248 A BOOK O^ WHALES 



character, the most obvious use would seem to be in 

 the battles of the males with the toothless females. 

 Scoresby observed that shoals of these animals often 

 consisted entirely of males ; these animals played 

 with their horns, " crossing them with each other 

 as in fencing." This is of course comparable to the 

 use of other weapons in play by other animals, such 

 as the teeth of young dogs, the claws of the cat, 

 etc., etc. Another suggestion is that the long and 

 strong weapon is useful for the purposes of breaking 

 the thick ice of the polar regions so that the whale 

 can rise and breathe. A third suggestion is also due 

 to Scoresby. He captured and dissected a Narwhal 

 which had in its stomach, besides beaks of cuttlefish, 

 so common a food of whales, a large skate. Now 

 an active skate, which moreover had a diameter 

 greater than that of the whale's mouth, could hardly, 

 thought Scoresby, have been caught alive by its 

 devourer. He suggests indeed that with the tusk 

 the skate was first pierced and killed, and then 

 swallowed. An elaboration of this story is to be 

 found in writings earlier than the two books of 

 Scoresby. Lacepede, quoting from others, credits 

 the Narwhal with a more ingenious use of the tusk. 

 The animal threads its prey upon the tusk, and 

 gradually works it down like a conjurer with a ball 

 upon a string, until the fish can be seized with its 

 lips and swallowed. These three views are presented 

 for the consideration of the reader. 



As to uses with which their possessor has no 

 concern, the tusk was employed in Europe in the past 



