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ARTICLE

By Dr. J. A. ALLEN.

Curator of the American Museum of Natural History.

INTRODUCTION.

naturalist, etc., and

ural History, etc.

Experience.

The following paper has been prepared at the request of the Secretary of State of the United States by Dr. J. A. Allen, by profession a naturalist and a specialist in mammal- Dr. J. A. Allen, ogy and ornithology, and at present and for the last curator in the Ameriseven years curator of these departments in the American Museum of Natican Museum of Natural History, in New York City; formery for many years curator at the Agassiz Museum of Comparative Zoology, at Cambridge, Mass. Dr. Allen has given special attention to the study of the pinnipedia, or seal tribe, for twenty-five years. In 1870 he published a paper on the fur-seals and sea-lions of the north west coast of North America entitled "On the Eared Seals (Otariida), with Detailed Descriptions of the North Pacific Species," etc. (Bull. Mus. Comp. Zoöl., II, pp. 1-108, Pll. I-III, Aug., 1870), and in 1880 a monograph of the North American Pinnipedia entitled "History of North American Pinnipeds; a Monograph of the Walruses, Sea-Lions, Sea-Bears, and Seals of North America" (8°, pp i-xvi, 1-785, 1880, forming Vol. XII of the Miscel. Publ. of the Hayden U. S. Geolg. Survey), and in 1887 a paper on "The West Indian Seal (Monachus tropicalis)," (Bull. Am. Mus. Nat. History, II, pp. 1-34, PII. I-IV, April, 1887).

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PART I.

A SYNOPSIS OF THE PINNIPEDS, OR SEALS AND WALRUSES, IN RELATION TO THEIR COMMERCIAL HISTORY AND PRODUCTS.

Common Seal, Eared Seal, and Walrus.

Ancestors of.

The common seals, the eared-seals, and the walruses form a wellmarked group of the carnivorous mammalia, constituting a suborder (Pinnipedia) of the order Carnivora. They are carnivores, especially modified for aquatic locomotion and semi-aquatic life. Their ancestors were doubtless land animals, probably more nearly allied to the bears than to any other existing mammals. They are still dependent on the land or on fields of ice for a resting place, to which they necessarily resort to bring forth their young. They are thus very unlike the sea-cows and the whale tribe, which are strictly aquatic, bringing forth their young in the water, and entirely unfitted for locomotion on land.

Dependence on the

land.

Belong to tribe of

points of struc

Differ notably from

The great tribe of Pinnipeds is divisible into three quite distinct minor groups termed families, namely, the walruses (family Odobenida), the eared-seals (family Otariida), Pinnipeds. and the common or earless seals (family Phocida). These groups differ notably from each other in many ture. The walruses agree with the eared-seals in the structure of the hind limbs, being able to turn the from each other. hind feet forward under the body, which are thus to some degree serviceable as locomotive or gans on land, and enable them to progress by a clumsy and much const rained method of walking. In the true or earless-seals, on the other hand, the hind limbs can not be turned forward, and thus on land can take no part in locomotion; they remain permanently extended in a line parallel to the axis of the body. This diversity in the structure and function of the hind limbs involves more or less modification of the entire skeleton. It is also reflected in the whole manner of life in the two groups. Aside from this, there are other important structural differences, affecting especially the skull and dentition.

The following synopsis of the 1 list of the species. ibution, habits,

Pinnipedia is intended to present a brief statement of

rcial uses.

Synopsis of Pinni pedia.

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