M R S E. 



287 



colours intersecting each other, like that of the tusks 

 of the elephant ; it is of uniform texture throughout 

 its internal substance. They have neither incisive 

 nor canine teeth in the lower jaw ; and that jaw is 

 compressed to give scope for the vast canines of the 

 upper, which descend from the sides of the mouth to 

 the distance of fully two feet, and are thick and strong 

 in proportion. The vast sockets required in the upper 

 jaw for supporting those great teeth swell that part 

 out into a large blunt muzzle ; and the nostrils, as if 

 pushed out of the way to make room for the great 

 teeth, are turned upwards. Over the sockets of the 

 canines there are placed two tufts of coarse whale- 

 bone looking hairs, having the form of great musta- 

 choes which spread beyond the sides of the head. 

 The central part of the mouth, the only part which 

 the animal can use in feeding, is much compressed 

 laterally ; and the lower part of the nose, which 

 divides the mustachios from each other, is also very 

 narrow. The shape of the nose is curious, as the 

 extremity of it consists in two loop-like appendage?, 

 having their broad ends uppermost, and each sur- 

 rounding a nostril. The upper jaw contains two 

 incisors, which are very small, and resemble grinding 

 teeth more than cutting ones ; and between these 

 again the young specimens have pointed teeth still 

 smaller, which drop out before they arrive at full 

 maturity. The cheek teeth are four on each side of 

 the upper jaw, which are cylindrical in their sections 

 and obliquely truncated on their crowns. In the 

 adult animal these stand at some distance apart from 

 each other, because in the young there are smaller 

 ones between them which drop out like the small one 

 in front of the canines. In the lower jaw there are 

 only four cheek teeth in each side, which in their 

 forms resemble those in the upper jaw. It does not 

 appear that the canines can be used for conducting 

 the food to the mouth, or preparing it for the stomach ; 

 but it is highly probable that they are very efficient 

 against enemies ; and the animals also use them as 

 hooks in climbing up those steep rocks and masses 

 of ice, the summits of which they could not otherwise 

 reach. The head is rounded ; there are no external 

 ears ; and the body is tapered away in the rear, like 

 that of the seal?. The anterior extremities are de- 

 veloped to pretty nearly the same extent as those of 

 the seals ; and they are used as oars or fins in swim- 

 ming, and as claspers, and partially as a sort of clumsy 

 feet ; but the posterior extremities are so united with 

 the tail that they have very little separate motion. 

 The tail is short, in its developed part ; but as the 

 whole body, from the internal c;i\'ity backwards, acts 

 a good deal after the fashion of a tail, these animals 

 get through the water with more celerity than their 

 appearance would lead one to suppose. The poste- 

 rior part of their bodies indeed has but a I'ecble 

 swimming power compared with that of the whales. 

 It has, however, a little twisting motion of a peculiar 

 kind ; because the extremities of the hind feet are 

 capable of being, partially at least, elevated or de- 

 pressed above the mesial line of the tail ; and thus 

 the sort of sculling blade, formed by the three, can 

 act either horizontally or slightly twisted to the one 

 side or to the other. From the high latitudes to 

 which these animals are chiefly confined, the danger 

 of following them near the rocks where the weather 

 is so very inconstant as it is in the high northern 

 latitudes, even during summer, there is much less 

 known of the habits of these animals than could be 



desired. We do not even know distinctly upon what 

 they feed. The internal portion of the alimentary sys- 

 tem is, as we have said, similar to that of the seals ; 

 and the seals are known to feed exclusively upon fish, 

 and not by any chance upon marine vegetables. It 

 is probable that the principal food of the morses is 

 also animal ; and yet sea-weed is certainly quoted by 

 almost every describer as forming a portion of its 

 subsistence. It is probable, however, that it may 

 only poke among the sea-weed with its long tusks, 

 which can act like a most efficient two-pronged hoe ; 

 and thus it may dislodge from the sea-weed about 

 the rocks those animals upon which it feeds. From 

 the absence of both incisors and canine teeth in the 

 lower jaw, the extreme smallness of the incisors in 

 the upper, and the total unfitness of the canines of 

 that jaw, large and strong as they are, for biting, it is 

 evident that the anterior part of the mouth can serve 

 no purpose, except that of a simply prehensile instru- 

 ment for laying hold of the food ; but the curious 

 cup which the under lip and jaw form when the 

 mouth is opened fit it uncommonly well for such a 

 purpose ; and from the shortness of the head, and 

 the strength of both jaws, together with the form of 

 the cheek teeth, there is no doubt that these could 

 crush very easily the hardest covering found on any 

 of those Crustacea which inhabit the rocks. We are, 

 however, so little acquainted with the actual feeding 

 of the animal, that any conclusions at which we can 

 arrive concerning it are analogies drawn from its 

 external structure rather than facts which have been 

 observed. The animal is confined to the high lati- 

 tudes, and we believe to the northern hemisphere, at 

 all events no mention is made of it in the southern. 

 There have been instances of its occurrence in the 

 extreme north and north-western isles of Scotland ; 

 but they are exceedingly rare, and occur only in 

 severe winters, when the animal is frozen out, or 

 rather in, for a great part of the north. In former 

 times these animals were taken in considerable num- 

 bers upon the shores of the Norwegian seas ; but 

 such is not the case now, and any which appear even 

 there must be regarded as rare stragglers. There 

 has been a gradual declining toward the north of all 

 the more polar inhabitants of the European seas, in 

 the course of modern history ; but whether this is to 

 be mainly attributed to the extent to which they have 

 been captured by the fishers, or to some natural 

 causes, it is not easy to determine. 



There is only one species of morse (Tricheclms 

 7'o-imarus) to which, of course, the general observa- 

 tions which we have made apply, and indeed neces- 

 sarily form a part, of its particular description. In 

 the extreme north, as, for example, at Spilzbergen. 

 which may be said to be the extreme limit of land ir 

 our seas, it is sometimes found about eighteen fee 

 in length, twelve feet in circumference at the thickes 

 part, and with the tusks about two feet. Specimen 

 of this large size are but rare, however ; and sixtee 

 feet long, ten feet girth, and twenty inches length c' 

 tnsks, is reckoned a large animal. A specimet 

 which came on shore on the island of Harris in De- 

 cember, 1817, was about ten feet long, and, as tb 

 tusks were not above eight inches and a half, it ws 

 supposed to be a young one. It was shot while res- 

 ing on the top of a rock. It is probable that it ws 

 more abundant on our shores in ancient times, )r 

 Strabo mentions that ivory bits of British mamifactre 

 were exported to Rome, and it is probable that e 



