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 442 WALPURGIS NIGHT WALRUS he prepared " Memoirs " of the last 10 years of the reign of George II. (edited by Lord Holland, 2 vols. 4to, 1828), of the first 12 years of the reign of George III. (edited by Sir Denis Le Marchant, 4 vols. 8vo, 1844-'5), and of the reign of George III. from 1771 to 1783 (edited by Dr. Doran, 2 vols. 8vo, 1859). A compilation of Sir Horace Mann's letters to him, under the title of " ' Mann ' and Manners at the Court of Florence, 1740-1786," edited by Dr. Doran, was published in London in 1875 (2 vols. 8vo). At the age of 74 he succeeded his nephew as fourth earl of Orford, which title, as he was never married, expired with him. It was re- vived in 1806 in favor of his cousin, Horatio, second Baron Walpole of Wolterton. WALPURGIS NIGBT (Ger. Walpurgisnacht), in Germany, the night before the fiftt of May, or the vigil of St. Walpurgis (spelled also Wal- purga or Walburga), a sister of Sts. Willibald and Wunnibald, missionaries from England to the Germans, who died in 776 or 778. The day of her canonization, being the first of May, was celebrated at first as one of general rejoicing ; but with the growth of the belief in evil spirits and witchcraft arose the superstition that on the Walpurgis night, which was also the vigil of St. Philip and St. James, the witches and wizards held their annual convocations, the most numerous and important being that on the Brocken, in the Hartz mountains; and it was an old custom, still preserved in some places, to burn straw on this anniversary for the purpose of counteracting the malign in- fluence of these gatherings. WALRl'S, Morse, or Sea Hone (trichechu* rot- marut, Linn.), a marine arctic mammal, re- sembling the largo seals in external appcar- Walrus. ance, but having dental affinities with the ungulates. The skull is not very large, though heavy, and its processes for muscular insertion are very well marked; the facial portion is more elongated than in the seals, and the an- terior part of the upper jaw greatly developed for the canine teeth, between which the lower jaw shuts. In the young animal there are six incisors in each jaw, all falling out during growth except two in the upper; the upper canines hang down as pointed tusks between the small canines of the lower jaw, and pro- ject a considerable distance below the chin ; their points are sometimes bent toward each other, but are usually turned outward ; the molars are originally Jif, but full out as age advances; they are conical, with simple blunt crowns, worn obliquely at the apex. The head is well proportioned to the body, rounded and obtuse; eyes small and bright; no external ears, and auditory openings far back ; nostrils large, on the upper part of the snout, and ca- pable of being accurately closed ; muzzle very wide and tumid, and the lips remarkably thick and covered with large translucent bristles looking like quills of straw ; the front view of the young animal, before the tusks have grown, has a very human aspect. The neck is short and the body bulky, broadest at the chest, and diminishing to the very short tail ; the limbs are short and less fin-like than in the seals, the inside of the paws protected by a rough horny covering against violent contact with ice and rocks; the fore paws are a kind of webbed hand, capable of wide expansion and 2 to 8 ft. long ; the hind limbs extend straight backward, but are not united; all the fingers and toes have a small nail; there are four ven- tral mammae. The skin is between 1 and 2 in. thick, with a covering of close brown hair, and under it is a thin coating of fat, enabling them to withstand the cold of the arctic re- gions. They attain a length of 12 to 15 and sometimes 20 ft., a circumference of 8 to 10 ft., and a weight of nearly a ton ; the color is blackish in the young, brownish in the adults, and more and more whitish with age. They swim very rapidly, but are awkward on land, where they go to rest and to bring forth and suckle their young; they are monogamous, and gregarious both in the water and on land ; peaceful, and not afraid of man unless when hunted, but bravely defending their young and their wounded companions ; when persecuted they become very wary, and when asleep on the ice floes or the land always set guards; they will carry off their wounded or helpless young with their fore paws. They often have combats with the polar bear on the ice, and with the narwhal and carnivorous fishes in the water. They lie huddled together like swino in their resting places, making loud roarings if disturbed; they may be domesticated like the seals, if taken young, though they are far less docile. The tusks, which weigh 4 to 6 Ibs. each, are used as weapons, for climbing on ice and advancing on land, and for tearing up sea weeds. For accounts of their habits see J. Lament's "Seasons with the Sea Horses" (8vo, London, 1860), and "Yachting in the Arctic Seas" (1876). The food consists al- most entirely of the bivalve shells attached to the sea weeds which it tears from the rocks, but occasionally of fish. It is distributed in the arctic regions of both hemispheres,