THE SEA-LION 295 



on the contrary, from the sea-lions by not having any 

 external ears. 



But it diverges from both these groups in that its 

 teeth are all small, simple, one-rooted, and with flat 

 crowns except the two upper eye-teeth, which are 

 developed into immense tusks that descend a long 

 distance below the lower jaw. The head is round, with 

 a very short and broad muzzle furnished with stiff 

 bristles. The eyes are rather small. The tail is very 

 rudimentary. The fore-feet have toes of nearly equal 

 length, each with a minute flattened nail. The hind 

 feet have the fifth toe slightly the longest, and it and the 

 great toe bear minute flattened nails. The nails of the 

 other three toes are long and pointed. The toes of the 

 hind foot are furnished at their ends with processes of 

 skin as in the sea-lions. 



The walrus is a very heavy bulky animal, which is 

 especially thick about the shoulders, and measures eleven 

 feet from the snout to the end of the tail. The body is 

 covered with short, yellowish-brown hair, but this may 

 become very scanty or almost entirely disappear with 

 age. 



One of the earlier accounts of this animal relates how 

 some two hundred walruses were met with by William 

 Barents, a Dutch navigator, in 1594, lying on the shore 

 of Gray Island. It was, however, mentioned by Albertus 

 Magnus in the i3th century, and it was figured in 

 1568. 



The tusks, which are stronger in the male than in the 

 female, are formidable weapons of about a foot and a half 

 in length when fully developed, if not two or three inches 

 longer. They are most powerful means of defence 

 against Polar bears, or any other enemies which can be 

 reached at close quarters. It is often said that they 



