frost; cold is their element, and in it 
alone they thrive. 
The amphibious animals come next in 
order; and as the accounts of them, given 
by different voyagers and naturalists, are 
extremely confused, I have been more 
circumstantial than would otherwise have 
been necessary. 
The Phocce * are the most numerous 
class of animals which frequent Spitz- 
bergen, where they are found in vast 
numbers. Though the specific charac¬ 
ters of each particular tribe are distinctly 
marked, their general resemblance is, 
upon the whole, so very striking, that 
the following observations may be applied 
to them all indiscriminately. In the 
scale of nature, the Phocse hold an in¬ 
termediate station between amphibia and 
perfect fish; but nearer the latter than 
* Under this general appellation, I include the seal, 
tvalrus, or morse, dugon, &c. 
