EXTERNAL CHARACTERS. 37 



wenigstens kampfen sie so lange, bis sie todt zur Erde nieder- 

 fallen."* 



Another account of the Walrus, from its being one of the 

 earliest extant, is also of especial interest in the present con- 

 nection. Though repeatedly copied, in part or wholly, by the 

 earlier authors, and also by von Baer, I think it deserving of 

 reproduction here. It was written by Prof. A. E. Yorst, and was 

 based on the young specimen taken to Holland in 1613. It is 

 here copied from De Laet (Descrip. Indise Occident.), by whom it 

 was published in 1633 : 



" Belluam hanc marinam vidi, magnitudine vituli, aut canis 

 Britannici majoris, Phocse non dissimilem ; capite rotundo, ocu- 

 lis bovillis, naribus depressis ac patulis, quos modo contrahe- 

 bat, modo diducebat, aurium loco utrinque foramina; rictus 

 oris rotundo nee ita vasto, superiori parte aut labro mystaca 

 gestabat setis cartilagineis, crassis ac rigidis constantem. Infe- 

 rior maxilla trigona erat, lingua crassa brevisque, atque os interius 

 dentibus planis utrimque munitum, pedibus anterioribus posteri- 

 oribusque latis, atque extrema corporis parte Phocam nostratem 

 plane referebat. Pedes anteriores antrorsum, posteriores retror- 

 sum spectabant cum ingrederetur. Digiti quinque membrana in- 

 tersepiente distincti, eaque crassa, posterioribus digitis ungues 

 impositi, non prioribus, cauda plane carebat. Postica parte 

 repebat magis quam incedebat. Cute crassa, coreacea, pilisque 

 brevibus ac tenuisibus obsita vestiebatur, colore cinereo. Grun- 

 nitum apri instar edebat, seu crocitabat voce gravi et valida. 

 Eepebat per aream extra aquam, quotidie per semihoram aut 

 amph'us dolio aqua pleno immittebant, ut se ibi oblectaret. Ca- 

 tulus erat, ut ferebant qiii attulerant ex nova Zembla, decem 

 hebdomadarum, dentes seu cornua exerta, ut adultiores, non- 

 duni habens, tu^ercula tamen in superiori labro percipieban- 

 tur, unde brevi proditura facile apparebat. Ferum et validum 

 animal calebat ad tactum, validique per nares spiribat. Pul- 

 mentarium ex avena miliove comedebat lente et suctu magis, 

 quam deglutiendo, herumque gestantem cibum ac offerentem 

 magno nisu ac grunnitu accedebat, sequebaturque, nidore ejus 

 allectus. Lardum ejus gustantibus haud insuave visum est. 



* Herrn Hans Egede, Missionars und Bischofes in Gronland, Beschreibung 

 und Natur-Geschiclite von Gronland, ubersetzet von D. Joh. Ge. Kriinitz. 

 Mit Kupiem. Berlin, verlegts August Mylius, 1763. pp. 106-108. Since 

 transcribing the above I have met with an early (1768) English translation 

 of this work, in which an English rendering of the above description may 

 be found at p. 125. 



