winter and north in summer. They are usually harmless, timid, inoffensive animals, though, being polygamous, the old males often fight desperately with each other, their skins being frequently found covered with wounds and scars. They are greatly attached to their young, and remarkably docile and easily trained when in captivity; indeed, although there would seem little in the structure or habits of the Seal to fit it by nature to be a companion of man, yet there is perhaps no wild animal which attaches itself so readily to the person who takes care of and feeds it. Seals appear to have much curiosity, and it is a very old and apparently well attested observation that they are strongly attracted by musical sounds. Their sense of smell is very acute, and their voice varies from a harsh bark or grunt to a plaintive bleat. Seals feed chiefly on fish, of which they consume enormous quantities; some, however, subsist largely on crustaceans, especially species of Gammarus, which swarm in the northern seas, also on molluscs, echinoderms, and even occasionally sea-birds, which they seize when swimming or floating on the water. Although the true Seals do not possess the beautiful under fur ("seal-skin" of the furriers) which makes the skin of the Sea-Bears so precious, yet their hides are still sufficiently valuable as articles of commerce, together with the oil yielded by their fat, to subject. them to a devastating persecution, by which their numbers are being continually diminished. Two species of seals only are met with regularly on the British coasts, the Common Seal and the Gray Seal. The former (Fig. 277) is a constant resident in all suitable localities round the Scottish, Irish, and English coasts, from which it has not been driven away by the molestations of man. Although, naturally, the most secluded and out-of-the-way spots are selected as their habitual dwelling-places, there are few localities where they may not be occasionally met with. Within the writers' knowledge one was seen not many years ago lying on the shingly beach at so populous a place as Brighton, and another was caught in the river Welland, near Stamford, 30 miles from the sea. They frequent bays, inlets, and estuaries, and are often seen on sandbanks or mudflats left dry at low tide, and, unlike some of their congeners, are not found on the ice-floes of the open sea, nor, though gregarious, are very large numbers ever seen in one spot. The young are produced at the end of May or beginning of June. They feed chiefly on fish, and the destruction they occasion among salmon is well known to Scottish fishermen. The Common Seal is widely distributed, being found not only on the European and American coasts bordering the Atlantic Ocean, but also in the North Pacific. It is from 4 to 5 feet in length, and variable in colour, though usually yellowish-gray, with irregular spots of dark brown or black above and yellowish-white beneath. The Gray Seal (Halichorus grypus) is of considerably larger size, the males attaining when fully adult a length of 8 feet from nose to end of hind feet. It is of a yellowish-gray colour, lighter beneath, and with dark gray spots or blotches, but, like most other Seals, is liable to great variations of colour according to age. This species appears to be restricted to the North Atlantic, having been rarely seen on the American coasts, but not farther south than Nova Scotia; it is chiefly met with on the coasts of Ireland, England, Scotland, Norway, and Sweden, including the Baltic and Gulf of Bothnia, and Iceland, though it does not appear to range farther north. It is apparently not migratory, and its favourite breeding places are rocky islands; the young being born in the end of September or beginning of October. Subfamily Monachinæ.-Incisors. Cheek-teeth two-rooted, except the first. On the hind feet the first and fifth toes greatly exceeding the others in length, with nails rudimentary or absent. Monachus.-Dentition: i, c1, p 4, m; total 32. Crowns of molars strong, conical, compressed, hollowed on the inner side, with a strongly marked lobed cingulum, especially on the inner side, and slightly developed accessory cusps before and behind. The first and last upper and the first lower molar considerably smaller than the others. Vertebræ C 7, D 15, L 5, S 2, C 11. All the 1 Fleming, Philosophy of Zoology, vol. ii. p. 187 (1822). : One nails of both fore and hind feet very small and rudimentary. species, M. albiventer, the Monk-Seal of the Mediterranean and adjacent parts of the Atlantic. The other genera1 of this section have the same dental formula, but are distinguished by the characters of the cheek-teeth and the feet. They are all inhabitants of the shores of the southern hemisphere. Ogmorhinus.2-All the teeth of the cheek-series with three distinct pointed cusps, deeply separated from each other; of these the middle or principal cusp is largest and slightly recurved; the other two (anterior and posterior) are nearly equal in size, and have their apices directed towards the middle one. Skull much elongated. One species, O. leptonyx, the Sea-Leopard, widely distributed in the Antarctic and southern temperate seas. Lobodon-Cheek-teeth with much-compressed elongated crowns and a principal recurved cusp, rounded and somewhat bulbous at the apex, and one anterior, and one, two, or three posterior, very distinct accessory cusps. One species, L. carcinophaga. Poecilophoca. Cheek-teeth small, with simple, subcompressed, conical crowns, having a broad cingulum, but no distinct accessory cusps. One species, P. weddelli. Ommatophoca.5-All the teeth very small; those of the cheekseries with pointed recurved crowns, and small posterior and still less developed anterior accessory cusps. Orbits very large. Nails quite rudimentary on front, and absent on hind feet. The skull bears a considerable resemblance to that of the members of the next subfamily, towards which it may form a transition. one species, O. rossi, of which very little is known. There is Subfamily Cystophorinæ.-Incisors. Teeth of cheek-series generally one-rooted. Nose of males with an appendage capable of being inflated. First and fifth toes of hind feet greatly exceeding the others in length, with prolonged cutaneous lobes, and rudimentary or no nails. Cystophora.-Dentition: i, c, p, m; total 30. The last molar has generally two distinct roots. Beneath the skin over the face of the adult male, and connected with the nostrils, is a sac which, when inflated, forms a kind of hood covering the 1 For details of these and the other genera see Mivart, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1885, p. 486, et seq. 2 Peters, Monatsb. K. P. Akad. Wissensch, zu Berlin, p. 393 (1875), substituted for Stenorhynchus, F. Cuvier; preoccupied for a genus of Crustacea. 3 Gray, Zoology of Erebus and Terror, vol. i. p. 5 (1844). New name, Syn. Leptonyx, Gray, Charlesworth's Mag. Nat. Hist. vol. i. p. 582 (1837); preoccupied by Swainson, 1821. 5 Gray, Zoology of Erebus and Terror, vol. i. p. 7 (1844). 6 Nilsson, Faun. Scandinav. vol. i. p. 382 (1820). upper part of the head. Nails present, though small, on the hind feet. One species, C. cristata, the Hooded or Bladder-Nose Seal of the Polar Seas. Macrorhinus.1-Dentition as the last, but cheek-teeth of simpler character, and all one-rooted. All the teeth, except the canines, very small relatively to the size of the animal. Hind feet without nails. Vertebræ C 7, D 15, L 5, S 3, C 11. Nose of adult male produced into a short tubular proboscis, ordinarily flaccid, but capable of dilatation and elongation under excitement. One species, M. leominus, the Elephant Seal, or Sea-Elephant of the whalers, the largest of the whole family, attaining the length of nearly 20 feet. Formerly abundant in the Antarctic Seas, and also found on the coast of California. Extinct Seals.-Remains of animals of this group have been found in late Miocene and Pliocene strata in Europe and America, the most abundant and best-preserved being those of the Pliocene Antwerp Crag, the subject of an illustrated monograph by Van Beneden. Nothing has, however, yet been discovered which throws any light upon the origin of the group, since all the extinct forms at present known come within the definition of the existing families; and, though annectant forms between these occur, there are as yet no transitions to a more generalised type of mammal. Indeed, all those of which the characters are best known belong to the completely developed Phocine or Trichechine, and not to the Otariine, type. The typical genus Phoca occurs in the Antwerp Crag, while remains of Seals provisionally referred to this genus are found in the Pliocene of the Crimea and the Miocene of Malta and Virginia. Of the other Antwerp forms Callophoca is said to be allied to Phoca grænlandica, Platyphoca to Phoca barbata, Phocanella to Phoca foetida, Gryphoca to Halichorus, Palæophoca and Monatherium to Monachus, and Mesotaria to Cystophora; while Prophoca does not appear to come very close to any existing form. It should be observed that it is extremely doubtful whether all these fossil Seals are really entitled to generic distinction. Bibliography of Pinnipedia.-J. A. Allen, History of North American Pinnipeds, 1880; St. George Mivart, "Notes on the Pinnipedia," Proc. Zool. Soc. 1885, p. 484; P. J. Van Beneden, Ossements fossiles d'Anvers, in the Mém. Acad. Roy. d. Belgique. Suborder CREODONTA. The discovery of fossil remains in Eocene and early Miocene formations both in Europe and North America shows that numerous species of terrestrial carnivorous animals existed upon the earth during those periods which cannot be referred to either of the 1 F. Cuvier, Mém. du Muséum, vol. xi. p. 200 (1824), "Macrorhine." sections into which the order has now become broken up. By some zoologists these have been supposed to be Marsupials, or at least to show transitional characters between the Metatherian and Eutherian subclasses. By others they are looked upon as belonging altogether to the latter group, and as the common ancestors of existing Carnivores and Insectivores, or perhaps rather as descendants or relatives of such common ancestors, retaining more of the generalised characters than any of the existing species. They shade off almost insensibly into numerous other forms less distinctly carnivorous, to the whole of which, including the modern Insectivora, Cope (to whom we are indebted for much of our knowledge of the American extinct species) gives the name of BUNOTHERIA, those more specially related to the existing Carnivora forming the suborder FIG. 278.-Anterior portion of the skull of Hyanodon leptorhynchus. (After Filhol.) Creodonta. These are instances, however, in which the application of the principles of classification adopted in the case of existing species, of which the entire structure is known, and which have become divided into isolated groups by the extinction of intermediate forms, is almost impossible. If the generally accepted view of evolution is true, and the extreme modifications pass insensibly into each other by minute gradations (a view the paleontological proof of which becomes strengthened by every fresh discovery), there must be many of these extinct forms which cannot be assigned to definitely characterised groups. There are, however, some which stand out prominently from the others as formed on distinct types, having no exact representatives at present living on the earth. The more typical Creodonts appear, however, to be so closely related to the true Carnivora through the extinct Miacidae (p. 539), |