and a second reason may be found in the great size of this species which often measures twenty-five feet long. The reader will now, we trust, admit that the above name is not improperly given. With respect to the epithet proboscida, we need only remark that it signifies" having a trunk," and is therefore descriptive of that singular peculiarity of this seal. The name sea-elephant, sometimes given by the sailors, is not inappropriate; but the epithet in more general use is to be preferred, as it at once suggests to the reader that the creature, however singular, is a seal, which the appellative sea-elephant puts aside. This gigantic phoca inhabits the solitudes of the Southern Ocean, and vast shoals are seen off Kerquelin's Land and Juan Fernandez, whilst the desolation of the Falkland Islands is relieved by the sports of such huge living things. They may be called migratory animals, for they change their latitudes with the seasons, not being able to endure either the greatest heats of summer, or the severest colds of winter.

The following description of these seals is found in the Account of Anson's Voyage round the World, in which work they are called sea-lions. "These amphibious animals continue at sea all the winter, where they reside during the whole season, feeding on the grass and verdure which grow near the banks of the fresh-water streams; and when they are not employed in feeding, sleep in herds in the most miry places. As they are of a very sleepy disposition, and are not easily awakened, it is observed that each herd places some of their males at a distance, in the manner of sentinels, which always give the alarm whenever an attempt is made either to molest or approach them, by making a loud grunting noise like a hog, or snorting like a horse in full vigour. The sailors killed many of them for food, particularly for their tongues and hearts, which were much admired, aud thought preferable to those of bullocks. There was no difficulty in killing them, since they were incapable of either resisting or escaping, their motion being more unwieldy than can be conceived; their blubber, all the time they are moving, is agitated in large waves under the skin; and it is remarkable that they are so full of blood, that on their being deeply wounded in a dozen places, there will instantly gush out as many fountains of blood, spouting to a considerable distance. To try what quantity of blood they contained, the men shot one first, and then cutting its throat and measuring the blood that came from it, found that, besides what remained in the vessels, which was no doubt considerable, they got at least two hogsheads."

These powerful creatures are not easily provoked to attack men, though often hunted in all parts of their ocean-homes. Were their ferocity proportioned to their strength, the most daring hunters would run no ordinary risk in their pursuits of such prey. Sometimes, however, indiscreet men have paid with their lives for their temerity. One of the sailors from a ship in Anson's

Heet was an instance of this. The man having killed a young seal in presence of the mother, was foolish and cruel enough to begin skinning the creature in the sight of its parent. The enraged animal attacked the man, and getting his head in her mouth, scored his skull in notches with her teeth, by which he was so desperately wounded, that, though all possible care was taken to preserve his life, he died in a few days after. This phoca is pursued with a zeal proportioned to the value of its blubber, from which large quantities of oil can be extracted. When the size of the creature is remembered, and also the thickness of the fat, which is ten or twelve inches deep, we cannot be surprised at the anxiety of the hunters to capture such a reservoir of oil. This oil is not only obtained in large quantities from the elephant-seal, but has properties which render it peculiarly valuable, for it usually burns without giving an unpleasant odour, and can be kept a long time without spoiling. The skin is also useful, being made into harness for horses. One seal is therefore no mean item in the calculations of the ship's profits. It has been observed that the sailors have sometimes called it the sea-lion; but this name is more usually given to another species, also known as the sea-bear. In fact, our mariners have been rather indiscriminate in distributing names at random to the seals, by which it happens that the young naturalist is sorely puzzled when reading of elephants, lions, bears, and even hares, as living in the sea.

This last name compels us to notice another variety, called the hare-seal, or phoca leporina. It is not easy to account for the origin of such a name; and the only circumstances deserving notice in respect to the species, are the stratagems resorted to by the Indians to capture their "hare of the sea." These people depend for their winter food upon the flesh of such animals; but to seize the prey is not very easy when the sea is frozen. The necessities of the seal, however, draw it within the power of the natives. It has already been mentioned that seals cannot exist without breathing; and to do this it is necessary for them to rise often to the surface. Breathing holes are kept open in the ice by the seals for inhaling fresh air, and through these they often creep to rest awhile on the ground. The Indian having discovered a seal-hole, lays a plank near the opening, with a rope fastened to one end, and the other extremity of the cord in his hand. Long does the man watch for the moment when the seal quits the water, upon which, drawing the board across the hole, and so preventing the animal from retreating, he rushes upon it with his club, and soon despatches the surprised creature.

Many other varieties of the phocidæ have a claim on the attention of zoologists; but we must now close our survey of this interesting family, trusting that the particulars already narrated will supply the reader with something like a picture of the seal's habits and modes of life.

A BOOK on animals which omitted all mention of the horse would meet with little consideration from the reader, whether, living in the rural districts, he loves the noble hunter, or, dwelling in the metropolis, he admires the huge horses of Barclay. All nations have held the horse in honour from the very earliest ages; the ancient Egyptian rode in the streets of Thebes; the Greek had prizes for his steeds; and the people of Asia made this animal the companion of their children, and the inhabitant of their tents.

There is, indeed, so much of beauty in the form, energy in the action, and intelligence in the expression of the horse, that none can witness so noble a combination of physical qualities without admiration. The tiger and the lion are, no doubt, possessed of properties upon which we cannot gaze with indifference; but we

regard them as foes, as creatures against which we prepare our rifles, or make strong the bars of their dens. But the horse has "friend" written in his eye, and has been the powerful helper of man in all his onward struggles, from theperiod when the sons of Noah brought their work at Babel to a close, and wandered in different directions over the earth. The animal is, therefore, connected with many of the great events which have elevated or trodden down empires. He has pranced over the battle-fields on which mighty dynasties fell from their regal splendours; he has aided in the triumph of a Cæsar, and assisted in the migrations of the Huns under Attila. What great changes have happened without being in some way connected with the horse? Wherever war has altered the condition of nations, there also the horse has been; and wherever peace has extended her civilisation, arts, and luxuries, there too has the animal shared in the prosperity of his

master.

When was the horse first used by men; and who put the first bit in its mouth? These questions cannot be answered; for the horse was tamed before historians wrote, so that the epoch is hidden from view in that gloom which men call the "night of ages." We may perhaps imagine something of the delight with which old father Herodotus' would have written the name of the first horse-rider, had tradition furnished him with such a fact. In vain we look over the records of extinct kingdoms for some intimations of this event, which must certainly be deemed a striking phenomenon in human history. This is rather provoking to a curious mind; for there must have been a first rider; and we should like to read of the feelings produced upon his contemporaries by the act. Such a description would have been as interesting to some as any passage in Homer or Virgil. But if the beginning of the history of the animal, as the servant of man, is concealed, we are not without a few hints respecting the early condition of the horse. No profane writer gives this information; we must go to one inspired, who records the condition of the ancient world. Moses, whilst narrating the history of Joseph, stated that the Egyptians gave their horses in exchange for corn; thus this animal appears to have formed a part of the possessions of the more wealthy Egyptians. As this was about two thousand years before Christ, we can trace the history of the subjected horse for a period of nearly four thousand years from our time. It is not, however, likely, that these horses of the Egyptians had then been recently trained, for they are enumerated without any expressions indicating value or rarity. It is not, therefore, improbable that the animal was reduced to the service of man immediately after the flood. The Egyptians may have been the

1 This earliest of the Grecian historians lived in the fifth century before Christ.

earliest trainers; and their celebrated king Sesostris' is said to have had twenty-four thousand cavalry in his armies. Some will naturally infer from the above remarks, that Egypt is the native region of the horse. This, however, is not the opinion generally held by naturalists, who assign the horse to Central or Northern Asia, rather than Africa, though a few writers do still contend for the latter country. But the probability is, that the horse came to Africa from other regions. As the traveller approaches the East, he finds himself more and more surrounded by horsemen, as the Cossacks, the Tartars, and the Affghans. This seems to prove that, in these regions, the horse multiplies as in its original home; and over the vast plains of Asia troops of these noble creatures prance, fearless of all, and free as the wind.

All horses are classed under the term equide, which includes both these animals and the varieties of the ass. The class is therefore divided into two sections; one called the true horses, and the other comprehending the asses, zebras, and quaggas.

The horse has been for so many ages known to man, that we should have supposed it could not have become the subject of extravagant tales and romance. But the love of the marvellous has prevailed, and we may read some accounts sufficiently puzzling to our modern jockeys. One writer tells us of horses having a horn growing in their foreheads; and in such a tale we see the unicorn of fable, which children yet firmly believe may be found in some distant land. The Italian naturalist Aldrovandus advances still further into the region of romance, informing us of the existence of a horse with a human face; whether he really believed his own account, it is now difficult to prove; but the probability is, that most of his readers beheld, in fancy, these manhorses gallopping over the deserts of the East. One apology must, however, be made for Aldrovandus, that the volume containing this tale was published after his death, and without his corrections; but the editors of his works passed these stories by without criticism; and this proves how little the learned of the 17th century were startled by such narratives. Credulity has sometimes taken the form of superstition, and invested the horse with supernatural qualities. Thus it was formerly believed by the rude tribes of Northern Europe, that certain fiends appropriated the form of this animal for their habitations; and the reader may have met with traces of such a notion in some of the strange tales of demoniac power still current among the peasantry in Ireland; and in the Highlands of Scotland perhaps a similar feeling to this led some of the ancient tribes to worship the figure of this animal. Whether our ancestors, the Saxons, did not adopt the white horse as their symbol from some belief in its supernatural powers, is a question which must suggest itself in this place. To answer it

Some make him a contemporary of Moses; others fix his date at

1350 B.C.