can be fairer. This latter, we believe, is the idea now entertained by the most competent judges. The Greenlanders, and other northern nations, are in the habit of converting it into their most important hunting weapons, and into tools and instruments for domestic uses. Among the Chinese it is employed for those curious uses to which they so wonderfully turn ivory; and, in most civilized nations, it is extensively used for the invaluable purpose of giving teeth to the toothless.

THE SEAL GROUP, OR PHOCIDE.

"L'histoire des phoques est même aujourd'hui extrêmement embrouillée; un grand nombre d'espèces sont encore à connoitre."-LESSON.

I. THE PROPER SEALS, OR PHOCÆ.

In proceeding to the Seal group, or Phocidæ, as it has been called-the Phocaceae of French writers— we shall consider first the Earless Seals, or Proper Phocæ, the Inauriculate of Peron. The time is not very distant, as explained on p. 98, when the whole of the Phoca were grouped as one genus; but latterly, M. F. Cuvier and the French Naturalists have divided them into seven distinct genera, and Professor Nilsson, by establishing another, has made the number eight. Of these, six belong to the Proper Phoca, and two to the Eared Seals, or Otaries. From the total want of classification which so long prevailed, it naturally happened that, in whatever country a Seal was seen, it was regarded as the Common Seal, the Vitulina of Naturalists;

and hence it is next to impossible to ascertain the species to which all the earlier accounts refer; and the more so as some additional difficulties arise as connected with the colour. This is a subject which would require an extent of discussion into which we cannot enter. The appearance, when dry and out of the water, is often different from what it is when wet and in it. Again, it seems established that some species differ much each successive year, till full age is attained; and that in some, too, the male is very differently marked from the female; circumstances these, which have a tendency to induce the splitting of one species into many. Further, it has been stated, "that in many specimens of the same species, of both sexes and all ages, no two are precisely similar;" in short, that some differ in colour as much as our Pointers or Greyhounds; and this remark has been freely applied to many genera. We would here, however observe, that this conclusion should be drawn with caution, and it ought not, on the contrary, to be forgotten, that there is great uniformity in the colours of many kinds, both whilst young, and in the adult state. Frequent evidence will subsequently be afforded of this truth; and without dwelling longer upon the subject, we will now refer only to the Vitulina of the Scottish shores, to the Rough or Bristled, and finally to the Fur Seal. The ascertaining of this uniformity where it really exists, would contribute much to the ready determination of species.

When Baron Cuvier, fifteen years ago, examined

the Paris Museum in relation to this group, he found that there was distinct evidence of three species or varieties having been confounded as the Common Seal; but neither he nor any other of the French Naturalists succeeded, at that time, in detecting very clear or satisfactory specific characters.

The peculiar characters of the Proper Phocæ are, that their feet are enveloped in the integuments, so becoming swimming paws; the anterior are very short, and the posterior much in the same line with the body; they have no external ears; the incisors vary from six to four in the upper jaw, and from four to two in the lower; they are simply cutting; the molars have generally many small lobes or cutting points; the toes of the feet are webbed, and terminated by sharp claws.

GENUS CALOCEPHALUS, OR FINE SHAPED
HEADED SEALS.

The name of this genus was selected on account of the great size of the cranium, and the shortness of the snout. The brain is scarcely inferior in size to that of the best organized monkeys, and hence they are easily tamed. Their dental formulary is =34.

3.1.5

215

The grinders are formed of a large point in the middle, with a smaller one anteriorly, and two posteriorly; the nostrils do not extend beyond the mouth; the mammæ of the female are four; it has sometimes been stated two.

127

COMMON SEAL.

Ph. Vitulina.-LINN.

PLATE II.

SPECIFIC CHARACTERS.-Molars placed in an oblique position along the jaw; posterior margin of the palate acutely and deeply notched; patatal foramen on maxillary bone.

Phoca vitulina, Cuv. Desm. 375. Calocephalus vitulinus, Fr. Cuv. Less. Sea-Calf, and Sea-Dog of Sailors. Selkie and Tang-fish of the North of Scotland. Raun of Western Isles.

FOR the detection of specific characters of this Seal, at once simple and satisfactory, we are, after long and vexatious doubt, indebted to the skill of Professor Nilsson. These characters consist, 1st, in