330 
VERTEBRATA. 
THE HOODED SEAL. 
This species is found on tlie coasts of Greenland and of IsTortli America down to the United 
States, It especially haunts the open sea, and is said chiefly to visit the land in April, May, and 
June. They are found for the most part on large ice-islands, where they sleep without precau- 
tion; and occur in great numbers 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. The crested seal is said to be po- 
lygamous, and to have its young on the ice. Its bite is formidable, and its voice is stated to re- 
semble the bark and whine of a dog. AVhen surprised by the hunter, it weeps copiously. Among 
themselves they have fierce encounters, and inflict deep wounds in the conflicts, with "their claws 
and teeth. 
This is one of the species pursued by the seal-hunters, and together with the Rough Seal, fur- 
nishes the greatest number of skins taken to the markets of Great Britain. The natives of the 
coasts of Greenland, Labrador, &c., clothe their women with the skins of the young, and cover 
their boats and houses with the skins of the old ones. They head their hunting-spears with the 
teeth, and blow up the stomachs into fishing buoys. 
Genus MACRORHINUS : Macrorhinus of F. Cuvier. — Of this there is one species, the Sea 
Elephant and Elejohant Seal of the English ; the Phoque a trompe of Peron; the Elephant marin 
of the French, and Bottle-nose of Pennant; the M. joroboscideus of naturalists. The animals of this 
species are remarkable for the nose of the male being prolonged into a kind of proboscis, which 
respires violently when the creature is excited, and is elongated in the form of a tube about a foot 
long when it is preparing for attack and defense. When the animal is in a state of repose it is 
shrunk, and the proboscis is flaccid, giving the face a large and puflJ"ed appearance. The female 
is not provided with this ornamental feature. This species is found in the southern hemisphere, 
both in the Atlantic and Southern Oceans, between 35° and 65° south latitude, at Kerguelen's 
Land, South Georgia, Juan Fernandez, South Shetland Islands, and Falkland Islands. A few are 
captured near the Cape of Good Hope, and on the coasts of Chili and Patagonia and New Hol- 
land. 
This enormous animal, which, to use the expression of Mr. Lizars, "compared with any ordi- 
nary seal three or four feet long, appears like an elephant when compared to a sheep," owes its 
name to its size and bulk, most probably, quite as much as to the proboscis with which the male 
