THE WOLVERENE. 205 



Specimen from which our figure was made. 



From point of nose to root of tail 

 Tail (vertebrae) ..... 

 Tail, including fur ..... 

 Height of ear 



eet. 



Inches. 



Lines. 



2 



6 























10 











1 



4 



The Wolverene, or Glutton as he is generally called, is one of the ani- 

 mals whose history comes down to us blended with the superstitions of 

 the old writers. Errors when once received and published, especially 

 if they possess the charm of great singularity or are connected with tales 

 of wonder, become fastened on the mind by early reading and the im- 

 pressions formed in youth, until we are familiarized with their extrava- 

 gance, and we at length regret to find ideas (however incorrect) adopted 

 in early life, not realized by the sober inquiries and investigations of ma- 

 turer years. 



The Wolverene, confined almost exclusively to Polar regions, where 

 men have enjoyed few advantages of education, and hence have im- 

 bibed without much reflection the errors, extravagances, and inventions 

 of hunters and trappers, has been represented as an animal possessing 

 extraordinary strength, agility, and cunning, and as being proverbially 

 one of the greatest gormandizers among the " brutes." Olaus Magnus 

 tells us that " it is wont when it has found the carcass of some large 

 beast to eat until its belly is distended like a drum, when it rids itself of 

 its load by squeezing its body betwixt two trees growing near together, 

 and again returning to its repast, soon requires to have recourse to the 

 same means of relief." It is even said to throw down the moss which the 

 reindeer is fond of, and that the Arctic fox is its jackal or provider. 

 BuFFON, in his first description of this animal, seems to have adopted the 

 errors and superstitions of Olaus Magnus, Schoeffer, Gesnee, and the 

 early travellers into Sweden and Lapland. He says of this animal, (vol. 

 vii., p. 277,) " the defect of nimbleness he supplies v/iih cunning, he lies 

 in wait for animals as they pass, he climbs upon trees in order to dart 

 upon his prey and seize it with advantage ; he throws himself down 

 upon elks and reindeer, and fixes so firmly on their bodies with his claws 

 and teeth that nothing can remove him. In vain do the poor victims fly 

 and rub themselves against trees ; the enemy attached to the crupper or 

 neck, continues to suck their blood, to enlarge the w^ound, and to devour 

 them gradually and with equal voracity, till they fall down." 



" More insatiable and rapacious than the wolf, if endowed with equal 



