102 
terion. “ They are the only animals, 9 ' 
says he, “ who have the foramen ovale 
open, and who can therefore live with¬ 
out respiring, and to whom water is as 
proper and suitable an element as air . 99 
Theoretic views appear to have here led 
this excellent writer into an error, as it 
is now well known, that the Phocse can¬ 
not remain long in the water without 
coming to the surface to breathe. 
The Vitulus Marinus i by the English 
termed seal , and by the French, phoque , 
is the most common species of those ani¬ 
mals in the North, and is dispersed with 
some variety throughout the rest of the 
Ocean. Its head is large and flat; the 
teeth strong, and so sharp, that I have 
seen it bite in two the handspikes with 
which the men were attempting to kill 
it; the tongue is forked; and it is well 
furnished with whiskers around the 
mouth; has almost no external appear¬ 
ance of ears, but merely an aperture to 
; 
