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Show 1~0 MAMMALIA. PELAGus, Fred. Cuv. b d below but their grinders are ob- Four incisors also, a ove an ' ~ d behind. There tuse cones, with a slightly marked heel be ore an is one of them in the Mediterranean. VI pl. xiii. ( 1) (The Monk.) Ph rnonachus, Gm.; Buff. Supp. ' . · From· ten to twelve 1r eet m. length ' of a blacktsh brGo wn,. wtth a • t' 1 rly found among the rectan and 1 'te belly Itls par tcu a wA dllr iatic Is·l ands, and I. s, most pro b ab ly ' the species best known to the ancients. STEMMATOPUS, Fred. Cuv. . . . . d two inferior; grinders compressed, Four superlOr mclsors, an S h . th slightly trilobate, supported by thlick .rootsF. bru•c E lgSed e Groenl pi Ph · t t G . Plwca eontna, a ., · · · · ens a a, m., 1 .. (The Hooded Seal.) vi· ·Dekay, New York Lye. I, P • vu. . d · ht reet long. a piece of loose skm on the head, Seven or e1g 1' ' • 1 d · h. b . fl ted at the pleasure of the amma' an Is w tch can e m a h' h · the drawn over the eyes when it is menaced, at w lC times . nostrils also are inflated like bladders. From the arctic ocean.(2) h · · s of the pre· Finally, the MAORORHINus, Fr. Cuv., has t e mclsor . ceding obtuse conical molars, and the muzzle resembh~g afshoh~t movab'l e proboscis or snout. Th e 1a rge st seal known 1s o t IS subgenus j the r p t Ph. leonina, L.; Sea-Lion of Anson; Sea-Wolf o ernet y, o-c Peron's Voy. I xxxii. (The Elephant Seal.) From twenty Qtol, • twenty-five feet' in length; brown, the muzz1 e . o f th e maelen terminated by a wrinkled snout, which becomes mfla~ed wh of the animal is angry. It is common in the southern latitudes .. the Pacific Ocean, at the Terra-del-Fuego, New Zeal~nd, Club, &c. It constitutes an important object of the fishenes, on ac· count of the oil in which it abounds. The 0TARIEs, Peron. Seals with external ears Are worthy of being formed into a separate genus; bec~use, ~nde· pendently of the proJ. ect.m g externa1 ears, t h e £o ur su pel'lor mtddle incisors have a double cutting edge, a circumstance hitherto un· (1) It is the same individual described by Hermann, Soc. des Nat. deDerl. IV, xii, xiii, under the name of monarckus • . . 11 nder· (2) The mechanism by which this inflation is effected 1s not yet we u stood. See Dekay and Ludlow, Annals of the New York Lyceum, Yol. I, PP· 94 and99. CARNARIA. 121 known in any animal; the external ones are simple and smaller, and the four inferior bifurcated. All the molars are simply conical, and the toes of the fore feet almost immovable; the membrane of the hind feet is lengthened out into a slip beyond each toe; all the nails are flat and slender. Ph. jubata, Gm.; Sea-Lion of Steller, Pernetty, &c.; Buff. Supp. VII, xlviii. From fifteen to twenty feet, and more, in length; fawn coloured ; the neck of the male covered with hairs that are more frizzled and thickly set than those on the rest of the body. It might be said to be found in all the Pacific Ocean, were it not that those from the straits of Magellan seem to differfrom such as are taken at the Aleutian islands. Ph. ursina, Gm.; Buff. Supp. VII, xlvii. (T'he Sea Bear.) Eight feet long, no mane, varying from brown to whitish. From the north of the Pacific Ocean. Other Seals are found in that sea which only differ from the ursina in size and colour: such is the Petit phoque noir of Buffon(Plt.pusilla), Buff. XIII, liii; the Yellow Seal of Shaw, &c. TRICHECHus, Lin.(l) The Morse resembles the Seal in its limbs, and the general form of the body, but differs widely from it in the teeth and head. There are no incisors nor canini in the lower jaw, which is compressed anteriorly to pass between two enormous canini or tusks, which issue from the upper one, and which project downwards, being sometimes two feet long, and of a proportionable thickness. The enormous size of the alveoli, requisite for holding such tremendous canini, raises up the whole front of the upper jaw, giving it the shape of a huge inflated jowl, the nostrils looking upwards, and not terminating the muzzle. The molars are all short, obliquely truncated cylinders; there are four of them on each side, above and below, bu~ at a particular age, two of the upper ones fall out. Between the canini are two incisors, similar to the molars, which most authors have not recognised as such, although they are implanted in the intermaxillary bone. Between these again, in the young animal, are two more small pointed ones. The stomach and intestines of the Morse are very similar to those of the Seal. It appears tha,t the fucus constitutes part of its food, along with animal matters. One species only is as yet ascertained, the Trich. rosmarus, L. ;(2) Buff. XIII, Iiv; and better, Cook, (l)Trichechus, from 'T~le (hair), n name invented by Artedi for the Sea Cow. (2) Shaw, however, suspects that there may be two distinguished by the greater or less size of their trunks, and by their being more or less convergent. VoL. 1.-Q |