' L 



THE WALRUS FAMILY 



53 



thereof, and the value of the catch was over a 

 quarter of a milhon dollars. 



This species passes through several strongly 

 marked changes of pelage and color. The 

 babj' is covered from nose to flipper-tips with a 

 thick coat of long, woolly hair of snowy white- 

 ness. This, when .shed at six months after birth, 

 is replaced by a coat of bluish gray hair, with 

 light trimmings. On reaching adult age, in its 

 fifth year, this animal is very strikingly marked 

 by black or dark-brown patches grouped together 

 on the sides and back, on a white or yeUowish 

 ground-color apparently in the shape of a harp. 

 This Seal is also called the Saddle-Back, and 

 Greenland Seal. 



The Hooded Seal ' of the North Atlantic is 

 a large species, often attaining 8 feet in length. 

 The old males are distinguished by the possession 

 of a flexible bag of skin on top of the nose, which 

 is capable of being inflated with air until it forms 

 a lofty and remarkable excrescence on the creat- 

 ure's face. This sac is sometimes 10 inches long 

 and 6 inches high. The color of this Seal is dark 

 bluish-gray, marked with irregular light spots. 

 It once came as far south as New .lersey. 



The Ribbon Seal, or Harlequin Seal,^ in its 

 color pattern is the most remarkable of all living 

 Pinnipeds, and there are many persons who con- 

 sider it the most beautiful member of its Order. 

 On a smooth ground-color, either of blackish- 

 brown or yellowish-gray. Nature has sportively 

 arranged several yards of broad, yellowish-white 

 ribbon. One strip goes around the neck, and ties 

 under the throat. From a point low down on the 

 breast, another starts upward, curves gracefully 

 over the shoulder, drops down in front of the pel- 

 vis, where it comes together, then turns and 

 crosses over the body. In many specimens the 

 uniformit}' of the width of the ribbon is remark- 

 ably well maintained. 



This Seal is from 4 to 6 feet in length. Its 

 home is on the eastern shore of Bering Sea, and 

 ixL the fresh waters of Lake Iliamna, in the upper 

 end of the Alaskan Peninsula. 



THE WALRUS FAMILY. 



Odobenidae. 



Of all living monsters that ever move upon 



land, the Pacific Walrus ^ is one of the most 



' Cys-to.fh'o-ra cris-ta'ta. 

 ' His-tri-o-pho' ca fas-ci-a'ta. ^ 0-do-ben'us o-be'sus. 



wonderful. A full-grown male is a hving moun- 

 tain of heaving flesh, wrinkled, furrowed and 

 seamed, ugly as a satyr, and as strange in habits 

 as in appearance. 



Its form is that of a sea-lion with a neck enor- 

 mously thickened. Its upper jaw is provided 

 with two long, strong tusks of ivor}^ and its skin 

 is almost destitute of hair. A full-grown male 

 measures from 10 to 12 feet in length from nose 

 to tail, the top of its head is about 5 feet from 



HEAD OF HOODED SEAL. 



the ground, the girth of its neck is from 12 to 14 

 feet, and it weighs from 1,800 to 2,000 pounds. 

 Its skin varies from half an inch to two inches 

 in thickness ; it is of a dirty yellow color, and lies 

 on a mass of fat which often is six inches thick. 

 The largest pair of tusks known to the author 

 measure 24t} inches in exposed length, and are 

 in the British Museum. 



The Pacific Walrus eats more or less of aquatic- 

 plant food, but its principal food is shell-fish and 

 crustaceans. These it digs up from the muddy 

 bottoms of the broad, shallow bays along the 

 coast, crushes between its powerful jaws, and 

 swaUows in great quantities, shells andaU! Crabs 

 and shrimps form a pleasing variety, and for 

 salad it devours the bulbous roots and tender 

 stalks of marine plants which in summer grow 

 in its home waters. 



In former times, the Pacific Walrus existed 

 in great herds on the coast of Alaska, from the 

 north shore of the Alaskan Peninsula northward 

 through Bering Strait, and thence eastward as 

 far as Point Barrow. There the herds encoun- 

 tered the edge of the great permanent ice-pack, 

 and could go no farther. In winter the Walrus 



