27S 
SEXUAL SELECTION : IIAMMALS. 
PakT 
II. 
posed by some writers to affect the voice. The nose oi 
tiie male sea-elephant (Macrorhinus proboscideus), wb e ® 
about three years old, is greatly elongated during tb e 
breeding-season, and can then be erected. In this state 
it is sometimes a foot in length. The female at J 10 
period of life is thus provided, and her voice is dif* 
ferent. That of the male consists of a wild, hoarse 
gurgling noise, which is audible at a great distant’ 
and is believed to be strengthened by the proboscis 
Lesson compares the erection of the proboscis, to the 
swelling of the Wattles of male gallinaceous birds, whil st 
they court the females. In another allied kind of sea 1 ’ 
namely, the bladder-nose ( Cydophom cristata), the be a ‘ l 
is covered by a great hood or bladder. This is inter* 
nally supported by the septum of the nose, which ls 
produced far backwards and rises into a crest seve J1 
inches in height. The hood is clothed with short h^ x > 
and is muscular; it can be inflated until it more th ;lI) 
equals the whole head in size ! The males when 
ting light furiously on the ice, and their roaring “ iS 
“ said to he sometimes so loud as to be heard f° ur 
miles oft. M hen attacked by man they likewise r° lli 
or bellow ; and whenever .irritated the bladder is i°' 
flated. Some naturalists believe that the voice is th^ 
sti engthened, but various other uses have been assign® 1 
to this extraordinary structure. Mr. K. Brown thin 1 ^ 
that it serves as a protection against accidents of 8,1 
kinds. I his latter view is not probable, if what fb e 
sealers have long maintained is correct, namely) fb a ^ 
the hood or bladder is very poorly developed in 
females and in the males whilst young.® 
8 0n tlle sea-elephant, see an article by Lesson, in ‘Diet. O sS ' 
Hist. Nat. tom. xiii. p. 418. For the Cy&topkora or Stemmatop^ ^ 
Dr. Dekay, ‘ Annals of Lyceum of Nat. Hist. New York,’ vol. i. lS * ’ 
p. 94. Pennant lias also collected information from the sealers on ^ 
