32 ODOB^ENUS ROSMARUS ATLANTIC WALRUS. 



gives the weight of a " moderate-sized female," but evidently 

 from his account quite young, as 1,550 pounds. Scoresby says : 

 "The Walrus is found on the shores of Spitzbergen twelve to 

 fifteen feet in length and eight to ten in circumference."* Dr. 

 Gilpin gives the weight of a full-grown male as 2,250, while La- 

 inont says a full-grown old male will weigh at least 3,000 

 pounds.t Aside from Dr. Murie's measurements of a young spe- 

 cimen, I have met with no detailed measurements of the Atlan- 

 tic Walrus, except those given by Dr. Gilpin,$ which are as fol- 

 lows: 



Ft. la. 



Extreme length 12 3 



Length of head .... 1 5 



Breadth of muzzle 1 



Distance from nose to eye 8 



Distance between eyes 9 



Extension of tusk beyond the mouth 1 



Distance of tusks apart at base 4 



Distance of tusks apart at tips - 11 



Length of fore-flipper 2 



Breadth of fore-flipper 1 1 



Length of hind-flipper 1 10 



Breadth of hind-flipper, distended 2 6 



Thickness of skin 1 



Thickness of blubber 1 



Weight said to be 22 cwt. 



Fleming gives the length of the Walrus as 15 feet, with a 

 circumference at the shoulders of 10 feet; and the length of the 

 tusks as 20 inches. Hamilton || says an individual killed in Ork- 

 ney, in 1825, which he saw, "was about ten feet in length," with 

 the head 13J inches in length. From the size of the tusks (ex- 

 serted S inches) it appears to have been far from fully grown. 

 Daubenton gives the length of the specimen he described as 

 Hi feet, with a circumference at the shoulders of 8 feet. Lainont 



* Account of the Arct. Reg., vol. i, p. 502. 



tMr. Laniont, in his " Seasons with the Sea-horses" (p. ), gives the 

 weight of an old male as 3,000 pounds, but in his "Yachting in the Arctic 

 Seas" (p. 89), he says, "A full-sized old bull Walrus must weigh at least 

 5,000 Ibs., and such a Walrus, if very fat, will produce 650 Ibs. of blubber, 

 but seldom more than 500 Ibs., Avhich is I think the average amount 

 yielded by the most obese of our victims." He speaks, however, in another 

 place (p. 183), of one that "yielded between 700 and 800 pounds of fat." 

 The weight of the entire animal, as last estimated by Mr. Laniont, is prob- 

 ably much too great. 



t Proc. & Trans. Nova Scotia lust. Nat. Sci., vol. ii, pt. 3, pp. 123, 124. 



$ Hist. Brit. Mam., 1828, p. 18. 



|| British Quad., p. 223. 



