The _Phocæ_[15] are the most numerous class of animals which frequent Spitzbergen, where they are found in vast numbers. Though the specific characters of each particular tribe are distinctly marked, their general resemblance is, upon the whole, so very striking, that the following observations may be applied to them all indiscriminately. In the scale of nature, the Phocæ hold an intermediate station between amphibia and perfect fish; but nearer the latter than the former. The organization of other amphibious animals, such as the beaver, castor, otter, &c. fits them better for living on the land than the water. In this genus the contrary takes place. The arms and legs of the Phocæ, (if we may employ these terms,) are wholly enveloped in the flesh of the animal, the hands and feet being alone protruded; these too are webbed, and are instruments evidently more calculated for swimming than moving on land. [15] Under this general appellation, I include the seal, walrus or morse, dugon, &c. This unaptness of organization is strongly displayed in the painful motion of the animal, which, from the shortness of its legs, has to rest at every step on its belly, until it prepares for a new advance. Its agility, considering these defects, is indeed astonishing, and is certainly the effect of great exertion. The eloquent and ingenious Buffon was of opinion that the Phocæ approached to fish by a still more decisive criterion. “They are the only animals,” says he, “which have the _foramen ovale_ open, and which can therefore live without respiring, and to whom water is as proper and suitable an element as air.” Theoretic views appear to have here led this excellent writer into an error, as it is now well known that the Phocæ cannot remain long in the water without coming to the surface to breathe.