SEALS 



of fish-eating birds, and also by the large predaceous fishes 

 that live upon the smaller fry ; the apparently inexhaust- 

 ible source is so wonderfully marvellous that the most 

 fertile imagination almost fails to realize the possibility of 

 a continuance of this state of things. 



Whatever we may know of the abundance of animal life 

 on land is totally eclipsed by the mighty myriads of 

 creatures that swarm in the ocean, who aid to support in 

 endless ways the fowls of the air and the beasts of the 

 field, for the vast quantities of fish captured are frequently 

 turned upon the land to enrich the soil, for want of other 

 and better uses. 



• According to the official report made to the juries of 

 the Exhibition of 1851 by Nicholay and Son, the number 

 of northern seal-skins imported to England annually would 

 exceed 500,000, and probably an equal number are 

 annually killed in the Southern Ocean. Now, taking each 

 animal to consume the minimum allowance of 10 lbs. 

 weight of fish daily, it would require upwards of 2232 tons 

 of fish per day to feed this multitude of seals. Now, sup- 

 posing these fish to be herrings, the number consumed 

 would be over 20,000,000: 20,000,000 of herrings as 

 the daily allowance for what we know to be only a 

 trifling number of the seals that exist in the Northern 

 Ocean. 



It is very interesting to observe the amount of intelli- 

 gence exhibited by the members of this family, the readi- 

 ness with which they become perfectly tame; but their 

 capability of being taught to perform a number of very 

 remarkable tricks, considering their form and structure, is 

 rendered the more wonderful, and goes far to prove how 

 much depends upon the well-developed and large size of 

 the brain, for in all the genera of this well-marked group 

 or family the brain is remarkable for its bulk, as com- 



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