106 CARNIVORES. 
found in the Arctic, Antarctic, and Temperate zones, many of them being 
exclusively Arctic or Sub-Arctic, while one is as entirely Antarctic. And whereas 
the walruses are restricted mainly at the present day to the Northern regions, the 
other two families are well represented on both sides of the Equator. Most of the 
true or earless seals are confined to the colder latitudes, and generally produce 
their young on the ice. 
THE EARED SEALS. 
Family OTARUD. 
Genus Otaria. 
The eared seals form a well-marked family, which tends to connect the other 
and more specialised representatives of the group with ordinary terrestrial Carni- 
vores. In the first place, their hind-limbs are decidedly less modified; all the 
eared seals, as is well shown in the illustration on p. 103, being characterised by 
having, when on land, the hind-flippers turned forwards under the body in the 
direction of the head, so that they aid in the support of the trunk in the ordinary 
manner. They derive their distinctive title from the presence of a small but well- 
defined external ear; and by these two characters an eared seal may always be 
distinguished at the first glance from all the other members of the group. They 
are further characterised by having the soles of both the fore and hind-feet entirely 
devoid of hair. ; 
These animals also have well-marked necks, and their fore-feet are nearly as 
long as the hind ones. In the fore-feet the toes decrease in length from the first to 
the fifth, and have merely rudimentary claws; while in the hind-feet the three 
small middle toes generally have better developed claws, while the lateral pair are 
quite clawless. In both fore and hind-feet the skin extends considerably in advance 
of the tips of the toes, where it terminates in flaps. Usually there are thirty-four 
teeth, but sometimes, owing to the presence of a second pair of molars in the upper 
jaw, there may be thirty-six. There are always three pairs of incisor teeth in the 
upper, and two in the lower jaw. 
The eared seals include the animals commonly known as sea-lions and sea- 
bears; and some of them furnish the “sealskin” of commerce. This sealskin is 
the under-fur, from which the long hairs of the outer coat have been removed ; 
and such species as possess this under-fur are consequently termed fur-seals. 
Those species, on the other hand, which have only the ordinary close coat of hair, 
without any woolly under-fur, are commonly termed hair-seals; and their com- 
mercial value is limited to the oil and leather which they yield. In regard to the 
number of species of eared seals, and likewise as to whether they should all be 
included in a single genus (Otaric), or referred to two or more genera, there have 
been much discussion and difference of opinion. Writing in 1880 Mr. J. A. Allen 
put down the number of definable species as nine, of which five are hair-seals and 
four fur-seals. In the present work the whole of these will be included under the 
single generic title of Otaria ; but an alternative plan is to restrict that name to 
