The formidable canines, when employed as offensive weapons (Lamont notes), not only are used downwards, but by a quick turn of the neck the animal strikes upwards and sideways with equal dexterity. Again, in raising the body out of the water on to the ice-floe after the first jerk forwards, the tusks are dug into the ice with terrific force, and thus the body is hauled on till footing is gained. Broken tusks are by no means rare. But the most important function performed by the tusks is as instruments for procuring food. A part of its time is spent by the Morse on banks and among shoal water, where lie buried in the mud shell-fish in abundance. Certain kinds of Mussels and Cockles are here dug up by the tusks and gulped, often shells and all; but occasionally it swallows Shrimps, Starfish, and marine worms. Dr. Robert Brown states that whenever killed near a Whale’s carcass, the stomach of the Walrus was invariably found crammed with the Whale-flesh. Some say they eat sea-weeds; but the young animal possessed by the Zoological Society, though tried by Mr. Bartlett, refused these, but greedily took Mussels, Whelks, Clams, and the stomachs and intestines and other soft part of fishes cut small. This said young one could not swallow anything larger than a walnut, and from the way in which it used its mouth bristles, in brushing backwards and forwards the food and sucking everything through them, their use as a sieve was very manifest. Whatsoever their diet they thrive on it, and store up much fat, though less proportionally than Seals. Like some of the Sea Lions, they have the curious habit of swallowing stones, the economy of which is imperfectly understood. But there can be no doubt of the fact, or of another equally strange, that of their protracted fasts. During the autumn months the Sea Horses will muster in force on land, and quite lethargic there doze for days or weeks without tasting food, thus recalling the hibernation of the Bear tribe. The Walrus is infested with skin-parasites and intestinal-worms, and the pebble-swallowing habit is supposed to relieve the irritation of the latter. Not unfrequently a troop will be found sleeping bolt upright in the water, and so soundly that a boat can approach close to them before they awake. They can remain under water, some say an hour, before requiring to take breath, but the length of time doubtless depends on circumstances; and ordinarily, or when suddenly disturbed, barely a third of that time. The brain is largely developed, and has many sinuosities, so that in comparison with the Dog or Cat tribes the Walrus ought to possess considerable intelligence. Acts displaying this quality, however, are only sparingly manifested in the young where domestication has been attempted.