OKDER V. THE CAHNIVORA. 225 



fast and liylitly, though on land tlicy arc .sluggisli, and will not leave their 

 own lair till they are well beaten." 



O. FalJdandica. — The Fur Seal of Commerce. AVith this species ter- 

 minates the great scries of the I'hocida". The fur seal is especially worthy 

 of notice, on account of its great value in a commercial point of view. 

 The skin is prepared for market in a manner difl'erent from that employed 

 in the preparation of most others. Tlio long liair, which conceals the face, 

 is first removed by heating the skin, and then carding it with a large wooden 

 knife, fashioned for the purpose. The fin- then appears in all its perfection, 

 and sells in China for about two or three dollars, and in England and the 

 United States at about three times that price. Not many years ago they 

 were used as linings and borders of cloaks, mantles, and for fur caps. 



The color of this animal is a uniform lightish gray above, jtassing gradu- 

 ally imderneath into a reddish-white, which is dceiiest in the alidominal 

 region. The length of a fidl-grown male, according to Captain A\'cddell, is 

 six feet nine inches, and that of the female is not more than three and a half 

 feet. This class of the males, however, is not tjie most numerous, but being 

 physically the most powerful, they keep in their possession all the females, 

 to the exclusion of the younger branches ; hence, at the time of parturition, 

 the males attending the females may be computed as one to twenty ; which 

 shows this to be, perhaps, the most polygamous of animals. 



Captain Weddell continues his interesting description thus : " They arc in 

 their nature completely gregarious ; but they flock together, an<l assemble on 

 the coast at different periods, and in distinct classes. The males t)f the 

 largest size go on shore about the middle of A'ovember, to wait the arrival 

 of the females, who must soon follow, for the purpose of bringing forth their 

 j'Oimg. These, in the early part of Deccmljcr, begin to land, when they are 

 taken possession of by the males, who ha\c many serious battles witii each 

 other in procuring their respective seraglios ; and by a singular instinct they 

 carefully protect the females under their charge during the wIkjIc period of 

 gestation, which is about or nearly twche months. They seldom have more 

 than one at a time, which they nurse and rear with great apparent affection. 

 By the middle of February the young are able to take the water, and after 

 being taught to swim by the mother, they arc abandoned on the shore, where 

 they remain till their coats of fur and hair are completed. During the latter 

 end of February the dog seals go on shore ; these are the young seals of 

 the two preceding j'ears, and such males, as from want of strength and age, 

 are not allowed to attend the pregnant females. These young seals come on 

 shore for the purpose of renewing their animal coats, which being done, by 

 the end of April they take the water, and scarcely any are seen on shore 

 again till the end of June, when some young males come up and go off 

 NO. VI. 29 



