A manual of British vertebrate animals / [Leonard Jenyns].

  • Leonard Jenyns
Date:
1835
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A manual of British vertebrate animals / [Leonard Jenyns]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    54/606 page 16
    Common on many parts of the coast, but prefers rocky shores. Swims and dives readily. Preys on fish, which it devours under the water. Breeds about Midsummer, and produces two young.—Obs. The Pied Seal of Pennant is probably only a variety of this species. 16. P. barbata, Mull. (Great Seal.)—Fur blackish : middle toes on the forefeet longer than the lateral ones. P. barbata, Desm. Mammal. p. 246. Flem. Brit. An. p. 18. Great Seal, Penn. Brit. Zool. vol. 1. p. 136. Don. Brit. Quad. pl. 11. Dimens. Entire length from ten to twelve feet. Descript. Teeth as in the last species: head somewhat elongated : muzzle broad: upper lip rounded, fleshy, divided into two lobes by a deep furrow ; each lobe furnished with numerous strong white bristles, semi- transparent, and curled at the ends: eyes large; irides dark hazel: auri- cular apertures larger than in the last species: fore feet rather long, with the middle toe more developed than the lateral ones; claws of these black, horny, and curved; those of the hind feet long and straight: body elon- gated; when young, clothed with a long woolly fur, which after the space of fourteen or fifteen days is cast and superseded by a new covering of close short hair*: general colour dusky gray, in very: old individuals black. Inhabits the coast of Scotland, and (according to Selby) the Farn Islands, but is much less common than the last species. Breeds in November. GEN. 8. TRICHECHUS, Linn. 17. T. Rosmarus, Linn. (Walrus.) T. Rosmarus, Desm. Mammal. p. 253. Flem. Brit. An. p. 18. Arctic Walrus, Shaw, Gen. Zool, vol. 1. p. 234. pl. 68. Nat. Miscell. vol. viii. pl. 276. Dimens. Entire length from eleven to fifteen feet. Descript. Head small, rounded, obtuse: lips very thick and swollen ; upper lip divided into two large rounded lobes, over which are scattered numerous semitransparent bristles, somewhat flattened towards their roots, and slightly pointed at their extremities: eyes small and bril- liant: auricular apertures situate very much behind: mouth small, armed with two enormous tusks bent downwards, and attaining in some individuals the length of two feet: neck short: body very thick and heavy: tail relatively longer than in the last genus: skin.of a dusky Lake with a very few short, scattered, reddish hairs: hind feet very road. Very rare in the British seas. A solitary individual shot on the east coast of Harris in December 1817: a second killed in Orkney in June 1825. Habits resembling those of the Seals. * See Selby’s observations on this species in Zool. Journ. vol. 11. p. 465.
    digitised image 1
    digitised image 2
    digitised image 3