600 CARNIVORA 
158th meridians. In Europe occasional stragglers have reached 
the British Isles, and it was formerly abundant on the coasts of 
Finmark. It is rare in Iceland, but Spitzbergen, Nova Zembla, and 
the western part of the north coast of Siberia are still constant 
places of resort, in all of which a regular war of extermination 1s 
carried on. The North Pacific, including both sides of Behring’s 
Strait, northern Kamschatka, Alaska, and the Pribyloff Islands, are 
also the haunts of numerous Walruses, which are isolated from 
those of the North Atlantic by the long stretches of coast, both 
of Siberia and North America, where they do not occur. The 
Pacific Walrus appears to be as large as, if not larger than, that of 
the Atlantic; its tusks are longer and more slender, and curved 
inwards ; the whiskers are smaller, and the muzzle (of the skull) 
relatively deeper and broader. These and certain other minor 
differences have induced some naturalists to consider it specifically 
distinct under the name of Trichechus obesus. Its habits appear to 
be quite similar to those of the Atlantic form. Though formerly 
found in immense herds, it is rapidly becoming scarce, as the 
methods of destruction used by the American whalers, who have 
systematically entered upon its pursuit, are far more certain and 
deadly than those of the native Tchuktchis, to whom, as mentioned 
before, the Walrus long afforded the principal means of subsistence. 
Fossil remains of Walruses and closely allied animals have been 
found in the United States, and in England, Belgium, and France, 
in deposits of Pliocene age. 
Family PHocrp-®. 
The true Seals are the most completely adapted for aquatic life 
of all. the Pinnipeds, When on land the hind limbs are extended 
behind them and take no part in progression, which is effected by 
a series of jumping movements produced by the muscles of the 
trunk, in some species aided by the fore limbs only. The palms 
and soles of the feet are hairy. There is no pinna to the ear, and 
no scrotum, the testes being abdominal. The upper incisors have 
simple, pointed crowns, and vary in number in the different groups. 
All the forms have well-developed canines and 2 teeth of the cheek- 
series. In those species of which the milk-dentition is known, 
there are three milk molars (Fig. 275), which precede the second, 
third, and fourth permanent molars ; the dentition is therefore pi, 
m +, the first premolar having as usual no milk-predecessor. ‘The 
skull has no postorbital process and no alisphenoid canal; and the 
angle of the mandible is not inflected. The fur is stiff and 
adpressed, without woolly under fur. 
Subfamily Phoeinze.—Incisors 3. All the feet with five well- 
developed claws. The toes on the hind feet subequal, the first and 
