SEA-LION OF STELLER. Phoca Jubata.-GMELIN. Otaria Stelleri, Less. Phoca Jubata, Gmel. Desm. Piat. LeoDampiero Leo Marinus, Steller. ninus, F. Cuv. of Steller. 牵 Sea-Lion ACCORDING to Steller, the length of the full-grown Sea-Lion of the North is about fifteen feet, and its weight about sixteen hundred weight. The males have stiff and crisp curled hair about the neck, of which the females and young are destitute. The females are shorter and more slender than the males. The hide is very thick, and covered with coarse strong hair of a reddish colour like that of many cows, which gets paler in the aged, and is of a deeper hue in the young; in the females it has a bright ochre tint, and * Nov. Comment. Acad. Scient. Petropol. t. ii. ad annum 1749. is sometimes of a chesnut colour in the young. The head is large; the nose stretched out, and somewhat turned upwards; the eyes are very large, having the inner angle stained, as it were, with cinnabar from the size of the caruncle; the bright pupil sparkles of a green colour, and the rest of the eye is white like ivory; the eye-brows are bushy; the external ears conical, upright, large, and distinct. That which especially, in addition to the colour and size of the animal, entitles it to the name of Sea-Lion, is its mane of erect and undulating hair, which augments its apparent size, and greatly increases its beauty of form, like that which is seen in the king of beasts. In the upper jaw there are six incisors; four of these have double or twin summits, or are bifurcated; then succeeds one, canine-shaped on each side, more than an inch long, very sharp, and curved inwards; then there are the true canines, twice as long as the last, and very sharp; then six molars, shaped like canines, with a small heal before and behind; they are almost two-thirds of an inch long. The formulary is 2.1.5=36. The shape is exhibited on p. 236. 3.1.6. This Sea-Lion inhabits the eastern shores of Kamskatka and the Kurile Islands, and as far as Matsmai, where Captain Spunberg observed a certain island of the most picturesque form, bordered with rocks resembling.buildings, and swarming with these creatures, to which he gave the name of the Palace of Sea-Lions. They abound in Behring's Island in the autumn, whither they resort for the bringing forth of their young. Steller also saw them in abundance on the coasts of America in July. They are not so migratory as some other species, but still have their summer and winter quarters. They live chiefly on rocky shores, and desert rocks of the ocean, on which they climb, and their roaring is said to be useful in the foggy weather of those regions, by warning navigators to avoid destruction. Though the males have a terrible aspect, yet they take flight on the first appearance of man; and if surprised in their sleep, they are panic-struck, sighing deeply, and in their attempt to escape, get quite confused, tumble down, and tremble so much, that they are scarcely able to move their limbs. If, how ever, reduced to extremity, they grow desperate, turn on their enemy with great fury and noise, and put even the most valiant to flight. On this account the Kamskatkans never attack them in the open sea, nor without many precautions on land. They usually watch their opportunity to find one asleep, when the most courageous amongst them strikes their harpoon into the creature, and takes to his heels as fast as he can; his comrades then fasten the line attached to the harpoon to a strong stake, and its flight thus arrested, they shoot at it with arrows, and dart their lances, until being nearly overcome, they venture in and despatch it with their clubs. They often also employ poisoned arrows with effect. It is at the same time true that many of the natives of those regions, from the great size and power of these animals, attach a kind of glory to the destruction of a Sea-Lion, and that some of them will hunt it, at great peril to themselves, for many successive days, by sea and land, without any other compass than the stary heaven. Though these animals are naturally savage and brutal, yet in the long-run they become familiar with man. Thus Steller tells us that he lived for six days in a hovel in the very midst of them, and they soon became intimate. They observed what he was doing with great calmness, laid themselves down close beside him, and would suffer him to seize their cubs. He had thus an excellent opportunity of studying their habits, and once saw one which had been robbed of its mate fight with the whole herd for three days, and escape at last with more than a hundred wounds. They allowed the whelps of other Seals to sport near them without offering them the least injury. The old showed but little affection for their young ones, and sometimes, through mere carelessness, would tread them to death; they also suffered them to be killed before their eyes without any concern or resentment. The cubs, too, on land are not sportive like those of some other species, but are almost always asleep. They are taken to sea when somewhat advanced: when wearied they mount on their mother's back, whence the male often pushes them to accustom them to the exercise. The males treat the females with great respect, and often caress them. They are polygamous, but usually satisfy themselves with from two to four females a piece. The older ones bellow like bulls, the younger bleat like sheep. |