THE WALRUS. 251 



of the walrus I must claim the indulgence of my 

 opponents to grant me a few more millions of that 

 cheapest of all commodities, past years. I require 

 this little extension to enable me to make good my 

 argument, because the walrus differs far more from 

 any known animal, living or extinct, than does the 

 white from the brown bear ; also, I have stated 

 that I conceive the Polar bear to have become a 

 Polar bear by living on seals, and it is therefore 

 to be supposed that the seal and the walrus were 

 originated first. 



In reference to the fact of a black bear having 

 been seen swimming for hours with his mouth open, 

 catching insects in the water, like a whale, Mr. 

 Darwin states (page 174) that, "Even in so ex- 

 treme a case as this, if the supply of insects were 

 constant, and if better adapted competitors did not 

 already exist in the country, he can see no difficulty 

 in a race of bears being rendered by natural selec- 

 tion more and more aquatic in their structure and 

 habits, with larger and larger mouths, till a creature 

 was produced as monstrous as a whale." 



I see no difficulty in it either, but it is certainly a 

 very extreme case to put, and there is much less 

 difficulty in believing that the thing should have 

 come to pass in a more gradual manner — by steps, 

 as it were. 



Suppose, then, the case of a bear (or any other 

 large land animal, existing or extinct) living on the 

 borders of the then existing Polar sea. We can 



