322 
VERTEBRATA. 
crowns are strongly compressed laterally, with sliarp cutting edges, wliicli are usually more or 
less notched, and sometimes deeply cleft, so as to form three or more distinct points. 
The mouth is furnished with thick, fleshy lips, from which spring numerous long bristles. The 
tongue is smooth. The nostrils are placed at the front of the snout, and are capable of being 
completely closed when the animal is under Avater. The external ears are usually represented by 
a small valve, which closes the aperture under the same circumstances. The eye is large, fall, 
and expressive of intelligence, a quality which is exhibited b}^ these animals in a very high de- 
gree; and the brain, as might be expected from this circumstance, is of large size, and of a very 
high type of organization. The mammae are usually only two in number, and placed far back ; 
the female produces a single young one, and attends to it with great assiduity. The voice of 
the seal is usually a kind of bark, whence the name of Sea-dogs is applied to them in some coun- 
tries. Though the genera are not numerous, there are great multitudes of these creatures, certain 
seas and coasts swarming with them by thousands. 
The habits of all the animals of this order are very similar. They live in the sea, but always 
in the neighborhood of the coasts, where they wage an incessant war upon the fishes, which con- 
iStitute the principal food of all, with the exception of the walrus. They are not, however, like 
the cetacea, entirely confined to the water, but can easily climb upon the low rocks, where they 
are fond of lying in herds basking in the sun. Thus living a part of the time in the water and a 
part on the land, they are what are called amphibious. When on shore they are exceedingly 
••watchful, and appear to have sentinels to give notice of the approach of an enemy, and plunge 
into the water the . moment any danger approaches them. On land, as might be expected from 
the structure of their feet, their movements are very awkward; they are performed by the action 
of the strong muscles of the back ; the creatures hold by their fore-paws, while they curve the 
back strongly, and thus draw forward the hind-feet; the latter then form the point of support, and 
the head and fore-paws are pushed on by the straightening of the body. This mode of progres- 
•sion is evidently very laborious, and 'the seals never travel to any great distance on the land. 
The Phocid^, or Tkue Seals, exhibit the typical characters above described in the greatest 
perfection. They are distinguished from the walrus family by the possession of incisor teeth 
in both jaws, and by the moderate. size of the canines. The molars are sharp-edged, and either 
simple or notched; in the latter case they are usually furnished with two roots. An external 
ear is present only in one genus, the Otaria, the species of which inhabit the Southern Ocean. 
Nevertheless, they hear well when under water, and are easily attracted to the surface by a 
noise. They are often seen in such shoals in the northern seas as to appear like a continuous 
mass, and therefore are supposed to have given rise to the story of the Kralcen. For the sake 
of respiration, they will appear now and then on the surface, springing up with their heads and 
necks, and often their whole bodies out of Avater. When a shoal of them comes thus to the sur- 
face, the sailors call it , a SeaVs Wedding. They feed on fishes, crabs, aiid aquatic birds. They 
swim with great rapidity, and, "before a gale of Avind, are full of frolic, jumping and tumbling 
about, sometimes throAving themselves entirely out of the water, and performing many awkward 
gambols, at last retiring to their wonted rocks or caverns, and there remaining till the storm is 
over. They seem to have much curiosity-: if people are passing in boats they often come up 
very close, stare at them, and follow them a considerable time. If the people are speaking loud, 
they seem to pay much attention, and to exhibit some surprise. We are told that when a church 
»bell rings for . divine service on the coast of the Orkneys, all the seals Avithin hearing swim directly 
for the shore, and remain Avhile the bell continues ringing, looking about Avith much appearance of 
wonder, but without alarm. They are for the most part confined to the seas of the extreme 
northern and southern parts of the world, abounding especially around those coasts which ap- 
proach most closely to the two poles. Some of the northern species are, hoAvever, occasionally 
seen as far south as the coasts of France, on the eastern side of the Atlantic, and as far as Long 
Island on the Avestern side. They embrace several genera. 
In regard to 'the seals, Gosse makes the folloAving interesting observations: "It is necessary that 
they — the mammalia generally — be thus constantly bathed in air; for an interruption of the pro- 
cess of respiration, for^only a few seconds, Avould cause instant death. But the tribe before us 
