OEDEE OF AMPHIBIA. 
Ill 
be crushed to death if they did not take the precaution of at 
once ranging themselves against the sides of the grotto, so as 
to allow the Seals to escape; but the principal crowd having 
passed, the hunters fall upon the laggards and kill them by 
striking them over the nose with cudgels. There is danger, 
in these sort of expeditions, of a gust of wind blowing out their 
torches ; in that case they might perish, lost in one of these dark 
caverns. 
The Seal is endowed with so many remarkable faculties, that it 
seems quite suited to become one of our domestic animals ; and so 
it is perhaps surprising that man has not yet thought of training 
it to fish for him, as he has done with the Otter. Its gentleness, 
its sociability, and, above all, its intelligence, which is almost equal 
to that of the Dog, would ensure it a high place in the affections of 
our race. There are numerous examples on record of Seals which, 
having been tamed when very young, becoming so much attached 
to their masters as to follow them wherever they went, and 
returning to them even after they had purposely been left far from 
home. They give very little trouble : a basin filled with water in 
which they can bathe, and a hut with some straw in it on which 
they may repose, are sufficient to keep them in a good state of 
health. They must be fed on fish. Only, as they devour an 
enormous quantity of this food, the cost of keeping them is the 
greatest obstacle to their ever being domesticated. It is strange, 
that when they are accustomed to one sort of fish, they will not 
eat any other, and rather die of hunger than consent to change 
their diet. 
Seals are divided into numerous genera and species, peculiar 
to different climates. Let us examine rapidly some of the prin- 
cipal. 
The Common Seal (Plioca vitulina ), vulgarly named Sea-calf, 
inhabits Europe, and measures about 1 metre in length. It is 
this one that has been the most studied. 
The Atak, or Greenland Seal (P. groenlandicus ) , is double the size 
of the Common Seal. It is found also on the coasts of Nova 
Zembla and of the White Sea, but in winter only in the regions of 
the last-mentioned. 
The White-bellied Seal (P. monachus) is found in the Medi- 
terranean, especially on the borders of the Adriatic Sea. It varies 
