PHOCIDiB. 



Amphibies quadriremes, Duvemoy, Tab. Anim. Vert. 

 Quadrupeda Nectopoda aeu Plectropoda, O. Fischer, Zoognom. 12. 

 Nectopoda, § 2. Pinnipeda (part.), G. Fischer, Zoognom. 15. 

 Phocidse seu Brachiodontia, J. Brookes, Catal. Mus. 36, 1828. 

 Trichecliidss seu Oampodontia, J. Brookes, Catal. Mns. 37, 1828. 

 ■> Otariadse, J. Brookes, Catal. Mm. 37, 1828. 



Their limbs are short and fin-like, supported by the same number 

 of bones as those of other carnivorous mammalia ; the arm and leg 

 bones are much shorter ; the fingers and toes are armed with claws, 

 and are webbed together. They swim with facility, and dive for a 

 long period. On land they scarcely use their limbs in walking, 

 the fore arms resting inactive on the sides, and the hind feet close 

 together, parallel on the sides of the tail ; they move, by the action 

 of the ventral muscles, in short jumps, or by wriggling themselves 

 alternately from side to side. They have very large, scarcely convex 

 eyes ; the nostrils are closed by their own elasticity, and opened at 

 the will of the animal ; their sense of smell is very acute, and the 

 convolutions of the bones and membranes of the nose are much 

 developed. 



Of aU the families of Mammalia the species composing that of the 

 Seals {Phoddce) are the most difficult of determination, partly on 

 account of their great resemblance to one another in external cha- 

 racters, and the changes which they undergo in colour and form 

 during their growth, but more especially on account of the difficulty 

 of observing them in their natural habitations. 



The labours of M. de Blainville, the two brothers Cuvier, and 

 especially of Professor Nilsson of Lund, have done much to elucidate 

 the characters of the European species and those frequenting the 

 eastern coast of North America; the species found in the North 

 Pacific are only known by the descriptions of SteUer, Pallas, and 

 Temniinok. Many naturalists have been inclined to consider them 

 as identical with those found in the southern part of the Pacific 

 Ocean, believing that the species migrate from one half of the world 

 to the other, though we have the testimony of most voyagers that 

 Seals are very rarely found between the equatorial line and 21° 

 north latitude. 



The Seals of the Southern hemisphere have not been so well 

 studied, from the want of sufficient materials. Cuvier, when he 

 wrote the ' Ossemens FossUes,' possessed only eight skuUs, belonging 

 to four species (viz. 1. Phoca Le/ptonyoo, 2. F. elephantina, 3. P.pusilla, 

 4. P. leoninaT); but as several of these had been brought home 

 without the skins, he could only refer them doubtfully to established 

 species. Indeed, almost the only knowledge that we have of the 

 Seals of the Pacific is derived from the observations of Cook, and the 

 Porsters, who accompanied that intrepid navigator as naturalists ; 

 and the materials which they brought home were well collated by 

 Pennant in his • History of Quadrupeds,' a work of very extraordi- 

 nary merit considering the date of its publication. England might 

 then fairly be described as taking, as she should do, the lead in 



