22 THE GENUS ODOBiENUS. 



publislied in 1873, in wliicb, under the lieading "The Walrus 

 of Bering Sea, (Eosmarus arcticus) " lie says: "I Avrite 'the 

 Walrus of Bering Sca^, because this animal is quite distinct 

 from the Walrus of the l!^orth Atlantic and Greenland, differing 

 from it specifically in a very striking manner, by its greater size 

 and semi-hairless skin."* This is all he says, however, respect- 

 ing their differences, no reference being made to the really dis- 

 tinctive features. Thus the matter rested tUl, in 187G, Gill for- 

 mally recognized two species in his " List of the Principal Use- 

 fal or Injurious Mammals," t in a catalogiie of a " Collection to 

 Illustrate the Animal Eesources of the United States" in the ex- 

 hibit of the National Museum at the International Exhibition 

 of 1876, held in Philadelphia. This is merely a nominal list, in 

 which appears, under " i^osmarid^ce," the following, which I here 

 ftUly and literally transcribe : 



Eosmarus obesl\s, (Illiger,) Gill. 

 The [Atlantic] Walrus. 

 Atlantic Coast. 



EOSJIARUS COOKII, (Fremery,) Gill. 

 TLe [Pacific] Walrus. 

 Pacific Coast. 



Here is simply a nominal recognition of two species without 

 exiDressed reasons therefor. In an article on the EosmaridWj 

 published in 1877, Dr. Gill again says : " Two species apjiear to 

 exist one {R. obesus) inhabiting the northern Atlantic, and the 

 other {R. Cookii) the northern Pacific." % 



Van Beneden, on the other liand, in 1877, distinctly affirms 

 his disbelief in the existence of two species. In referring to the 

 subject he says : " IlTous ne croyons pas que les Morses du de- 

 troit de Behring different specifiquement de ceux de la mer de 

 Baffin on de la Nouvelle-Zemble, et c'est a tout, a notre avis, 

 que Fremery a essaye de les repartir en especes distinctes 

 d'apres les modifications de leurs dents." He further adds the 

 testimony of von Baer as follows : " Von Baer s'est occup6 en 

 1835 de cette question a 1' Academic de St. P^tersbourg et Pil- 

 lustre naturahste m'ecrivait, pen de temps avant sa mort, au 

 sujet de la difference legere des Morses, a I'Est et a I'Ouest de 



* Eeport on the Prybilov Group or Seal Islands of Alaska, 1873 (not paged). 

 Also, Eeport on the Condition of Affairs in Alaska, 1875, p. 160. 



tThis "List" is anonymous, and is hence, perhaps, not properly quotable 

 in this connection, although its authorship is known to the present "nriter. 



t Johnson's New Universal Cyclopaedia, vol. iii, 1877, p. 1725. 



