Seals.] 



MUSEUM OF ANIMATED NATURE 



223 



other. But there are others somewhat blackish all 

 over. All seals vary annually in colour till they 

 are full-grown, but no sort so much as this, and the 

 Greenlanders vary its name according to its age. In 

 the first year it is called Attarak, and is of a cream 

 colour : in the second year, Attelsiak ; it is then 

 grey : in the third year, Aglektok ; it is then painted : 

 in the fourth year it is Milektok ; spotted: in the 

 fifth year, Attarsoak ; it then wears its half-moon, 

 the signal of maturity." 



It is singular that the Greenland Seal, in its 

 immature livery, occasionally visits the British 

 shores and also the coasts of France. In the ' Pro- 

 ceedings of the British Institution' for 1836, there is 

 an account of two caught in the Severn ; one cap- 

 tured on the coast of France lived for some time 

 in the Jardin des Plantes at Paris. Fred. Cuvier, 

 considering it a new species, gave it the title of 

 Calocephalus (Phoca) discolor. Professor Nilsson 

 also regarded the immature as a distinct species, 

 and characterized it as such under the name of 

 Phoca anneliata. The titles, therefore, discolor and 

 annellata, must both merge into Grcenlandica. 



Fig. 994 is the immature Harp-Seal, the Phoca 

 discolor of F. Cuvier, from a specimen which was 

 captured on the coast of France, and lived for 

 several weeks in the Paris Menagerie. M. F. 

 Cuvier declares that he never knew any wild animal 

 that was more easily tamed or attached itself more 

 strongly. When it first came to the Jardin des 

 Plantes, it did its best to escape when M. F. Cuvier 

 tried to touch it ; but in a very few days its timidity 

 vanished, and it rather courted his caresses than 

 shunned them. In the same enclosure with it were 

 two little dogs, and they amused themselves by 

 mounting on the seal's back, barking, and even 

 biting it : the seal, however, took it in good part, 

 and seemed pleased with them, though it would 

 sometimes give them slight blows wdth its paws, as 

 if more to encourage their play than repress their 

 liberties. When the little dogs made their way out 

 of the enclosure, the seal tried to follow them, not 

 deterred by the rough and stony ground. In cold 

 weather they all three huddled kindly and warmly 

 together. If the dogs snatched the fish from the 

 seal's mouth when he was feeding, he bore it pa- 

 tiently ; but he exhibited very different conduct to 

 another seal, who shared his mess ; for they generally 

 had a fight over their meal, the combat ending, as 

 usual, in the defeat of the weakest. 



995. — The Sea-Leopard 



{Stenorhynchus leopardinus) ; St. Weddellii, Les- 

 son ; Phoca leopardina, Jamieson. The genus 

 Stenorhynchus is characterized by the prominence 

 of the muzzle and the jagged form of the teeth, 

 which have each a bold acute middle tubercle, and 

 an anterior and posterior acute tubercle of smaller 

 size, separated from the middle one by a deep 

 notch. Claws very small. 



4 . i_i 

 Dental formula : — Incisors, - ; canines, ; 



molars, —= 32. (See Fig. 996.) Fig. 997 repre- 

 5 — 5 



sents the skull of a species of Stenorhynchus. 



Of the habits of the Sea-Leopard little is ascer- 

 tained. It inhabits the South Shetlands (south of 

 Terra del Fuego), in 60° 37' S. lat,, and attains to 

 the length of eleven feet. The hair is soft and thin, 

 greyish above, yellowish on the under parts : the 

 whole of the upper surface is spotted with whitish. 

 The claws are sharp, black, curved, and grooved. 



998.— The Crested Seal 



(Stemmatopus cristatus). In the genus Stemma- 

 topus the head is surmounted by a curious hood- 

 like appendage, the nature of which is not well 

 understood. Molars with simple roots, short, wide, 

 and striated only on the crown; muzzle narrow, 



4 1 — 1 



and obtuse. Dentition : — Incisors, - ; canines, - — - ; 



£ L — 1 



k 5 



molars, — — = 30. (See Fig. 999,) Fig. lOOOrepre- 

 o — 1> 



sents the skull. 



The crested seal is a native of Greenland and 

 various parts of the coast of North America. 

 Crantz says it is called Neitsersoak by the Green- 

 landers, and also Clapmutz, from the " thick folded 

 skin on its forehead, which it can draw down over 

 its eyes like a cap to defend them against the 

 storms, waves, stones, and sand.'' The apparatus 

 consists of a cartilaginous crest which arises from the 

 muzzle and increases rapidly in height as it passes 

 backwards, being about seven inches, high at its 

 posterior edge, which is separated into two planes 

 by an intervening depression an inch deep : this 

 cartilaginous appendage is a development of the 

 septum of the nose, and it runs into the hood or 

 sac-like appendage of the head, which is strongly 

 muscular, with circular fibres round its two orifices 

 at the snout like nostrils, the true nostrils opening 

 *?n each side of the cartilaginous crest beneath the 



hood, and are of an oblong figure. In the females 

 and young the curious apparatus is undeveloped, 

 being peculiar to the adult male. The eyes, which 

 are capable of being drawn deeply into the socket 

 during repose, are eminently formed for discerning 

 distant objects. The fur is soft, long, and woolly 

 beneath ; in old individuals it is black, silvered on 

 the under parts. In young animals it is grey, 

 spotted irregularly with brown. The dilatable sac 

 which crowns the head is covered with short brown 

 hair. 



The crested seal attains to the length of eight 

 feet. It haunts the open sea, and is said to visit the 

 land chiefly in April, May, and June. These ani- 

 mals are commonly seen on large ice-islands, where 

 they sleep without precaution. Great numbers are 

 found in Davis's Straits, where they are stated to 

 make two voyages a year — in September and 

 March. They depart to bring forth their young, 

 and return in June very lean, and exhausted. In 

 July they proceed again to the north, where they 

 appear to procure plenty of food, for they return in 

 high condition in September. One male is lord of 

 many females. They fight among themselves very 

 desperately, inflicting deep wounds with the claws 

 and teeth. Their bite is indeed very formidable. 

 The voice of this seal is stated to resemble the bark 

 and whine of a dog. Great numbers of the skins of 

 this animal are brought to England, and it is one of 

 those seals which are so valuable to the Green- 

 landers. 



It is the Phoca cristata of Graelin, the Phoca leo- 

 nina of Fabricius. 



1001, 1002.— The Elephant-Seal 



(Macrorhinus proboscideus) ; Bottle-Nose of Pen- 

 nant : Phoque a trompe of Peron ; Miouroung of 

 the Australians. In the genus Macrorhinus the 

 males have the power of lengthening their large 

 moveable snout into a proboscis resembling that of 

 the tapir, through which, when excited, they 

 respire violently. The teeth consist of four incisors 

 above and two below, formed like the canines : the 

 canines themselves are very large, conical, and re- 



g g 



curved : the molars are — -, with simple roots far 



5 — 5 



exceeding in circumference the crowns, which are 

 mere mammillary projections (see Fig. 1003). 



Fig. 1004 represents the skull of Macrorhinus. 



The whiskers are strong, coarse, long, and screw- 

 twisted ; the eyes are large and prominent; the 

 paddles well developed, the nails small ; hair short 

 and close ; its colour greyish or bluish grey, rarely 

 blackish brown. Length from twenty to thirty feet, 

 girth from fifteen to eighteen feet. In the female 

 there is no proboscis ; the colour is dark olive- 

 brown above, passing into yellowish bay on the 

 under parts. The hair lies in patches in all direc- 

 tions, giving a spotted appearance to the body 

 somewhat like watered-silk. No nails on the hind- 

 toes. 



The elephant-seal is a native of the southern 

 hemisphere, both in the Atlantic, Pacific, and 

 Southern oceans, between 35° and 55° S. lat., Ker- 

 guelen's Land, South Georgia, Juan Fernandez, 

 South Shetland, and the Falklands. This huge seal 

 lives in troops, which at certain seasons frequent 

 various islands in the southern seas, especially where 

 fresh-water lakes or swamps, in which they delight 

 to wallow, are easily accessible. They are in fact 

 migratory animals, advancing with the winter season 

 towards the tropic of Capricorn, and towards the 

 south in the summer. It is in the middle of June 

 that they perform their first migration, covering, in 

 countless multitudes, the shores of King Island, 

 which, as the sailors report, are sometimes black- 

 ened by them. Here the females produce their 

 young, and, as it is affirmed, the males form a line 

 between the females and the sea, while the latter 

 are nursing their cubs, in order to prevent the pos- 

 sibility of their deserting their charge, even for the 

 shortest space of time. The period of nursing and 

 imprisonment lasts for seven or eight weeks, during 

 which time the females are debarred from food, and 

 become extremely emaciated 5 some, it is said, occa- 

 sionally perish. The growth of the young is very 

 rapid. After birth they measure between four and 

 five feet, but in eight days are double their original 

 dimensions, and in the third year are from eighteen 

 to twenty-five feet in length. At this period the 

 proboscis begins to be developed in the male. 

 When the term of imprisonment has expired, the 

 whole troop, young and all, visit the sea, where the 

 females soon recover their strength and condition, 

 and where they sojourn for about a month, when 

 they aa;ain visit the shore, which now becomes the 

 arena of most furious conflicts between the adult 

 males, the females remaining passive spectators. 

 When these scenes of bloodshed and excitement 

 have ended, the troop, under the guidance of a 

 leader, leave the shores of the islands in lat. 33°, 

 and migrate southwards towards the antarctic circle, 

 where they spend the summer months. It is cb- 



served, however, that a few remain in the former 

 localities, even during the summer, probably in con- 

 sequence of being disabled by wounds or debility 

 from undertaking the ordinary journey. As soon as 

 the frost commences in the low southern latitudes, 

 the herds begin their return towards the tropic, and 

 in June have arrived at their accustomed breeding 

 places. 



Captain Carmichael, in his description of the 

 island of Tristan d'Acunha (see 'Linn. Trans.,' vol. 

 xii.), observes that a full-grown male will yield 

 seventy gallons of oil ; indeed, as they crawl along, 

 their body trembles like a great, bag of jelly. 

 " These seals pass the greater part of their time on 

 shore : they may be seen in hundreds lying asleep 

 along the sandy beach, or among the long grass 

 which borders the sea-shore. These huge animals 

 are so little apprehensive of danger, that they must 

 be kicked or pelted with stones before they make 

 any effort to move out of one's way. When roused 

 from their slumber, they raise the fore-part of their 

 body, open wide their mouth, and display a for- 

 midable set of tusks, but never attempt to bite. 

 Should this, however, fail to intimidate their dis- 

 turbers, they set themselves at length in motion^ 

 and make for the water, but with such delibera- 

 tion, that on an excursion we once made to the 

 opposite side of the island, two of our party were 

 tempted to get upon the back of one of them, and 

 rode him fairly into the water." These animals 

 taken young are easily tamed, and become very 

 affectionate ; one petted by an English seaman be- 

 came so attached to his master from kind treatment 

 for a few months, that it would come at his call, 

 allow him to mount upon its back, and put his hands 

 into its mouth. 



The voice of the male is deep, hoarse, and terrific, 

 and may be heard at a great distance ; that of the 

 females and young is a kind of loud bellowing. 



The food of the elephant-seal appears in great 

 part to consist of cuttle-fish and seaweed, the beaks 

 of the former and remains of the latter, often 

 mixed with pebbles, being commonly found in the 

 stomach. 



It is for the oil of this species principally, which, 

 besides being yielded in great abundance, is clear 

 and inodorous, that the seal-fisheries of the South 

 Pacific are conducted. The skin, moreover, is va- 

 luable, from its strength and thickness, and is ex- 

 tensively used for carriage and horse harness. The 

 flesh is oily and disgusting, but the tongues, when 

 salted, are said to be very excellent. 



1005.— The Ursine Seal 

 (Arctocephalus ursinus) ; Phoca ursina, Linn. ; Ursus 

 marinus, Steller ; L'Ours marin of Buffon. The cha- 

 racters of the genus Arctocephalus are as follows : — 

 Head with a narrow retracted muzzle : the dentition 



thus : — Incisors, - ; canines, ; molars, = 



'4' ' 1— l' ' 5—5 



36 (see Fig. 1006) ; small external ears. Fig. 1007 

 represents the skull of Arctocephalus. 



The ursine seal attains the length of nearly eight 

 feet; its fur is brown, washed with grey; it is long 

 and erect, especially around the neck in old males, 

 where the hair is two inches in length and stiff; 

 there is beneath the hair a soft brownish-red wool 

 close to the skin. This species inhabits the islands 

 on the north-west of America, Kamtchatka, the 

 Kurile Islands, &c, and is migratory in its habits. 

 When these seals appear off Kamtchatka and the 

 Kuril es early in the spring, they are in high condi- 

 tion, and the females are pregnant. They remain 

 on or about the shore for two months, during which 

 the females bring forth. They are polygamous, and 

 live in families, every male being surrounded by a 

 crowd of females (from fifty to eighty), whom he 

 guards with the greatest jealousy. These families, 

 each including the young, amounting to 100 or 120, 

 live separate, though they crowd the shore, and that 

 to such an extent on the islands off the north-west 

 point of America, that it is said they oblige the tra- 

 veller to quit it and scale the neighbouring rocks. 

 Both male and female are very affectionate to their 

 young, and fierce in their defence ; but the males are 

 often tyrannically cruel to the females, which are 

 very submissive. If one family encroaches on the 

 station of another, a general fight is the consequence. 

 They will not, in fact they dare not, leave their 

 stations, for if they did they must encroach on that 

 of some other family. Steller relates that he had 

 been beset by these seals for six hours together, and 

 was at last obliged to climb a precipice to get rid ot 

 the infuriated animals, at the imminent peril of his 

 life. They have their war-notes and several other 

 intonations. When amusing themselves on the 

 shore, they low like a cow, chirp like a cricket after 

 a victory, and, when they are wounded, cry like a 

 whelp. They swim very swiftly, and are as great a 

 terror to other seals as the sea-lion (Phoca jubata, 

 Gmel.) is to them. 



The skin of the ursine seal is very thick, and from 

 its full deep fur makes excellent winter clothing. 



