3r)8 MR. R. BROWN ON THE MAMMALS OF GREENLAND. [May 28, 



jak, vidi, inque hoc denies spurios tales confei'tim congestos quales 

 Steller" {vid. loc. cit. Adel.* § 189). Again, immediately under the 

 head of "Phoca ursina," he says: — " Groenl. Axjvek^jak. — Illam 

 esse animal quod sub nomine hoememorant incolsenon est dubitandum. 

 Dicunt illud in Australiori Grcenlandia, licet raro, dari quadrupes 

 pilosum, ferociter omue occurrens dilacerare, et si visum consumere : 

 ursi maritimi more terra marique degere, impetuosissime natare, 

 venatores valide infestare. Dentes ut amuleta contra ulcera, nee non 

 quodaminodo ad instrumenta venatoria adhibentur." There is an 

 evident uncertainty in Fabricius's mind ; and he has listened too 

 much to the idle fables of the natives (who have, as I shall presently 

 show, many of that nature) ; whatever it is, there can, I think, be 

 scarceh' a doubt as to the exclusion of Trichechus manatus and Phoca 

 ursina from the Greenland fauna ; nor can their place as yet be sup- 

 plied by any other species. Prof. Steenstrup thinks that it was a 

 portion of the skull of the Sea-wolf {Anarrhiehaii). The situation 

 of the teeth and the nature of this fish's cellular skull well agree 

 with his description of the skull as "full of holes" (forhulretf). 

 Hr. Bolbrce, who understands the Eskimo language intimately, tells 

 me that the word means a "little Walrus," and that in all probabi- 

 lity it was only the skull of a young Walrus, an animal not at all 

 familiar to Fabricius, as they are chiefly confined to one spot, and 

 the natives fear to go near that locality. Fabricius may have only 

 written the description from recollection ; and memory, assisted by 

 preconceived notions, may have led him into error in the description 

 of the long teeth, which after all might, without great trouble, be 

 made to refer to the dentition of the young Walrus as described by 

 Macgillivray J and Riippell§. 



This opinion is strengthened by a passage in Fabricius's account of 

 the Walrus, when he again is in doubt whether a certain animal is 

 the young of the Walrus or the Dagojig, " De varietate dentibus ex- 

 ertis brevioribus loquuntur iucolse, quam minus recte (ut videtur) ad 

 Phocas referunt, si non pullus rosmari, an animal Dugong" (Buff. 

 205, 245, tab. Ivi). So that, after all, perhaps the Auvekcejak was 

 only the young of the Walrus ; and this opinion I am on the whole 

 inclined to acquiesce in. 



Fabricius enters, under the name of " Miistela gulo, L." {Gulo 

 borealis, Retz.), an animal which the natives talked about under the 

 name of Kappik. It was said to be found in south Greenland, among 

 high mountains, particularly besides streams, and was especially 

 fond of the hearts of Reindeer. He considered it to be the well- 

 known Wolverine, the Jeff of Scandinavia (Norse Arv, Erv, and 

 Jcerv ; Swedish Jeif, Gerf; Finnish Kampjji and Kamppi-Karhu). 



* Adelung : ' Greschichte der Schifffalirten und Versuche zur Entdeckung des 

 nordostlichen Weges nach Japan und China' (Halle, 17G8) is the book Fabri- 

 cius refers to. Tliere is a wrong reference in F. G. to Adelung, viz. 189 for 148. 



t Reinhardt, loc. cit. p. 8. 



} Naturalists' Library, (Mammalia) vol. vii. (vol. xiii. of series), p. 220. 

 M'Gillivray's Edin. Journ. of Nat. Hist, and Physical Sciences, Aug. 1838, 

 p. 153 ; Hamilton in Nat. Lib. vol. viii. p. 102. 



§ Bulletin Scien. Nat. vol. xvii. p. 280. 



