THE MORSE. 129 
The Arctic Walrus forms the nearest approach to the seals in 
the scale of creation, and is likewise better adapted for a marine 
life than for existence on dry land. 
But he is completely without fore- 
teeth, and his grinders have a broad 
furrowed crown, like those of the 
herbivorous animals. This differ- 
ence of dentition points to a dif- 
ferent food, and while the phoce 
are such voracious fish-eaters that 
Sir James Ross found no less than 
twenty-eight pounds of undigested fish in the stomach of a 
southern seal, the walrus- principally lives on sea-weeds and 
molluscs. The Arctic walrus or sea-horse (7'richechus rosmarus) 
is one of the largest mammals known, as he sometimes grows 
to the length of eighteen feet, and so thick as to measure twelve 
feet about the middle of the body. His form is very clumsy, 
having a small head, a strong elongated neck, a thick body, and 
short legs, the hind feet uniting to a broad fin. With such a 
form, no one can wonder at the clumsiness of its movements on 
land. Admiral Beechey describes the gallop of a sea-horse as 
probably the most awkward motion exhibited by the animal 
tribe, for, like a large caterpillar, the unwieldly creature alter- 
nately lowers and raises its head, in order to facilitate the 
bringing up of the hinder parts of the body; —no easy task, 
when we consider the immense weight of the animal, and the 
great disproportion between the length of its body and its legs. 
The upper lip, which is very thick, 
and indented or cleft into two large 
rounded lobes, furnished with thick 
yellow bristles, contributes also but 
little to its external beauty. From 
under this formidable-looking infla- 
tion protrude two large and long 
tusks, growing, like those of the ele- 
phant, from the upper jaw, but bent 
downwards, not outward and up- Skull and Head of Walrus. 
wards, as is the case with the latter. 
Their uses are also very different, for while the elephant employs 
his tusks in digging up roots, the walrus raises by their assistance 
Walrus, or Morse. 
