EXTERNAL CHARACTERS. 



153 



size and lengtli, next to the long tusks, one of the most striking 

 features of the physiognomy. In Cook's and Elliott's iigures of 

 the Pacific species, how- 

 ever, they are by no means 

 a prominent feature, and 

 there are no such allusions 

 to the formidable aspect 

 they give to the facial ex- 

 pression as are commonly 

 met with in the accounts 

 of the Atlantic species. A 

 direct comparison of speci- 

 mens of corresponding ages 

 shows them to be much 

 shorter than in the Atlan- 

 tic Walrus. 



The eyes of the Atlantic 

 Walrus are described as 

 fiery red, one writer com- 

 paring them to glowing- 

 coals. Mr. Elliott refers to 

 those of the Pacific species 

 as having the sclerotic coat 

 *'of a dirty, mottled coffee- 

 yellow and brown, with 

 an occasional admixture of 

 white ; the iris light-brown, 

 with dark-brown rays and 

 spots " ; and in no case have 

 I seen any reference to 

 their being " red." While 

 most writers who have de- 

 scribed the Atlantic Wal- 

 rus from life refer to the 

 redness of the eyes as a 

 remarkable and striking- 

 feature, Cook, Scammon, 

 and others (Mr. Elliott ex- 

 cepted) make no reference to the color of the eyes, which would 

 hardly have escaped them had they possessed the redness char- 

 acteristic of the Atlantic species. 



Mr. Elliott further describes the eyes as small, but prominent, 

 ^^ protruding from their sockets like those of a lobster," and 



Odohcenns ohesus. 



