6oo CARNIVORA 



158th meridians. In Europe occasional stragglers have reached 

 the British Isles, and it was formerly abundant on the coasts of 

 Finmark. It is rare in Iceland, but Spitzbergen, Nova Zembla, and 

 the western part of the north coast of Siberia are still constant 

 places of resort, in all of which a regular war of extermination is 

 carried on. The North Pacific, including both sides of Behring's 

 Strait, northern Kamschatka, Alaska, and the Pribyloff Islands, are 

 also the haunts of numerous Walruses, which are isolated from 

 those of the North Atlantic by the long stretches of coast, both 

 of Siberia and North America, where they do not occur. The 

 Pacific Walrus appears to be as large as, if not larger than, that of 

 the Atlantic ; its tusks are longer and more slender, and curved 

 inwards ; the whiskers are smaller, and the muzzle (of the skull) 

 relatively deeper and broader. These and certain other minor 

 differences have induced some naturalists to consider it specifically 

 distinct under the name of Trichechus obesus. Its habits appear to 

 be quite similar to those of the Atlantic form. Though formerly 

 found in immense herds, it is rapidly becoming scarce, as the 

 methods of destruction used by the American whalers, who have 

 systematically entered upon its pursuit, are far more certain and 

 deadly than those of the native Tchuktchis, to whom, as mentioned 

 before, the Walrus long afforded the principal means of subsistence. 

 Fossil remains of Walruses and closely allied animals have been 

 found in the United States, and in England, Belgium, and France, 

 in deposits of Pliocene age. 



Family PHOCID^E. 



The true Seals are the most completely adapted for aquatic life 

 of all the Pinnipeds. When on land the hind limbs are extended 

 behind them and take no part in progression, which is effected by 

 a series of jumping movements produced by the muscles of the 

 trunk, in some species aided by the fore limbs only. The palms 

 and soles of the feet are hairy. There is no pinna to the ear, and 

 no scrotum, the testes being abdominal. The upper incisors have 

 simple, pointed crowns, and vary in number in the different groups. 

 All the forms have well-developed canines and 4 teeth of the cheek- 

 series. In those species of which the milk-dentition is known, 

 there are three milk molars (Fig. 275), which precede the second, 

 third, and fourth permanent molars; the dentition is therefore p -\, 

 m y, the first premolar having as usual no milk-predecessor. The 

 skull has no postorbital process and no alisphenoid canal ; and the 

 angle of the mandible is not inflected. The fur is stiff and 

 adpressed, without woolly under fur. 



Subfamily Phoeinae. Incisors f. All the feet with five well- 

 developed claws. The toes on the hind feet subequal, the first and 



