HARD WICKE 'S S CIENCE - G OS SI P. 



amid a profusion of wild flowers, with the blackberry 

 overhanging the rocky ledges, we gathered Athy- 

 rium Filix-famma, Nephrodium Filix-mas, JV. dila- 

 tatum, Aspleniiim Trichomanes, Polypodium vulgare, 

 P. Dryopteris, P. Phegoptei'is,\ and Hymawphylliim 

 Wilsonii. 



Gaining at last the summit of the hill, we roused the 

 red grouse from his bed of heather ; purple tracts of 

 the Ling (Enca cinerta) everywhere met the eye, and 

 in the splashy bogs we found the curious Drosera 

 rotundifolia in full flower, with many an xinwary 

 insect firmly held within its wondrous leaves. 



Empdriaii nigrum we found but sparsely scattered 

 across the moorland, but abundance of Triglochliii 

 palustre in full bloom. 



Arriving at the head of a small burn, we followed 

 its course till we got entangled in a dense copsewood, 

 where the stream precipitates itself down the face of 

 a cliff about thirty feet in height. Scrambling as best 

 we could, we finally emerged into the open fields at 

 the back of the quaint village of Tynron. 



Replenishing the inner man after the fatigues of the 

 day, we next found ourselves on the public road 

 which winds along the base of Auchengibbert and 

 Tynron Doon hills, and then striking into a more open 

 country of wood and brake, of bog and meadow, we 

 left the scenes of our wanderings highly satisfied with 

 our ramble up Scaur. J. Brown. 



Sunderland. 



THE WALRUS OR MORSE. 



{Trichechus Rosmarus, Linn.). 

 By Thos. Southwell, F.Z.S. 



Hon. Sec. Norfolk and Norwich Naturalists' Society. 



OF the many strange forms which the Zoological 

 Society of London has been the means of 

 introducing to the stay-at-home naturalists of this 

 country, certainly not the least interesting is that of 

 the Walrus. It is true that in neither of the instances 

 in which the young animal has been brought alive to 

 the Gardens, has it long survived in its new home; but, 

 short though its residence amongst us, the opportunity 

 has been afforded to many of becoming acquainted 

 with the Arctic stranger in prop?-id persona, instead 

 of through the distorted medium of the badly-stuffed 

 skins, or the equally bad representations of this in- 

 teresting animal, which, until recently, we have 

 possessed. The first recorded appearance of the 

 Walrus in this country was, I believe, in 1624, when, 

 according to Hakluyt's " Pilgrimes," a young one 

 was brought to England by Master Thomas Welden, 

 in the God-speed, and duly presented at Court. 

 In 1853 the Zoological Society became possessed of 

 a young one, which lived only a few days in their 

 Gardens. On the ist of November, 1S67, another was 

 received, which lived till the 19th of December, when 

 it unfortunately died, notwithstanding the care be- 



stowed upon it, both as regards food and accommo- 

 dation. This last was captured by'' the whale-ship 

 Arctic, on the 28th of August, 1867, in lat. 69° N. 

 and long. 64° W., and brought to Dundee, whence 

 it was conveyed by Mr. Bartlett to the Society's 

 Gardens. The captain of the Arctic saw two or 

 three hundred walruses basking upon the ice, and 

 sent out his boats to the attack : amongst the killed 

 was an old female followed by her young one ; the 

 latter was taken on board and eventually brought to 

 England. 



Although now confined to the icy seas of the Arctic 

 circle, the Walrus was probably not uncommon on 

 our shores in times long past. The skull has been 

 found in the peat near Ely, and Hector Boece, in 

 his *' Cronikles of Scotland," mentions it as a regular 

 inhabitant of our shores in the end of the 15th century ; 

 in the present century it has occurred several times, 

 although it must be considered as a very rare straggler, 

 sadly out of its latitude. Wallace says that its fossil 

 remains have been found in Europe as far south as 

 France, and in America probably as far south as 

 Virginia, and it was common in the Gulf of St. 

 Lawrence so late as 1770 (Leith Adams). In recent 

 times it has retreated before its great enemy, man, 

 from the northern coasts of Scandinavia to the circum- 

 polar ice of Asia, America, and Europe, sometimes, 

 but rarely, reaching as far south as lat. 60°. When- 

 ever met with, it is the object of ruthless persecution, 

 and is rapidly and surely becoming exterminated ; 

 but for its ice-loving habits, which render its present 

 strongholds always difficult, and sometimes impossible, 

 of access, it would doubtless long ere this have be- 

 come extinct. 



The family Trichechidie, of which the Walrus 

 ( Trichechus Rosmarus) is the only member, together 

 with the true {Phocidcz) and eared seals (Otai-iida:) 

 constitute a sub-order of the Carnivora, which from 

 the form of their swimming-paws have been named 

 the Puinipedia, or fin-footed. The Trichechus is 

 placed between the true seals and the eared seals, to 

 both of which families it has affinities : it is carni- 

 vorous, feeding on mollusca, fish, and when it can 

 get it, the flesh of whales. Its habits were so well 

 and succinctly described by Captain Cook a hundred 

 years ago, that I cannot do better than quote his own 

 words, the accuracy of which has since been amply 

 confirmed. Whilst in Behring's Straits, in lat. 70° 6' 

 and long. 196° 42', on the 19th of August, 1778, 

 Cook first met with the Walrus : " they lie," he says, 

 " in herds of many hundreds upon the ice, huddling 

 one over the other like swine, and roar or bray very 

 loud ; so that in the night, or in foggy weather, they 

 gave us notice of the vicinity of the ice before we 

 could see it. We never found the whole herd asleep 

 some being always on the watch. These, on the 

 approach of the boat, would wake those next to them, 

 and the alarm being thus gradually communicated, 



the whole herd would awake presently. But they 



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