362 CASSELL'S POPULAR NATURAL HISTORY. 



TEE CRESTED SEAL* 



THIS animal is a native of Greenland and various parts of the coast of North America. It has thirty 

 teeth ; the molars with simple roots, short, wide, and striated only on the crown. " A thick, folded 

 skin," says Clapmuitz, " is on its forehead, which it can draw down over its eyes, like a cap, to defend 

 them against the storms, waves, stones, and sand." This "crest," as it is called, is peculiar to the adult 

 male. The eyes which are capable of being drawn deeply into the socket during repose are 

 eminently fitted to discern distant objects. The fur is soft, long, and woolly beneath : it becomes 

 darker with age. 



THE URSINE SEAL.f 



THE head of this creature has a narrow, retracted muzzle ; small external ears ; and thirty-six teeth. 

 It inhabits the islands on the north-west of America, Kamschatka, the Kurile, and other islands, and is 

 migratory in its habits. 



Steller, who is our chief authority in reference to it, made a garment of its fur, which he highly 

 prized, when he was in Behring's, Island, engaged with Behriug, its discoverer. 



The sea-bears, as they are often called, grow very fat, and are then exceedingly indolent, sometimes 

 scarcely moving from the same spot for two or three mouths. This is from June to September, the 

 breeding-time one being usually produced at a birth, and sometimes, but rarely, two. The female is 

 exceedingly attached to her young, and defends it with great obstinacy. The cubs, when little more 

 than a day old, become playful, and wrestle with one another. 



When two have fought together for some time, and get out of breath, they lay themselves down, 

 side by side, lick each other, and rest themselves ; after which, they rise again to continue the contest. 

 As long as they are nearly a match for each other in strength, they strike only with their fore feet ; but 

 as soon as one of them gains the advantage, he seizes the other with his teeth, and throws him on 

 the ground. When others, who have been spectators of the fight, see this, they come to the aid of 

 the vanquished combatant. 



In the month of September, these animals quit their breeding stations, and return to the Asiatic 

 and American shores, but are never to be found except between the latitudes 50 and 60. They 

 swim very swiftly, frequently at the rate of eight miles an hour. 



Another genus in this Family J appears in the Trichecus, the generic name for the Walrus, or 

 Morse. Its characters are as follow : Head well proportioned, round, obtuse ; eyes small and brilliant ; 

 upper lip remarkably thick, covered with pellucid whiskers or bristles, as large as a straw. Two very 

 large canines, in the upper jaw only, directed downwards. Nostrils large, rounded, placed on the upper 

 part of the snout. No external ears. 



THE WALRUS, OR MORSE. 



IN early times the Walrus was called a Horse-whale, and seems to have been known in England as early 

 as the year 890, during the reign of King Alfred ; for Hakluyt states, that during that year a voyage 

 was made beyond the North Cape by Octher, the Norwegian, " for the mere commoditie of fishing of 

 horse-whales, -which have in their teeth bones of great price and excellence ; whereof he brought some 

 on his returns to that king." The same writer says that the skins of horse-whales and seals were 

 converted into cables of sixty ells in length, by the natives of northern Europe. 



The walrus is an obstinate animal, and does not fly on the approach of man ; on the contrary, 

 forming themselves into a body, they go and meet him, and resist any attempt on his part to proceed. 

 When a company of travellers meet these animals on the shore, they are forced to fight their way 

 through them ; and, if the walruses are pelted with stones, they gnaw them with their teeth, but afterwards 

 attack the men with redoubled fury, rending the air with the most tremendous growling. These animals 



* Stemmatopus cristatus. 



t Ursus marinus: Sleller. L'Ours marin : Buffon. Arctocephalus ursinus. Phoca ursiija. 

 \ Phocidiu. J Trichecus Kosmarus. 



