ORDER CARNASSIER. 501 



ments on land are slow and painful. It seldom uses its 

 paws but for swimming, and unless it climbs, it never 

 uses them for locomotion on land. When it wants to walk, 

 it presses the hind and fore parts of its body alternately on 

 the ground, bending its back upwards, something like a 

 Snail. The paws are inactive in this operation. In climb- 

 ing, however, the claws are used with good effect. The 

 hind feet are of use only in swimming, and they are always 

 in requisition for that purpose. 



When the Seal is disposed for rest, he stretches himself 

 on one or the other side of his body, and the head is habi- 

 tually withdrawn between the shoulders. 



The senses in these animals seem to possess no great 

 degree of acuteness, a fact which we should have been led 

 to pre-suppose from their mode of life, consisting, as it 

 does, in a state of almost continual repose. Their sight is 

 perhaps the best ; they can see at some distance, but better 

 in a weak than strong light, and they do not seem to be 

 able accurately to distinguish forms. To this conclusion 

 our naturalist was led, by their constantly approaching to 

 partake of food, which they as constantly rejected, and the 

 form of whicb was totally different from that of the only 

 aliment they would taste. Hearing must be but a feeble 

 sense with the Seals, as the external organ is so little 

 developed, and as the animal passes so large a portion of 

 its life at the bottom of the water with the ears closed 

 against the vibrations of sound ; the want of exercise must 

 combine to render this sense defective. 



Were we to judge solely by the external organ, these 

 animals would seem to derive no greater advantage from 

 the sense of smelling, than from the senses of which we 

 have already spoken. The nostrils, like the ears, must 

 remain closed when the animal is excluded from the ex- 

 ternal air, and as it pursues its prey in the midst of the 

 waters, it certainly cannot employ its scent in the usual 



