ORDER CARNASSIER. 57 



The Seals, properly so called, or without external ears, 



Have pointed incisors, the external parts of which 

 above are longer than the other teeth. They have 

 trenchant molars with many points. All their toes 

 possess a power of motion, and are terminated by 

 pointed nails placed on the edge of the membrane 

 which unites them. 



The common Seal. (Phoca Vitulina, L.) Buff. XIII. xlv. 

 and Supp. VI. xlvi. 



From three to five feet in length : of a yellowish 

 gray : more or less waved or spotted with brown 

 according to the age. It becomes white in old 

 age. It is common on our coasts and found to 

 a considerable distance in the north. We are 

 even assured that it is this species which inha- 

 bits the Caspian Sea, and the large lakes of 

 fresh water in Russia and Siberia, but this 

 assertion does not appear to be founded on a 

 very exact comparison. 



The Crescent Seal, or Swartside. (Phoca Groenlandica.) 

 Egede Groenl. fig. A. pag. 62. 



Yellowish gray, spotted with brown when 

 young, marked afterwards with an oblique 

 brown semilunar mark five feet long. Of the 

 Icy Sea. 



