THE WALRUS, OR MORSE. 



PLATE XXXIX. THE WALRUS, OR MORSE. 



THE name of sea cow, or sea horse, by which the 

 Walrus is most generally known, has been very wrongly 

 applied ; since the animal which it denotes has not the 

 least resemblance to the land animals of that name: the 

 denomination of sea elephant, which others have given it, 

 is much better imagined, as it is founded on a singular and 

 very apparent character. The Walrus, like the elephant, 

 has two large ivory tusks, weighing from ten to thirty 

 pounds each, which shoot from the upper jaw; its head 

 also is formed, or rather deformed, like that of the elephant, 

 and would entirely resemble it in that part if it had a 

 trunk; but the Walrus is deprived of that instrument, 

 which serves the elephant in the place of an arm and 

 hand, and has real arms to make use of. These members, 

 like those of the seal, are shut up within the skin, so that 

 nothing appears outwardly but its hands and feet : its body 

 is long and tapering, thickest towards the neck: the whole 

 body is clothed with a short hair ; the toes, and the hands, 

 or feet, are covered with a membrane, and terminated by 

 short and sharp pointed claws. On each side of the mouth 

 are large bristles in the form of whiskers : its tongue is 

 hollowed, the concha of the ears are wanting, &c.; so that, 

 excepting the two great tusks, and the cutting teeth, which 

 it is deficient in above and below, the Walrus in every 

 other particular perfectly resembles the seal : it is only 

 much larger and stronger, being commonly from twelve to 

 sixteen feet in length, and eight or nine in circumference, 

 and sometimes reaching eighteen feet in length, with a pro- 

 portionable girth ; whereas the largest seals are no more 

 than seven or eight feet. The Walrus, also, is generally 

 seen to frequent the same places as the seals are known to 



