MARINE CARNIVORES — Order, PINNIPEDIA 
THERE would follow here, were it to be included in the pres- 
ent volume, a chapter on the sea bears, seals, and walruses, 
which constitute the marine division of the Carnivora termed 
Pinni pedia, — the fin-footed carnivores. 
The members of this group have their entire organization 
modified to adapt them to an exclusively aquatic existence. 
The body approaches a fishlike form, and the four limbs are 
turned into more or less perfect paddles, or “flippers.” The 
teeth are of the carnivorous type, but without a special car- 
nassial; the eyes are always large and prominent; and exter- 
nal ears are lacking except in one family, —the fur seals or 
sea bears. They are found almost exclusively in the cold 
seas and in salt water. 
While there is no doubt of their kinship with carnivores, the degree 
of it, or the history of the divergence of the ancestors of the pinnipeds 
toward a maritime life, is not well known. Their closest relatives on land 
seem to be the bears; but no particular connection between them and the 
pinnipeds has been made out, nor does the sea otter, in spite of sundry 
resemblances, seem to be among pinniped ancestors. The most acceptable 
opinion at present is, that this is a group of very ancient independence, 
descended from a creodont origin (see page 80). The most complete 
history of the group is Allen’s ‘ Monograph,” 84 but much has been pub- 
lished in respect to the fur seals by the United States government. 
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