FAUNA AMERICANA. 115 



wards ; hair very rare upon the body, short and 

 reddish. 



Dimensions. Total length, eleven feet ; of the 

 tail, four inches ; of the fore feet, one foot seven 

 inches ; hind feet one foot one inch ; of the tusk 

 out of the mouth, eleven inches. 



Note. — The Morse attains to eighteen feet in 

 length, and from ten to twelve in circumference. 



Description. Head of moderate size relative to 

 the body, rounded, obtuse; maxillary bone and an- 

 terior part of the head very much swollen ; tusks 

 in some individuals two feet long, rather converg- 

 ing; eyes small, brilliant ; orifices of the ears situ- 

 ated far back ; body thickest at the breast, taper- 

 ing to the tail, which is comparatively longer than 

 in the seal ; neck short ; skin very thick, mucous 

 blackish, with some scattered, short, stiff, red- 

 dish or brownish hairs, more obvious on the legs ; 

 posterior feet very broad ; four ventral mammae ; 

 penis of the male very long and thin. 



Habit. Very similar to that of the seal, living 

 in troops composed of a hundred individuals; fe- 

 males bringing forth in winter on the ice or land, 

 one at a time, which at birth is as large as a pig 

 a year old. 



Inhabit the northern Atlantic, where they 

 abound, and the Polar Regions of the Pacific ocean; 

 at present but one species is known. These 



