84 Proceedings of the Royal Physical Society. 



bottom; thus, this one whaler must have killed at least fifteen 

 hundred to two thousand walruses for the five hundred skins 

 taken on board. How many young perished, having their 

 mothers killed whilst suckling, it is difficult to estimate. 

 But if Franz Josef Land waters are to be hunted for walrus, 

 then the sooner the protective measures are taken by some 

 country the better, or else the walrus will, before long, become 

 an animal of the past. 



The walrus has often been described as ungainly and 



unshapely, and this is true of dead animals and museum 



specimens ; but there is no more magnificent animal when 



suddenly, with a blast, he throws his enormous head above 



the water, and, with his small, blood-shot eyes and great 



white tusks, bids defiance to all as he gives vent to a gruff 



resounding bark. The bulls are careful of their cows, but it 



is most striking to see an old cow throwing her flipper round 



her calf when danger is at hand. I have seen a wounded 



cow, instead of hurrying away before she should get another 



bullet, seize hold of her calf in this way, and endeavour to 



take it away out of reach of harm. Another striking feature 



of maternal affection in these animals is shown when a calf 



is left motherless, another cow will take care of that calf. 



I have seen this on two or three occasions. Very few old 



bulls were found among the walrus during the summer 



months at or about Cape Flora, nearly all were females, and 



most of them in July and August were attended with young. 



They herded together, and I have seen a closely packed herd 



of forty or fifty of these females come up to the ship, each 



with a cub upon its back. I found the usual food in the 



stomachs of those I examined to be Priapulus caudatus, and 



remains of Lamellibranchs and Gasteropods, an occasional 



Amphipod, and small stones, but never any shells, the 



molluscs evidently being shelled before being swallowed.^ 



The following eleven mammals are those which have been 

 seen or captured alive, or whose remains have been found in 

 Franz Josef Land. Of these, perhaps only eight can strictly 



1 Since writing this I have been on another voyage to the Arctic, and have 

 found Lamellibranch shells in the stomachs and intestines of walrus, even 

 down to the rectum. 



