SEALS. 481 



the vertebral column of other large animals will allow. By bend- 

 ing the body, and using its webbed feet, a seal can move itself 

 up or down, right or left, keep on the surface, or dive to the bottom, 

 explore the submerged recesses of the rocks around, and pursue its 

 prey with lightning-like rapidity. 



On the land a seal displays but little grace or beauty of any sort, 

 except, perhaps, in its intelligent eyes and the gracefully undu- 

 lating outline of its body. The short neck, which is hardly to be 

 distinguished from the trunk, and the small fore-feet or hands, 

 which, owing to the cylindrical shape of the body can scarcely be 

 made to touch the ground, unless the creature lies as flat as 

 possible, and the hind-limbs stretching out behind, give a 

 floundering character to its movements which are very awkward- 

 looking. Their progression is a laboured one, which produces a 

 somewhat uncomfortable sympathetic feeling in the onlooker, for 

 it is accomplished with a shuffling, wriggling, or jumping motion, 

 effected by the contraction of the body, formed by an upward 

 bending of the spine and followed by a rebound or succession of 

 jerks. Although there is an almost entire absence of agility, yet 

 the rapidity with which a seal can get over the ground on occasions 

 is surprising, especially when it is remembered that no animal of 

 this species can raise its body from the ground, and only in one or 

 two varieties are the fore-feet ever employed while on land. 



But once they slip from terra firma into the water, which, 

 except perhaps in the case of the very largest specimens, they do 

 so easily and quietly that hardly a splash or a ripple is created, it 

 is at once seen that they are in the element which is their true 

 home. Here their shape and the construction of the limbs that 

 seemed so useless when on land are seen to be beautifully adapted 

 for aquatic motion, and by their use they display extreme activity, 

 easy grace, and extraordinary agility. They swim beneath the 

 surface with great velocity, for the rounded head, tapering body, 

 and close-lying outer hair present no obstacle to their passage 

 through the water. Only the hind-limbs are used in swimming, 

 the fore-limbs or flippers being employed to guide or balance the 

 body. So thoroughly are they at home in the water that seals 



very often sleep while afloat. 



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