820 MR. SCLATER ON ADDITIONS TO THE MENAGERIE. [NoV. 14, 



this Mr. Stephen at once agreed, and a codfish was procured from 

 the neighbourhood, and by me cut into long thin strips. On offering 

 these pieces of cod to the animal, he greedily devoured them. Since 

 that time I have fed the Walrus upon fish, mussels, ivhelks, clams, 

 and the stomachs and intestines and other soft parts of fishes, cut 

 small; for I find that it cannot swallow anything larger than a walnut. 

 I am now convinced that the food of the Walrus is strictly animal 

 substance ; and from what I have observed during the last seventeen 

 days I feel certain that the creature will feed freely upon almost any 

 kind of animal matter." 



" I am also inclined to believe that even carrion or decomposed 

 flesh would not be refused. This probably has led to the frequent 

 remarks upon the disgusting state of the contents of their stomachs. 

 May not these creatures be the scavengers of the Arctic Seas, the 

 vultures among mammals ? The remarkable dentition reminds one 

 of the carrion-feeding Proteles. May not the strong bristles on its 

 muzzle have much to do with this kind of food as well as shrimp- 

 catching, the mode of brushing backwards and forwards with these 

 bristles the food and other substances on the ground, and sucking 

 everything up it swallows? " 



" I notice that indigestible portions or substances taken with its 

 food pass off in the excretion ; and probably in the adult animal, 

 when shell, seaweed, and other substances are collected, these crea- 

 tures, like other carnivorous animals, have the power of ejecting these 

 indigestible bodies from the stomach." 



" The fragments of shell, small stones, the byssus of the mussels, 

 and the opercula of whelks, together with fragments of seaweed 

 attached to the byssus of the mussels, pass freely from this animal. 

 The terminal portion of the intestines must be of large size, judging 

 by the size of the excretion." 



Mr, Sclater also reported the return to this country on the 6th of 

 August last, by the ship ' Marian Moore ' from Calcutta, of Mr. 

 Clarence Bartlett, the Society's agent, with a collection of animals, 

 of which the most noticeable were : — 



2 Black Tibetan Wolves {Canis laniger, Hodgs.). Presented to 

 the Society by Lieut. Alexander A. Kinloch, 2nd Battalion Rifle 

 Brigade, and Lieut. J. Biddulph, 19th Hussars*. 



1 Female Gayal {Bos frontalis, Lambert). Presented by the Babu 

 llajendra Mullick, C.M.Z.S. 



2 Pelicans (Pelecanus, sp. inc.). Presented by the Babu Rajendra 

 Mullick, C.M.Z.S. 



4 Demoiselle Cranes (Grus virffo). Presented by the Babu Ra- 

 jendra Mullick, C.M.Z.S. 



2 Polyplectrons, $ {Polyplectron chinquis). Presented by the 

 Babu Rajendra Mullick, C.M.Z.S. 



1 White Fruit-Pigeon (Carpo^jAaga luctuosa). Presented by the 

 Babu Rajendra Mullick, C.M.Z.S. ' 



* These Wolves were obtained in the beginning of June 1866, by Lieut. Kin- 

 loch, from some wandering Tartars near the Tshommeriri Lake in Til)et. 



