ORDER OF AMPHIBIA. Ill 



be crushed to death if they did not take the precaution of at 

 once ranging themselves against the sides of the grotto, so as 

 to allow the Seals to escape ; but the principal crowd having 

 passed, the hunters fall upon the laggards and kill them by 

 striking them over the nose with cudgels. There is danger, 

 in these sort of expeditions, of a gust of wind blowing out their 

 torches ; in that case they might perish, lost in one of these dark 

 caverns. 



The Seal is endowed with so many remarkable faculties, that it 

 seems quite suited to become one of our domestic animals ; and so 

 it is perhaps surprising that man has not yet thought of training 

 it to fish for him, as he has done with the Otter. Its gentleness, 

 its sociability, and, above all, its intelligence, which is almost equal 

 to that of the Dog, would ensure it a high place in the affections of 

 our race. There are numerous examples on record of Seals which, 

 having been tamed when very young, becoming so much attached 

 to their masters as to follow them wherever they went, and 

 returning to them even after they had purposely been left far from 

 home. They give very little trouble : a basin filled with water in 

 which they can bathe, and a hut with some straw in it on which 

 they may repose, are sufficient to keep them in a good state of 

 health. They must be fed on fish. Only, as they devour an 

 enormous quantity of this food, the cost of keeping them is the 

 greatest obstacle to their ever being domesticated. It is strange, 

 that when they are accustomed to one sort of fish, they will not 

 eat any other, and rather die of hunger than consent to change 

 their diet. 



Seals are divided into numerous genera and species, peculiar 

 to different climates. Let us examine rapidly some of the prin- 

 cipal. 



The Common Seal {Phoca mhilina), vulgarly named Sea-calf, 

 inhabits Europe, and measures about 1 metre in length. It is 

 this one that has been the most studied. 



The Atak, or Greenland Seal (P. grwnlandicus), is double the size 

 of the Common Seal. It is found also on the coasts of Nova 

 Zembla and of the White Sea, bu.t in winter only in the regions of 

 the last-mentioned. 



The White-bellied Seal (P. monachus) is found in the Medi- 

 terranean, especially on the borders of the Adriatic Sea. It varies 



