Page:The Zoologist, 3rd series, vol 1 (1877).djvu/386

360 Trichechus rosmarus.—Kane and Hayes describe the Walrus as very abundant in the vicinity of Port Foulke, and the Eskimo of Etah no doubt capture a great number of them, as many skulls and bones of this animal are strewed about their settlement, which we found deserted in July, 1875. I came across a very well-finished sledge hid in a recess of the rocks near Etah, made entirely of Walrus bones, and shod with runners formed of pieces of the tusk, most carefully adjusted. Curiously enough, we did not see one of these animals in the vicinity of Port Foulke nor in Smith Sound, until we reached Franklin Pierce Bay. There, in the vicinity of Norman Lockyer Island, we saw several Walruses, and killed two or three. Their stomachs contained fragments of mya and saxicava, and a considerable quantity of a green oily matter. Near Cape Fraser I saw a single Walrus; but as far as my observation goes, it does not proceed further north than the meeting of the Baffin Bay and Polar tides near the above-mentioned Cape.

Balæna mysticetus.—A portion of the rib of a Greenland Whale was found by Lieutenant Egerton, R.N., on the northern shores of Grinnell Land, in lat. 82° 33' N. It was of great antiquity, but I am unprepared to advance any opinion as to how it got there. I am, however, quite satisfied on one point; and that is—no Whale could inhabit at the present day the frozen sea to the North of Robeson Channel. To penetrate from the north-water of Baffin Bay to Robeson Channel would be a hazardous task for this great animal, and in this opinion the experienced whaling quarter-masters who accompanied our Expedition coincided. We may dismiss from our minds the idea or hope that nearer to the Pole, and beyond the limits of present discovery, there may be haunts in the Polar Sea suitable for the Right Whale. I do not look for the speedy extinction of the Greenland Whale; but it is probable that in a few years the fishing will no longer prove profitable to the fine fleet of whalers that now sail from our northern ports, and I see no hope of Arctic discovery increasing our knowledge of the range of this animal.

Monodon monoceros.—During the month of August, while we were waiting in Payer Harbour, near Cape Sabine, we noticed several Narwhals playing at the edge of the ice, but we saw no more of them after entering the pack of Smith Sound. The range of the Narwhal in that direction is no doubt coincident with