FUNCTIONS OF THE TUSKS. 137 



Functions of the Tusks. The functions of the tusks have 

 been also a matter of dispute, more especially as to whether they 

 are to any degree organs of locomotion. Eeferences to their use in 

 effecting a landing upon ice-bergs or ujjon ic}" or rocky shores have 

 come down to us from the earliest times, and enter into nearly 

 all the accounts of this animal that have hitherto appeared. Thar 

 they are thus used rests i\])on tlie testimony of a multitude of 

 observers, yet some have claimed that this is not one of their 

 functions. Malmgren states most explicitly that these reports 

 are false, and that the tusks are useful only as weapons, and for 

 the far more imiDortant service of digging up the moUusks, that 

 almost exclusively constitute their food.* Other writers, how- 

 ever, who appear to haA^e had equally as good opjjortunity for 

 observation, refer to the tusks as being of considerable service to 

 the animals in climbing, Cranz says: '^T!ie use the Sea-cow 

 jMakes of these tusks seems to be in j^art to scrape muscles and 

 such kind of shell-fish out of the sand and from the rocks, for these 

 and sea-grass seem to be its only food ; and also to grapple and 

 get along by, for he fastens them in the ice or rocks, and thus 

 draws uj) his unwieldy helpless trunk ; and finally 'tis a weapon 

 of defence both against the white bear on the land and ice, and 

 the sword-fish in the sea."t 



Most of the other early accounts of the Wakus contain simi- 

 lar statements respecting the use of the tusks as locomotive 

 organs, and many later writers also refer to this use of them. 

 Mr. Brown says: "I have seeu it also use them [the tusks] to 



* Says Malmgren : "In Betreff der eigentliclien Bestimmuug der Ziibne 

 "bin ich im Stande die nothige Aufkliirung zu geben. Es liisst sich. niclit 

 "bestreiten, dass dieselben als WajBfen angeTNendet'werden uud als solcbe aucb 

 furcbtbar sind ; dass sie aber aucb als Lokomotionsorgane dienen sollten, 

 ist eine Fabel, und daher der Name Odontoiasnus Steenstr. nicbt passend. 

 Gleicb den Eobben bewegen sicb die Walrosse uur mit Htilfe ibrer Fusse, 

 sowobl auf dem Else als an den saudigen Meeresgestaden, an deneu sie bis- 

 Aveilen binaufsteigen, um zu scblafen, oft zu Huuderten neben einander. 

 Die Bestimmung der Ziibne ist eine ganz andere und fiir die Existenz des 

 Walrosses bei weitem wicbtigere, denn nur niit Hiilfe derselben kann es zu 

 seiner Nabrung kommen. Icb fand, dass das Walross sicb ausscblieslicb 

 von zwei Muscbeln, Mya truncata und Saxicava rugosa, niibrt, welcbe in einer 

 Wassertiefe von 10-50 Faden 3-7 Zoll in dem Bodenlehm eingegraben leben. 

 Um an diese zn kommen, muss das Wali'oss sie aus dem Lebm aufgraben." 

 Ofversigt Vetensl'. AJcad. Forhandl. SiocMolm, 1863, p. 131, as translated in 

 Arcbiv fur Naturgescb., 1864, j). 68. 



t Tbe History of Greenland, etc. , Brethren's Society's English translation, 

 London, 1767, p. 127. 



