50 



SLBKINGUOM VEKTBBEATA. 



TJrsidsB. It is polygamous, families of over a hundred, with 

 one male chief, keeping entirely separate. Each dam, in 

 returning from a fishing excursion, will pass by thousands of 

 others lying along the shore and bleating like sheep, till it 

 comes to its single cub. Tlie Sea Bear furnishes the choicest 

 seal fur. 



Fig. 65. 



Skeleton of Seal. 



Phocidae. — The Common Seal abounds upon the Atlantic 

 coast. The different species vary in length from three to 

 twenty feet and present every variety of marking and color. 



Mg. 66. 



Phoca vltuUna, Common Seal, 



Their eyes are large and full of intelligence,* and the animal 

 is easily tamed. 



* Emerging unexpectedly from the depths of the sea, with dripping manes (which 

 some species possess) and uttering a feminine scream, it is not strange that the 

 imagination has mistaken them for human beings and given rise to the legends of 



