DOLPHINS 247 



There is but one species : Monodon monoceros, 

 Linnaeus.* 



M. microcephalies i Desmarest ; M. andersonianus, 

 Id. ; Namvhalus vulgaris y Lacepede ; Tachynices 

 megacephalus, Brookes, are some of the synonyms 

 which really all refer to the one species. 



The Narwhal or Sea Unicorn "mighty Monoceros 

 with immeasured tayles " is a whale familiar to every- 

 body, at least by name and appearance, as depicted in 

 pictures. The creature grows to a length of about 

 fifteen feet ; such an individual would have a " horn " 

 of some seven feet. But the length, as with other 

 whales, has been grossly exaggerated (sixty feet !). 

 The colour is darker above, paler below, both tints 

 speckled in a leopardine fashion. But old animals 

 seem to lose this character, and to become quite 

 white. It is a purely arctic animal, and Mr. Lydekker 

 records only three examples thrown up on our shores, f 

 Another, however, has been since recorded by Mr. 

 Christy.J 



The tusk of the Narwhal, van Beneden tells us, was 

 at first and after all naturally thought to belong 

 to a terrestrial creature ; it is from this idea that 

 the notion of the unicorn with the form of a horse 

 has doubtless sprung. So lately as 1655, however, 

 Wormius announced the real nature of this apparent 

 freak of nature. The use of the horn or tusk to its 

 possessor has been much discussed. As it is a sexual 



* Syst. Nat., I2th ed., 1766, p. 105 (of vol. i.). 



t British Mammals, in Allen's Naturalists' Library. 



$ Trans. Norfolk Soc., vi., p. 204. 



