THE GREAT SEAL. 7 



it is thrown into the water, its motions are awkward as 

 those of a land animal would be, and the power of diving- 

 seems scarcely to exist. 



The period of gestation is probably about ten months ; at 

 least I have observed the sexual congress between a pair who 

 had a young one nearly two months old. This takes place 

 for the most part below water, and continues for a consi- 

 derable time. The period for giving suck is, I think, longer 

 than in the vitulina, and frequently the female breeds long 

 before she has reached the full size. They may, to a certain 

 degree, be considered monogamous — at least there is always 

 a male accompanying a female in a cave where there is 

 only one young one, and there appears to be as many males 

 as females where there are several. But in this latter case 

 I am still inclined to think that " might makes right," 

 and I believe that if there were two females and two males 

 in a cave, and one of the males were killed, the remain- 

 ing one would console the widow, and if we may judge 

 by the jealous vigilance of the males and the fierceness of 

 their combats, they are not quite assured of the fidelity 

 of their fair ones. In associating with the females, and 

 affectionately attending them while they have young, they 

 differ completely from the vitulinas. When the female 

 is killed, however, the male abandons the young. They 

 seem more quarrelsome than the common seal, and the 

 males are seldom taken without exhibiting the marks of 

 deep bites in the skin, and they are not unfrequently seen 

 in combat with each other. They appear to be long lived 

 — at least some individuals assert that they have seen the 

 same pair, known to them by slight varieties of colour and 

 appearance, in the same cave for many years, and my ob- 

 servation does not oppose this. The ovaria also contain 

 many ova, and the animal is several years old before it at- 



