THE PEDRO SEAL. 
309 
There are nails only on the fore paws, those of the 
hinder being rudimentary. The eyes are large, black, 
and full, and the irides crimson. 
When the specimen from which these notes were 
made first arrived, it was very lively, and so sensible 
to the slightest touch, that however lightly the hand 
might be placed on the fur, it felt the contact, and 
moved rapidly away, jerking the whole body forwards. 
When left unmolested it was playful. It ploughed 
the w’ater with the nose, and snorted as it drew the 
head out. It grunted like a pig, and barked, growled, 
and snarled, like a dog. It was fond of turning upon 
the back and lying dozing. In this posture it slept 
and basked in the sun. It refused all food, and lived 
four months without eating. Symptoms of dulness 
only appeared in the last month, when it was found 
to be labouring under some disease of the head ; and 
when it died it was discovered to have become totally 
blind, the dark pupil of the eye having disappeared, 
together with the crimson colour of the iris. It was 
surprisingly fat, notwithstanding its long fast. The 
fat was four inches thick, and yielded four gallons 
of oil. It was a male, but the organs of generation 
were not externally perceptible. This organisation 
is accordant with the peculiarities of the Seal tribe : 
in the female the teats are concealed in the skin, and 
the lacteal fulness swells with the rotundity of the 
body, so that the animal does not suffer pain or 
inconvenience when crawling on land ; and the bifid 
termination of the tongue, another peculiarity, is an 
adaptation which enables the young of the Pliocidce 
to seize the nipple under comparatively difficult cir- 
