CARNIVORA : PHOCID^E. 



43 



ROSMARID.E, OR WALRUS FAMILY. This Family is 

 characterized by a very robust body, by the absence of 

 external ears, and by canine teeth in the upper jaw, which 

 are enormously developed, forming large tusks. It con- 

 tains only the Genus Rosmarus. 



Fig- 39- 



iM\\\'irw '-in 1 " 1 



Walrus, R. ofosus, Gill. 



The Walrus, R. obestis, Gill, of the Arctic Seas, is of 

 the size of the largest ox, and attains the length of twenty 

 feet, and is covered with short brown hair. 



PHOCID.E, OR COMMON SEAL FAMILY. This Family 

 includes all seals which are comparatively long and slender, 



and which have the external ears obsolescent, the anterior legs smaller than the posterior, 

 and the anterior and posterior feet provided with claws. The Phocidae include some genera 

 in which the incisors are -|- ; others in which they are ^ ; and others in which they are ^- 

 The canines are normally developed, and the molars are generally gZf- This family com- 

 prises about a dozen genera. 



The Genus Phoca, as already stated, is the one in 

 which Linnaeus included all the seals. It now includes 

 only those which have the incisors - curved, conical, and 

 small, the skull de- 

 clining at the nasal 

 region, and the mo- 

 lars, except the first, 

 with two roots. 



The Common 

 Seal, Phoca vitulina, Seal) p - vitulina < Linn> 



Linnaeus, abundant from Greenland to New York, is from 

 three to five feet Ions:. 



Fisr. 40. 



