SEALS AND SEA-LIONS 13 



flipper on which the sea-lion props his great bulk in 

 front, and that is the forked fly-flap which extends 

 from the hinder parts of the same. How can it be 

 worth any beast's while to carry such an absurd 

 apparatus with it just for the sake of getting out into 

 the air sometimes and pushing itself about on the 

 ice and being eaten by Polar bears ? The porpoise 

 has discarded one pair, turned the other into decent 

 fins, and recovered a grace and power of motion in 

 water which are not equalled by the greyhound on 

 land. Why have the seals hung back ? I believe 

 I know the secret. It is the baby ! No one knows 

 where the porpoise and the whale cradle their new- 

 born infants — it is so difficult to pry into the domestic 

 ways of these sea-people — but evidently the seals 

 cannot manage it, so they are forced to return to the 

 land when the cares of maternity are on them. 



I have called the feet of these sea beasts ridiculous 

 things, and so they are as we see them ; but strip 

 off the skin, and lo ! there appears a plain foot, 

 with its five digits, each of several joints, tipped 

 with claws — nowise essentially different, in short, 

 from that with which the toad, or frog, first set out 

 in a past too distant for our infirm imagination. 

 Admiration itself is paralysed by a contrivance so 

 simple, so transmutable, and so sufficient for every 

 need that time and change could bring. 



There remains yet one transformation which 

 seems simple compared with some that I have 

 noticed, but is more full of fate than they all ; for 



