270 THE WALRUS. 



though in aged males they are sometimes much larger. Pro- 

 fessor Bell has a pair of these teeth, or tusks, which were 

 brought from Newfoundland, and are as much as six inches 

 and three quarters in circumference. The extreme shortness 

 and bluntness of the grinding teeth show that they are par- 

 ticularly adapted for acting upon vegetable food. 



Sir Everard Home, in his account of the walrus, says, " I 

 am informed by my friend Mr. Fisher, who was astronomer 

 during two polar voyages, that he was present when the contents 

 of the stomach of a walrus were examined : they consisted 

 entirely of the long branches of Fucus digitatus, a sea-weed very 

 abundant in the Arctic Seas, especially in those parts where 

 the walrus is met with in the greatest numbers."* 



The author of A Winter in Lapland says, " The food of the 

 walrus consists of mollusks and crustaceans. Fish probably 

 does not form any part of it, and, judging from the structure 

 of their mouth, it is not likely that they prey upon seals, as 

 has been asserted. The principal use of their tusks is probably 

 to enable them to detach their food from the ground or rocks. 

 They also employ them for the purpose of securing themselves 

 to the rocks while they sleep j and I am informed that more 

 than one instance has occurred, in the Magereosund, of the 

 tide leaving them suspended by their tusks, so that they were 

 unable to extricate themselves." 



The walrus, when attacked in the water, is not very easily 

 killed, and it will sometimes meet force with force. Instances 

 have been known of its staving and sinking a boat with its 

 tusks. 



An arctic voyager says, " In latitude 72 19', the captain, 

 perceiving a walrus lying on an elevated piece of ice at some 

 distance from the ship, immediately ordered a boat to be 

 lowered. Myself and another joined the captain in pursuit 

 of the monster. When we drew near to its station, it raised 

 its head and displayed one formidable tusk, projecting 

 downwards from its upper jaw towards its breast, whilst 

 * Philosophical Transactions (1824). 



