wounded him so desperately, that though all 

 possible care was taken of him, he died in a few days."' 



It is not p(jsitively known what is the natural limit of the life of these 

 seals, although some, who have had opportunities for observation, estimate 

 that they live twenty-five or thirty years. A\'hen they become fitally indis- 

 posed, they seem to know that death is near; and, as if inspired by some 

 memories of their childhood, they bid adieu to the sea, and, advancing some 

 distance into the country, lie down among the brush-wood, calmly await for 

 the last hour, and resign their lil'e in the situation they first received it. 



Wc have now arrived at the second great division of the Piiocid.t:, — the 

 Oli/rics, or seals which are furnished with external organs of hearing. F. 

 Cuvier has arranged the several species under two genera, Platyrhincus and 

 Arctocephalus. Besides being supplied with the external car, the Otaries 

 differ from the true seals in having their fore paws placed farther back in 

 the body, as if intended exclusively lor swimming, giving an appearance of 

 greater length to the neck; the fingers more concealed in the skin, and 

 without nails ; the web of the hind feet prolonged beyond the nails into 



