TUE LEOFABD SEAL. 165 



side of the face, which protect or screen the mouth. The ears are merely openings 

 in the surface of the sliin, which are placed one and a half inches behind the eyes. 

 Both side and posterior flippers are covered with the same thick short hair as the 

 body, and each one is furnished with five sharp, slender claws, those on the pecto- 

 rals being the longest, the principal of which measure one linear inch. The poste- 

 rior flippers, when relaxed, may be three and a half inches in breadth, but are 

 capable of expansion to ten. Two orifices in lieu of teats, placed two and a half 

 inches apart, are situated on the lower portion of the belly, and nine inches for- 

 ward from the origin of the tail. The tail is about three inches long, and is thick 

 and fleshy. The color of the animal varies but little from a light gray, thickly 

 mottled with dull black on the back and half-way down its sides, then chano-in"- 

 to a dingy white underneath, with here and there distinct spots of darker shades. 

 About the throat and breast, the creature at a distance looks to be of a uniform 

 dull white. 



The following measurements in feet and inches, and weights, were taken of two 

 adult females caught at Smith's Island, Juan de Fuca Strait, in the months of Feb- 

 ruary and March, 18G9 : 



No. 1. No. 2. 



Length of animal from tip of nose to tip of tail 3 10 3 8 



From tip of nose to fore flippers 1 1 



Length of fore flippers 6 7 



Length of posterior flippers 9 8 



Length of tail 3 2^ 



From tij) of nose to eye 3 2h 



From tip of nose to ear 4 



From i\\> of nose to corner of mouth 2J 2Jr 



Distance between the eyes 2 



Circumference of body immediately behind side flipijers 2 6-^ 2 3 



Weight of No. 1, sixty pounds; weight of No. 2, fifty-six pounds. The time 

 of gestation with the Leopard Seals is supposed to be nine months. We have met 

 with the new-born pups about Puget Sound in the months of July and August; 

 on the coast of California, in June and July. 



The thick coating of white fat which infolds the body produces the purest 

 oil of any of the pinnipcdes. The Leopard Seal is endowed with no little sagacity, 

 and, although exceedingly wary, it displays considerable boldness. It is found 

 about outlying rocks, islands, and points, on sand -reefs made bare at low tide, and 

 is frequently met with in harbors among shipping, and up rivers more than a hun- 

 dred miles from the sea. We have often observed them close to the vessel when 



