ORDER V. THE CARNIVORA. 219 



were kissing. They come on sliore on tliese uninhtibitcd spots to breed, and 

 do not feed during tiicir stay on land, wliicli sometimes lasts several weeks ; 

 tliey then grow lean, and swallow a considerable quantity of stones to keep 

 their stomach distended. \\ c were surprised to find the stomachs of some 

 of them entirely empty, and those of others filled with ten or twelve round, 

 heavy stones, each the size of two fists." 



To this interesting description by jNIr. Foster, we subjoin a paragraph 

 from Captain Cook's account. " The male is surrounded by from twenty 

 to thirty females, and he is very attentive to keep them all to himself, beat- 

 ing off every male which attempts to come into his flock. Others again 

 had a less number, some no more than one or two ; and here and there \\c 

 have seen one lying, growling in a retired place alone, and suffering neither 

 males nor females to approach him. We judged that these were old and 

 superannuated." 



Tlie weight of a full grown male, according to Buffon, is about sixteen 

 hundred pounds, and its length ten or twelve feet ; the females are much 

 more slender and shorter, usually about seven or eight feet long. They are 

 everywhere equally thick, and look like great cylinders, more suitable for 

 rolling than for walking. Neither does this rounded body seem properly 

 trimmed, because, being covered with an immense quantity of fat, it imme- 

 diately assumes all the inequalities of the soil and rocks over which it 

 moves, or on which it rests while taking repose. The color of the male is 

 black, and the hair of the female is of an ashy hue. In habit and disposi- 

 tion they do not appear to differ much from the sea lion of Steller. In the 

 presence of man they are very timid, and even when attacked with a stick 

 will retreat as fast they can. 



The females never fight with each other, nor with the males, and live in 

 entire dependence on the chief of the fiimily ; but when two grown males, 

 or rather heads of families, jNIr. Foster remarks, engage in combat, all the 

 females attend to witness the conflict, and if the chief of another troop inter- 

 fere with the combatants, either on one side or the other, the act appears to 

 be considered by these creatures a breach of fair dealing, and other chiefs 

 will then take part in the contest, and the battle will become general, and 

 terminate in a vast effusion of blood, and even in the death of many of the 

 males, whose females are immediately joined to the family of the victor. 

 From this it would appear that the domestic habits and disposition of the 

 sea lion of Foster do not differ in any respect from the great sea lion of the 

 north. 



I*. Leonuius. — The Sea Lion of Pernetty. The head and face of this 

 animal very strongly resembles those of the king of beasts. The body is 

 robust and tapering towards the tail, and the neck is covered all round with 



