| OCR Text |
Show 1867.] MR. SCLATER ON ADDITIONS TO THE MENAGERIE. 819 Richard Wells, of the steam whaler 'Arctic,' belonging to Messrs. Alexander Stephen and Co., on the 28th of August last, under the following circumstances : - A herd of from 200 to 300 of these animals was met with on the ice by the 'Arctic' in lat. 69° N., long. 64° W . A boat's crew was landed on the ice, and the herd attacked and several individuals killed, amongst which was a large female. The body of the latter, being attached to the boat and rowed towards the vessel, was followed by a young male, who swam and dived around and refused to quit his deceased parent. This being noted, he was captured by a noose swung over his head and one fore limb from the ship and hauled on board. For some days the captive was kept tied to a ring-bolt on deck, and refused food altogether. Subsequently he was induced to swallow thin slips of boiled pork, and was thus fed until the vessel reached the Shetlands, when a supply of fresh mussels was provided for its use. A large box with openings at the sides was fabricated; and the animal, secured therein, was brought safely into Dundee on the 26th ult. From that port to London the Walrus had been conveyed in the steamer ' Anglia,' under the care of the Society's Superintendent. The animal was a male, with partially developed tusks, about the same size as the Sea-bear lately in the Society's Gardens, but more bulky in appearance. Although probably not a year old, it was 8 feet long, and weighed perhaps 2\ cwt. The only specimen of the Walrus previously acquired by the Society had been a young individual received in 1853, which had been brought home, in a vessel engaged in the seal-fishery on the coast of Spitzbergen, by Capt. Henry of Peterhead. This animal was, however, in a moribund state on its arrival, and lived only a few days in the Gardens*. With reference to the present specimen of the Walrus the following remarks were addressed to the Meeting by Mr. A. D. Bartlett, the Superintendent of the Society's Gardens : - " In the fifth volume of Sir Everard Home's Supplement to the ' Lectures on Comparative Anatomy,' at page 4, on the organs of digestion of the Walrus, it is stated that the food of this animal consisted principally of a species of seaweed; it is, however, remarked that the stomach of this animal differs from all others fitted for this purpose. A figure of the stomach is given in vol. vi. pl. 1 ; the dimensions are also given in the letterpress and on the plate to scale. According to these figures the stomach is no less than 16 feet in length and 4 feet wide; which wonderful blunder appears to have escaped notice. " As regards the present animal, I may state that on m y arrival at Dundee on the 29th of October, I found the young Walrus in a very restless state, and, as I thought, hungry; it was being fed upon large mussels; about twenty of these were opened at a meal; and the poor beast was thus fed about three times a day." " I immediately told the owners that I thought the animal was being starved, and suggested that some fish should be tried. To * See, for figures taken from this animal, Wolf and Sclater, ' Zool. Sketches,' vol. i. pl. 18. |
