true sea-lion of the south. If so much uncertainty prevails
with respect to some of the largest Phocee of bur northern
hemisphere, its is probable, as M. M. Peron and Le Suettr
have observed, that still greater errors are involved in the
history of the innumerable marine animals which inhabit all
the regions o f the Antarctic ocean. “ How can we admit
these improbable instances of identity ini species which are
registered in so many works ? Observed even to the present
day almost exclusively by men who are strangers to all the
principles of science, incapable of making the comparisons
and distinctions which it exacts; the majority of these animals
are so little known, that it is- impossible to determine
any thing with respect to their species.” The same writers
conclude by declaring, that among those tribes which they
have been able to examine with their own eyes, or with regard
to which they have obtained accurate information \ from*
others; there is not a single animal belonging, to the marine
amphibia! of the antarctic region, which is not distinguished
by specific characters from analogous tribes in the northern
seas.
The dispersion of the Phoeaceous tribes has been more
recently investigated by M. Lesson. / “ These native inhabi-
tants of the sea are nowhere more abundant, nowhere united
in more numerous herds than upon the coasts of lands smitten
with death, or enveloped in the ices of the pole. Here, indeed,
have their savage tribes preferred to remain for ages,
and here the number is continually increased by the destructive
disposition of man, which incessantly pursues them, and
drives them from milder climates.”
The Atlantic ocean, as well- as the Mediterranean and Caspian
seas, the Indian ocean and the Red sea, the equatorial,
as well as the arctic and antarctic oceans, are nurseries of
seals : nevertheless we can confidently lay; it down as an undoubted
truth, that the Phocaceae which live under the equa-
tor and between the two tropics, are merely isolated or solitary
tribes, rarely united even in small companies; and that
those which live round the north pole, or upon the boundaries
of the south pole, unite in great herds, or form innumerable
legions. Some travellers have likewise pretended,
th a t the pbocaceæ are found in the fresh waters of the lake
Baëkal.* ^ph'dfc a fadT’requires strict examination before it
can Me*e&tâblished7 ~^Some naturalists worthy of credit, and
among ethers M. P^rf||^have remarked, that it was easy to
mistake ot«ters>ffor jphoCaceæ ; andUtë' is: very probable that
this error has beënfèbmmîtt’édi - It has been for a lotig time
believed—and this mistake is of greater importance since it
has contributed1 to confound oùT nomenclature—that certain
species of phoeæ exist- indifferently either hemisphere ;
framed in Conformity with thisvidfela^thes descriptions of SteMCf
and Fabtficius have- been -madCt©« agree with those.pf Forster,
Dampier^ aiidr-pthers. -Pérou has first pronounced
stronglyf'4gains<t this opinion, amL we fully coincidewifclt€iim.
In.-fact, large animals, and^the phoeæ amongwôthers, h â v ^
bounds which they^sfldomr -pass-. * The marine elephant, for
ft^ample, has never «found in thé« northern* hénÿisphéfé*,,
nor has-onte' of the phoeæ "of th é' north been obsfetyèd in-tfrê
south; and-if the sëâ-lion, bear,«, and^sea-cat'pf KrakehUjlil,,
kow and Steiter - are • looked upon ? as synonymous with thé
animals' s1© termed: by Pehiéfty and Forster, the name which
so improperly .«unites théîaaÿ and whifcli is agjfven by naviga^iè
without reflection to all amphibious ’animals; has had MprftJ
share in this^thfin-any resémblance or analogy ofTqrmv” ■
b--Adopting thus the views of Peron, which npj« êxaMit*,
pie invalidaWs;-wffiîey:én the other hand, every Observation
teems ’to strengthen them, we shall* find that the ptfet&g,
may be distributed geographically into three ; grouper j^first,
Atlantic phoeæ of the north pole-; secondly, Arctic phoeæ o f
the Pacific Ocean ; thirdly, Antarctic phocæ.f 1
M. Péron Was not less decided in pronouncing the entire
diversity of thei | cetaceæ inhabiting the1 northern and the
southern oceaUs. He considers it to be entirely by mistake4:
th a t the Balæna Mysticetus* was supposed to swim around
Spitzbergen, as well as in the seas of the antarctic pole. On
this subject M. Lesson has expressed a different opinion*.
He admits the conclusion of M. Péron as almost universally **
* Krakenninikow’s “ Travels in Siberia and to Kanitschatka.”
t Lesson, ubi supra, p. 373.
F