ZOOLOGY OF OLAUS MAGNUS 
handsome beast. It has rich glossy brown fur and is 
of respectable size, and quite one of the largest of the 
Musteline carnivores which are closely related to the 
bears but still more nearly to the lithe stoats, and the 
aquatic otter. 
It walks about on the soles of the feet in the true bear 
fashion, and this walk is in captivity agitated and rapid 
as is the way with many captive carnivora, especially 
the little ratel Mellivora, its near neighbour at the 
Zoo, though not in Nature, as it is African and Indian. 
The latter complicates its rapid walk to and fro by an 
occasional somersault. The glutton has a short tail, 
which is largely hidden by the thick fur, a truly bear- 
like attribute. Like the polar bear, and perhaps for 
similar reasons, our wolverene has hairy palms and 
soles. Like other carnivora, especially of course the 
American “essence pedlar”’ or skunk, the glutton 
is provided with glands which secrete an abominably 
smelling fluid, which can be shot to a distance, and is 
probably a better safeguard than its teeth and claws, 
against invasion of its rights. For though stories are 
current of a highly spiced nature, it seems that the 
ferocity of the glutton is much exaggerated. Not so, 
however, its voracity, and its very name both in English 
and in Latin (Gulo) is a testimony to accurate public 
opinion. In his Historia de Gentibus Septentrionalibus 
Olaus Magnus, Archbishop of Upsala, in the fourteen 
hundreds, spoke concerning the glutton with no un- 
certain note. “ This animal,’ observed the archbishop 
(in Latin), ‘is most voracious. When a body is dis- 
covered it eats with such rapidity that its belly becomes 
distended like a drum.” Later on a freeish translation 
is perhaps more advisable. The Latin may be thus 
rendered : “‘ The creature seeks some conveniently close 
tree trunks between which it squeezes itself like an 
orange and is then ready to commence anew. This 
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