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Show 118 MAMMALIA. elongated body; their very movable spine, which is provided with muscles that strongly flex it; their narrow pelvis; their short hair, that adheres closely to the skin, all unite to render them good swimmers; and all the details of their anatomy con-firm these first indicia. We have as yet distinguished two genera only, Phoca and Trichechus. PHocA, Lin. Seals have six or four incisors above, four or two below, pointed canini and grinders to the number of twenty, twenty-two, or twentyfour, all trenchant or conical, and without any tuberculous part whatever; five toes to all the feet, the anterior ones regularly decreasing in length from the thumb to the little toe, while in the hinder feet the thumb and the little toe are the longest, and the intermediate ones the shortest. The fore feet are enveloped in the skin of the body as far as the tarsus, the hinder ones almost to the heel. Between the latter is a short tail. The head of a Seal bears a resemblance to that of a Dog, whose intelligence and soft expressive look it also possesses. It is easily tamed, and soon becomes attached to its keeper, or those who feed it. The tongue is smooth, and sloped at the end, the stomach simple, crecum short, and the intestinal canal long, and tolerably regular. These animals live on fish; always eat in the water, and close their nostrils when they dive by a kind of valve. As they remain a long time under water, it was supposecl that the foramen ovale remained open, as in the human fretus-but it is not so : there is, however, a large venous sinus in the liver, which must assist them in diving by rendering respiration less ne· cessary to the motion of the blood. Their blood is very abundant and very black. PaooA, properly so called, or without external ears. The true Phocre have pointed incisors; all the toes enjoy a certain degree of motion, and are terminated by pointed nails planted on the edge of the membrane, which unites them. They are subdivided, from "the number of their incisors. The CALOOEPHALA, Fr. Cuv. have six above and four below; such is the Phoca vitulina, L.; Buff. XIII, xlv, and Supp. VI, xlvi; Ph. littorea, Thienem. pl. vi. (The Common Seal.) From three to five feet in length; of a yellowish grey, more or less shaded and spottetl with brown, according to its age ; sometimes brownish, with small yellow spots. When very old it becomes ~vhitish. Common on the coast of Europe in great herds. ~t lS also found far to the north ; we are even assured that it is thiS CARNARIA. 119 species which inhabits the Caspian water lakes of Russia and Siberia, bu:e~~i:nd the. great fresh appear to be founded on an exa t ~ssertlon does not European seas contain several Phc comp~rison. In fact, the ocre, which ha 1 confounded, some of which are h ve ong been others. per aps mere varieties of the Thus, some of them have the 'u· a c k covered w'th ed, confluent, brownish spots on 11 • I small cloud-pida, Schreb. 86. ( 1) These ~re tla ye ow Ish ground-Pit. Ms-h 1e most common f nort ern ocean. In others . 1 ones o the with undulating lines whichagam t ~e ground is dark, traversed l t N'l ' sometimes form rings Ph l a a, 1 s., Thien em. pl. ix-x" . p 1 1'. • - ·anne- A · 11 ' tt. J oottda, Fabr (2) & species more easily recogni· d · 1 • ' c. p~ se 1s t 1e '· groenlandica, and P. oceanica. ' P· 62; Lepechin, Act. p l I, Eged. Groenl. fig. A, Thieneman, pl. xiv-xxi. (;h:oii ' part I, pl. vi-vii.; spotted with brown when ;rp Seal.) Yellowish grey, Iique black or brown scar/oung, ~ t~rwards marked by an obmale is black • length fi £on eac ank ; the head of the old globe. ' ve eet. From the whole north of the Ph. barbata, Fabr .• Thien em I . . From the North an'd . p • 1-IV. (The Bearded Seal.) st·z e, which is fr'o m surpasses. all the prece dm' g ones in its seven to eight fe t • · . above, with a longitudinal blackish 1" e ' It IS grey; browner cross upon the chanfr. I . me that forms a sort of than the others. m. ts mustachiOs are thicker and stronger Ph. leucopla, Thienem. pl. xiii. (Th Is of a yellowish grey. e White-nailed Seal.) ~h. lagura, Cuv. (The H white and woolly, &c.(3) are-tailed Seal.) Has the tail F STENORHINcus, Fred. Cuv ou • • • . r Incisors above, and fou b I Into three points. r e ow, the molars deeply notched One species only is known d . -Ph. leptonix Bl . s· ' an that IS from the Austral seas yellowish benea,th. am:l Ize of the barbata; greyish above • , na1 s small. ' (1) I suspect we should . (2) It is one of th refer to It the Ph. acopulicola, Thienem pi t®lmrm." ose represented by Fr. Cuv. under th . . v. (3) 1 . e name of "Phoque only Wish to . ed. l'he 1 mentiOn those species which I • • ply til ong catalogues of tile PI consider sufficiently ascertain- em a great deal too much. 1ocre ' recently pub l'I S h e d , seem to me to multi- |