182 OUOB^NUS OBESUS PACIFIC WALEUS. 



coast. I liave taken from the paunch of a walrus," he adds, 

 " over a bushel of crushed clams, shells and all, which the animal 

 had but recently swallowed, since digestion had scarcely com- 

 menced. Many of the clams in the stomach were not even 

 broken ;* and it is in digging these shell-fish that the service 

 rendered by the enormous tusks becomes evident."! Mr. W. 

 H. Ball also says, "They feed principally upon shell-fish which 

 they swallow whole, and the shells, which remain after they 

 have digested the contents, are found in large numbers about 

 the localities they frequent."! 



Among the enemies of the Pacific Walrus are not only to be 

 reckoned man, both savage and civilized, but also the Polar 

 Bear and the Orca or "Killer," while, like the Atlantic species, 

 it is said to be greatly infested with parasites. According to 

 Captain Scammou, the Polar Bear, when meeting with a herd 

 in its prowliugs, " selects and seizes one of the smallest indi- 

 viduals with his capacious jaws, and the resisting struggles of 

 the poor victim to free itself are quickly suppressed by repeated 

 blows with Bruin's paws, which cause almost instant death. 

 The murderous beast then quickly tears the skin from the body 

 by means of his long, sharp claws, when the remains are de- 

 voured." That carnivorous Cetacean, the Orca, he continues, 

 "also watches for the young cubs of the Walrus, and if there 

 is floating ice at hand, the mother with her charge clambers 

 upon it to avoid the pursuer ; if this fails, however, the cub will 

 mount the mother's back as the only place of refuge. But the 

 Killer is rarely baffled in obtaining the object it seeks by this 

 mode of the mother's protection, for the pursuing animal dives 

 deeply, and then comes head up under the old Walrus, with 

 such force as to throw the cub from the dam's back into the 

 water, when it is instantly seized and swallowed by its adver- 

 sary. Instances have been known, however, when the Orca 

 has paid dearly for its murderous temerity, as the enraged 

 Walrus, when bereft of her young, will sometimes strike her 

 tusks into her foe with such eflect as to cause a mortal wound 

 or instant death." 



Captain Scammon says the period of gestation is "about nine 



* Compare on this point Maluiyreu's statement that the Atlantic Walrus- 

 rejects the shells, swallowing only the soft parts. See anted, p. 136. 

 t Condition of Affairs in Alaska, p. 162. 

 t Alaska and its Eesonrces, 1S70, p. 504. 

 Marine Mammalia, pp. IK), 181. 



