T 



16 THE GENUS ODOB^NUS. 



equivalent to tlie Cefe of Liiine (Syst. Xat., ed. x, 1758). Linue 

 in 1758, first introduced Artedi's genus Triehechu.Sj at wLicli 

 time he placed in it only tlie Manatee, Dugong, and Steller's 

 Sea Cow, leaving the Walruses still in Phoca. His diagnosis 

 of the genus* embraced none of the distinctive characters of 

 the Walrus. In 1766 (12th ed., Syst. :^^at.), he transferred the 

 Wakus from Phoca to Triclieclms^ making it the first species 

 of the genus. The diagnosis, though slightly changed ver- 

 bally, has still little, if any, reference to the chaiactei'S of the 

 Walruses, unless it be the phrase " Laniarii superiores solitarii,"t 

 which is equally applicable to the Dugong, and is not at all the 

 equivalent of "Phoca dentibus canines exsertis, " previously 

 ascribed to the Walrus in former editions, Avhen the Walrusesv 

 were i^laced under Phoca. Hence, to whatever the generic 

 name Trichechus may be referable, it certainly is not peitinent 

 to the Walrus. This being settled, the question arises, What 

 generic name is of unquestionable applicability to the Walruses f 

 Here the real difficulty in the case begins, for authors who 

 admit the inapplicability of Trichechus to this group are not 

 agreed as to what shaU be substituted for it. Scandinavian 

 writers, as Mahngreu (1864) and LiUjeborg (1874), and Peters 

 (1864) among German authorities, have for some yeais employed 

 Odoham^is, a name apparently originating with Liune (as Odohe- 

 nus) in 1735, and adopted in a generic sense by Brisson in 1756. 

 A modified form of it [Odontohwnus) was also employed by Sun- 

 devall in 1859. Gill, in 1866, and other recent American writers, 

 have brought into some prominence the name BosmaruSj first 

 used in a generic sense by Klein in 1751, by Scopoli in 1777, by 

 Pallas I in 1831, andby Lamont in 1861; while the great mass 

 of English and Continental ^uaiters stiU cling to Trichechus. 



The genera Odohenotherium and Trichechodon, based on fossil 

 remains of the Walrus, have also been recently introduced into 

 the literature of the subject, the former by Gratioletin 1858, and 

 the latter by Lankester in 1865 ; but these (especially the first) 



*"Dentes primores nulla., laniarii superiores solitarii, inolares ex osse 

 rugoso utrinquc inferius duo. Labia gemiata. Pedes posteriores coadunati 

 in pinnam." Syst. Xat, ed. x, i, 1758, p. 34. 



tThe second diagnosis of TrichecJms is, in full, as follows: "Dentes primo- 

 res nulli utrinque. Laniarii superiores soUtarii. Molares ex osse rugoso 

 utrinque ; inferius duo. Labia gcniinata. Pedes posteriores compedes co- 

 adunati in pinnam." Syst. Xat., ed. xii, 17G6, i, i). 48. 



tZool. Eosso-Asiat., vol. i, 269. 



Seasons with the Sea-horses, pp. 141, 167. 



