ARCTIC WALRUS. 235 



tusks, bending downwards : there are no cutting- 

 teeth, but in each jaw, both above and below, are 

 four roundish grinders with flat tops: the tusks 

 are sometimes upwards of two feet in length, but 

 are more generally of about one foot long ; and it 

 sometimes happens that the two tusks are not 

 perfectly equal in length. The chief resorts of 

 the Walrus are the seas about the northern parts 

 of America. They are found in the gulph of St. 

 Laurence, according to Mr. Pennant, between 

 latitude 47 and 48, which seems to be the most 

 southern latitude in any part of the globe. They 

 are also found in Davis's Straits, and within 

 Hudson's Bay, it lat. 6Q. They inhabit the coast 

 of Greenland ; and are found in great numbers 

 about Spitsbergen, and on the floating ice in 

 those parts. They occur likewise on the coasts 

 of Nova Zembla, and on the head lands stretch- 

 ing towards the North Pole. 



They are gregarious animals, and are some- 

 times seen in vast multitudes on the masses of 

 floating ice so frequent in the northern seas. 

 They are said to produce their young early in the 

 spring; and rarely bring more than one at a 

 birth : their food consists of sea plants, shell-fish, 

 &c. 



The Walrus is a harmless animal, unless pro- 

 voked or attacked, in which case it becomes fu- 

 rious, and is extremely vindictive. When sur- 

 prised upon the ice, the female is said first to pro- 

 vide for the safety of the young, by flinging it 

 into the sea, and immediately precipitating itself 



