104 WALRUS, CT ?EA-HORSB. 



eyes are small and brilliant; there are no external 

 ears, and the orifice is placed far back on the head ; 

 the nostrils are large, somewhat round, and placed 

 on the upper part of the snout. The most remark- 

 able feature, however, in its countenance is its great 

 muzzle, produced by the bony structure being ac- 

 commodated for the reception of the tusks ; these 

 project from eighteen inches to two feet, and di- 

 verge at their points. The lips are remarkably 

 thick, and are covered with great pellucid bristles 

 as big as a straw. The neck is short ; the body, 

 very bulky, is broadest round the chest, and dimi- 

 nishes towards the tail, which is very short. As a 

 defence against the extreme cold, these animals have 

 a hide that is from an inch to two inches thick, 

 covered with close hair; and they likewise pos- 

 sess, like the Whale tribe, a coating of oily fat, 

 with which their bodies are completely enveloped. 

 Thus incased, they descend to the depths of the 

 Arctic Seas, and repose upon their icy beds with- 

 out inconvenience. The colour, according to Fa- 

 bricius, varies with the age ; the young are black ; 

 they then become brown, and gradually more and 

 more pale, till in old age they become quite white. 

 Their limbs are short, and of an intermediate cha- 

 racter between fins and legs ; the inside of their 

 paws are defended by a rough horny kind of coat- 

 ing, a quarter of an inch thick, which is probably 

 produced by the hardening of the skin in conse- 

 quence of the coarse usage they receive in climbing 

 over the ice and rocks. The fore-paws, which are 



