THE SEA ELEPHANT. 57 
seal in life, and if in other points also it can be shown to approach the Otariide, it 
must be considered not one of the most highly specialised of the Phocide, but one of 
the less. And from it, as a connecting form, we may possibly draw suggestions as to 
the affinities of other seals, some of which are without doubt closely connected with it. 
From this point of view it will be seen that there are other characters in addition 
to its general family resemblance to the Otariidx, which indicate a closer con- 
nection with them than can be argued for any other of the Phocide. For 
example :—While it is more at home in the water than on land, and its progression on 
land is exceedingly clumsy, yet the Sea Elephant spends almost, if not quite, as much 
time on shore as do the Sea-lions and Sea-bears. Almost precisely the same migrations 
are common to both, depending as they do upon similar annual necessities, such as the 
change of the winter coat, the birth of the young, the mating of the sexes, and so on. 
In all these points the Sea Elephant is far more of the habit of the Otariide than of 
the Phocide. Again the enormous difference in size between the male and the female 
is paralleled nowhere in the group of Phocidz, though it is the rule in the Otariide. 
Whether this is connected in the same way with the polygamous habits that are seen 
in the Otariidz, as opposed to the more indiscriminate methods of pairing which are 
seen in the Phocidz, none of which appear to form so definite a harem, I cannot say, 
nor do I know of any account which supplies evidence upon this point. 
The most specialised seals, z.¢., those that have departed most from their land- 
frequenting forebears, are those which have become least dependent upon land for any 
part of their existence. 
No seal has yet taken to the production of its young in the water, though in some 
species, Phoca vitulina, for example, the young seal is said to be able to take to the 
water with safety at the moment of its birth, and there undoubtedly is a considerable 
range among the various species of seals in the length of time that must elapse between 
the birth of the young and its taking to the water. The shortest period must be a 
mark of more advanced specialisation in the Phocidz, and in this respect Macrorhinus 
cannot be included in their number. The longest period, on the other hand, is certainly 
found in the Otariidx, and Macrorhinus appears to conform to their habit. Thus 
taking first the Phocidz :— 
In Lobodon carcinophagus, the young takes to water in about three days, its woolly coat being 
rapidly shed at birth. (Racovitza.) 
In Leptonychotes weddeili, the young takes to water in a month, commencing to shed its woolly 
coat at the end of the first two weeks, and completing the moult in four. 
In Phoca vitulina, we have the young taking to water at birth, having shed its whitish yellow 
woolly coat im utero or on the day of its birth (according to Lloyd), or beginning to shed its 
white coat for a darker in three days (according to Macdonald). 
In Halicherus grypus, the young is born in a thick white woolly coat, which is shed in four 
weeks, and the young then takes to water. Suckling is said to last from three to 
ten weeks. (Hallgrimsson.) 
In Phoca groenlandica, the young is born in a yellowish-white wool, which is shed a few weeks after 
birth. It takes to water in from fourteen to twenty days. (Brown.) 
