The Descent of Man

far as I can learn, the sexes rarely differ, and
when they do so, it is but slightly in the tint of
the fur.
As I hear from Sir Andrew Smith, the lion in
South Africa sometimes lives with a single female,
but generally with more, and, in one case,
was found with as many as five females; so that
he is polygamous. As far as I can discover, he is
the only polygamist amongst all the terrestrial
Carnivora, and he alone presents well-marked
sexual characters. If, however, we turn to the
marine Carnivora, as we shall hereafter see, the
case is widely different; for many species of
seals offer extraordinary sexual differences, and
they are eminently polygamous. Thus, according
to Peron, the male sea-elephant of the
Southern Ocean always possesses several females,
and the sea-lion of Forster is said to be surrounded
by from twenty to thirty females. In
the North, the male sea-bear of Steller is accompanied
by even a greater number of fema-