BREEDING OF SEALS. 25 



insured by superior power in combat. But occasional 

 dwarfishness is not of so much importance in the rapacious 

 species, and hence polygamy is more rare among them. In 

 gregarious and graminivorous animals, the flock requires all 

 its perfection to withstand its numerous enemies, and all the 

 vigilance and sagacity of an experienced and powerful 

 leader. Such a one is to be found only in the strongest 

 male ; and he is therefore, for the most part, strictly poly- 

 gamous, jealously guarding his females. I am inclined to 

 think, therefore, both from analogy and observation, that 

 the attendance of the male barbata on the female while she 

 is nursing has a reference to the fact, that this species has 

 more difficulty, and requires longer absence in procuring 

 food than the vitulina, and hence the additional watchful- 

 ness of the male becomes necessary. The interbreeding of 

 wild animals within the nearest degrees of affinity does not 

 appear to produce that degeneracy, of which speculative 

 breeders of our domestic races so much complain. 



I think I have observed one or two instances of mules be- 

 tween the barbata and vitulina. On one occasion, a young 

 one was shot in the month of August, accompanying a female 

 barbata among a herd of the other species, which, in appear- 

 ance, was a perfect mixture of the two. It was, judging 

 from size, about two months old. Another was taken from 

 the uterus of a female also of the Great Seal, associating 

 in like manner with a flock of Common Seals, and the foetus 

 appeared to be of an age that would have been perfect in 

 July, which at the very least was two months earlier than 

 the regular breeding time. Both specimens were unfortu- 

 nately lost. These observations occurred some years ago, 

 and struck other individuals who witnessed the capture 

 similarly to myself, and if they are correct (which, how- 

 ever, I do not insist on), they afford a curious exception 

 to the law that proscribes procreation in the wild state 



