126 PiiociD.®. MAMMALIA. rHocir).i7,. 
from the Trichecidse. According to Reinhardt, the 
upper jaw is frequentlj' furnished with a sixth molar 
on either side, which would make the total numher of 
grinders to be twenty-two. The superior series are 
simple, displaying only a single pointed crown, but 
those of the lower jaw are slightly tubercufated. The 
head is remarkably flat, terminatiug anteriorly in a broad, 
truncated muzzle. One of the most striking peculiari- 
ties of this species — and one in which it very closely 
resembles the walrus — consists in the disproportionate 
size of the brain, as compared with that of the common 
seal ; while the bones of the face are, on the other 
lumd, more cogently developed. The late Dr. Ball of 
Dublin, in a communication to Professor Bell — after 
alluding to the fruitless attempts made by his father to 
rear and tame specimens^ — has very forcibly remarked 
that this seal “ appears scarcely susceptible of domes- 
tication, and the development of the skull seems to 
indicate as much ; for the size of the brain of a speci- 
men nearly eight feet long, did not exceed that of one 
of Phoca variegata (f.e., P. vituUna), of less than four 
feet.” 
THE SEA-LEOPAED {Leptonyx WecldelUi).—lL 
Frederick Cuvier formerly associated the various 
Fig, 
species of Leptonyx, under the generic title of Steno- 
rhynchus. They are characterized by the possession 
of twenty-two teeth, of which eight are incisors, 
besides the usual number of canines, and twenty 
molars — each of the latter being provided with three 
sharp, conical, prong-like tubercles. All of these are 
slightly compressed, and point more or less upwards 
and backwards; the central cusp being the longest, 
and separated from the lateral pair by a deep notch on 
either side. The hindermost molars are furnished with 
double fangs. The skull is narrow, elongated, and 
rather depressed at the centre of the vertex. The 
claws of the feet are comparatively small, especially 
those of the hind pair. This species inhabits the shores 
of the southern hemisphere. 
THE CRESTED SEAL {Stemmatopus ertstatus), or 
Hoodcap, differs from the ordinary seals, inasmuch as 
it possesses a remarkable organ, situated at the anterior 
part of the head. This structure consists of a mem- 
branous and muscular poucb, which is divided internally 
into two compartments by the prolongation of the 
cartilaginous septum of the nose (fig. 37). By closing 
its nostrils, the animal has the power of inflating this 
sac, which then stretches back over the cranium, and 
37 . 
The Crested Seal (Stemmatopus cristaius). 
in the distended condition rises six or seven inches 
above the vertex. The molar teeth are irregularly 
tuberculated. The Hoodcap lives chiefly on large 
floating fields of ice off the coasts of Greenland and the 
north-eastern shores of America, being seldom seen on 
land, except in the months of April, May, and June. 
It is a large species, measuring seven or eight feet in 
length ; and great numbers are annually destroyed by 
the seal-hunters. 
THE SEA-BEAR {Arctocephalus ursinus ) — Plate 13, 
fig. 41 — is a native of the north-western shores of 
America, as well as the coasts of Kamtschatka and the 
Kurile islands. It is a large, bulky species, upwards 
of seven feet long. The fur is thick, of a woolly tex- 
ture, of a greyish-brown tint in the adult, but quite 
black in the young animal. The ears are compara- 
tively well-developed, being an inch and a half in 
length, and clothed with hair. There are ten incisor 
teeth, six above and four below, the four central ones 
of the upper series having flat and transversely-grooved 
crowns; the molars are twenty-two in numher. The 
first toe of the fore-foot is the longest, the remainder 
gradually shortening in succession, outwards. The 
interdigital membranes of the hind feet are prolonged 
considerably beyond the toes in the form of bands. The 
Sea-bears are polygamous in their habits, a single male 
jealously guarding upwards of fifty or sixty females. 
The males are very fierce, as are also the dams when 
their young are hunted ; if wounded, the}' utter a loud 
whining cry. Tlie fur is highly valued. 
