140 ODOBiENUS EOSMARUS ATLANTIC WALEUS. 



DojMESTiCATiON. The Walrus possesses a high degree of 

 cerebral development, and seems to be easily susceptible of 

 domestication. It appears, however, to be difficult to keep 

 alive in confinement, especially when taken far south of its 

 natural home. Doubtless the long period occupied in its trans- 

 ]3ortation from the Arctic regions to the zoological gardens of 

 European cities, during which time it is necessarily subject to 

 very imnatural conditions and unsuitable food, does much 

 toward reducing it to a greatly enfeebled state before it reaches 

 European ports. It appears, however, that three specimens 

 have at different times reached England, while two at least 

 have been taken to Holland and one to St. Petersburg. In each 

 case they were quite young animals, probably less than a year 

 old. The first specimen seen alive in England reached London 

 August 20, 1608. The account of the capture of this specimen 

 and of its arrival in Loudon is thus detailed by Piu'chas. It was 

 brought in the shij) " God-speed," commanded by Thomas Wel- 

 den, on its return from a voyage to Cherie (now Bear) Island. 

 The account says : " On the twelfth [of July, 1608,] we took into 

 our shij) two young Morses, male and female, alive : the female 

 died before we came into England : the male lived about ten 

 weeks. When wee had watered, we set sayle for England about 

 foure of the clock in the morning. . . . The twentieth of 

 August, wee arrived at London^ and having dispatched some pri- 

 vate business, we brought our living Morse to the Court, where 

 the king and many honourable personages beheld it with ad- 

 miration for the strangenesse of the same, the like whereof had 

 never before been scene alive in England. I^ot long after it 

 fell sicke and died. As the beast in shape is very strange, 

 so is it of strange docilitie and apt to be taught, as by good 

 exjierience we often j)roved."* It hence appears that this sjie- 

 cimen lived for only about three weeks after its arrival in Lon- 

 don. 



Another is reported to have been exhibited alive in Hol- 

 land in 1612. This specimen was secured with its mother, which 

 died on the voyage to Holland, but its skin was preserved and 

 stuffed, the two forming the originals of Gerard's famous draw- 

 ing ah'eady noticed. Von Baer,t however, raises the question 

 whether the London and Holland specimens were not really the 



*Purc]ias Ms Pilgrimes, etc., 1624, vol. iii, p. 560. 

 tLoc. cit.. p. 131. 



