138 LECTURE IV. 



bristles of the length of three or four inches, and 

 of the thickness and colour of wheat straw; the 

 tusks are of great length, measuring from eighteen 

 inches to two feet or more. The Walruss is of a 

 gregarious nature, often assembling in vast num- 

 bers on the masses of floating ice so often seen 

 in the northern seas; where they produce their 

 young in the spring season, and have generally 

 but one at a birth. In their manners they re- 

 semble the genus Phoca, but feed principally on 

 sea-plants and shell-animals rather than on fishes. 

 The Walruss is naturally a harmless animal, unless 

 attacked, when it becomes extremely vindictive ; 

 roaring in a dreadful manner, and with its long 

 tusks grappling with and endeavouring to overset 

 the boats of those who attack it. It is an animal 

 which has long ago been pretty well represented 

 in the works of some of the earlier zoologists, but 

 it is observed by Mr. Pennant, that the best re- 

 presentation is given in the fifty-second plate of 

 the last voyage of Captain Cook. There appear, 

 however, to be distinct races or varieties of the 

 "Walruss, those seen in the icy regions of the 

 American seas, and represented in the above 

 plate, having longer and sharper tusks in pro«? 



