6o 



HARD WICKE 'S S CIENCE - G OSSIP. 



for the enormous development of the left canine tooth, 

 which is projected forward in the form of a tusk or 

 a spear, reaching to the length of six or eight feet. 

 The spear is of fine compact ivory, hollow for the 

 greater part of its length, grooved spirally along its 

 outer surface, but smooth at the end, and bluntly 

 pointed. The right canine is rarely developed, but 

 a few examples have occurred in which both tusks 

 were present (see Proc. Zool. Soc, 1S71) ; the female 

 is rarely furnished with this appendage. Not long 

 since I saw preserved in a country mansion, the tusk 

 of a Narwhal measuring 7 ft. 5 in. long ; it was care- 

 fully kept in a long case resembling a barber's pole, 



tusk, which is frequently found in a broken condition, 

 is used for purposes of attack and defence. The 

 Narwhal is very social in its habits, great numbers 

 being often met with together ; its food consists of 

 cuttle-fish and crustaceans. The length of the full- 

 grown animal is about 16 feet, the upper parts gray, 

 the sides and belly white, and the whole animal 

 spotted with black and gray. The only authentic 

 figure of the Narwhal with which I am acquainted is 

 that given by Scoresby ; this is so well known from 

 frequent reproduction that it is not necessary to give 

 it here. 

 The White Whale, or Beluga {Delphinapterus 



Fig. 48. The Grampus (Orca gladiator, Lacep.). 



and bore a ticket attached, which stated that it was 



" Bequeathed in 1561 by the Countess of ■ , to 



her daughter ." The use of this remarkable 



appendage appears very doubtful ; it has been con- 

 jectured that it serves to stir up food from the bottom 

 of the sea, in which case the female would be badly 

 off without it ; or that it is employed to keep breathing- 

 holes open in the ice, and an instance is related in 

 support of this view, in which hundreds were seen at 

 an ice-hole protruding their heads to breathe, but it 

 is not clear whether they made the hole for them- 

 selves, or whether they were attracted by it, 

 particularly as there were numbers of White Whales 

 with them. It seems certain, however, that the 



lucas, Pallas), like the preceding species is a native 

 of the Polar seas, where it is common; it is abundant 

 in the White and Kara Seas and in the Gulf 

 of Obi ; on the coast of Norway it is occasionally 

 met with ; and in our own seas has occurred 

 several times, but must be regarded only as an 

 accidental straggler. On the east coast of America 

 it is found as far south as the Gulf of St. Lawrence, 

 where, as in the White Sea, it delights in ascending 

 the mouths of large rivers. In the British Associa- 

 tion Report on the Fauna of Devonshire (1S69, pp. 84 

 and 85), occurs the following passage. " Mr. P. H. 

 Gosse writes :— 'On August 5th, 1832, I was return- 

 ing from Newfoundland to England, and was sailing 



