30 AT SEA. 



Fur-seal, Callorhinus ursinus, from the North Pacific. It is 

 the skin of this last species which is the most valuable. 



The principal characters of the family of seals are short 

 limbs, which are so enveloped in skin as to be more like fins 

 than legs. The neck is very short, so that the head appears 

 united with the body, the nostrils are operculated, the 

 animals possessing the power to open or close them at leisure. 

 Their head in shape resembles that of a dog. Their body is 

 elongated and uniform and their tail is very short. The teeth 

 are those of a \Carnivore, four or six incisors above, and 

 two or four below, the canines pointed, and the molars 20, 

 22^ or 24, all cutting or conical. In colour, except the 

 common seal, Phoca vitulina, which is generally gray, and 

 sometimes white, the other species are usually dark brown, 

 appearing almost black when wet. The valuable dark fur of 

 commerce is only the soft under-fur, all the long coarse hairs 

 having been removed. The young and females produce the 

 finest furs. 



These animals are all aquatic, and pass most of their time 

 in the water, and obtain their food in that element. It consists 

 chiefly of fish, of which they can devour a large quantity at a 

 time. 



They attain a length of about six feet, sometimes 

 more, especially the males, which are always much larger 

 than the females. 



Intermediate between the Eared and True Seals is the 

 Walrus, or Morse, Trichechus rosmarus. It is remarkable 

 for its one or two long canine teeth, or tusks, in the upper 

 jaw, while the lower one has neither incisors or canines. 

 These tusks are used for fighting, for climbing from the water 

 on the ice, and for digging on the sea bottom for the moUuscae 

 and crustaceae, on which it feeds. It is a large animal from 

 ten to twenty feet in length. It is rather a fearless animal, ' 

 but harmless, unless attacked. Great numbers are killed for 

 the sake of their tusks, the ivory of which is very valuable. 

 The oil they yield is more valued than that of the whale, and 

 the skin is made use of for carriage braces, wheel-ropes, etc. 



The seals were known to the ancients from the remotest 

 antiquity, and authors have made them the subjects of many 

 legends. The names of tritons, syrens, nereides, mermaids, 

 etc., have all originated from these animals, and even 

 now some fishermen are still embued with superstitious ideas 

 about them. They can be domesticated, and are very much 

 attached to their masters, whom they obey with alacrity. 



