THE ORDER CETACEA. 137 



With the exception of one, all the narwhales 

 seen killed by Captain Scoresby, had a tusk 

 from three to six feet in length, projecting from 

 the left side of the head, of which about eight 

 inches in length of each, was imbedded in the 

 skull. The perforation, in all, extended from 

 the base to within ten or twelve inches of the 

 small end of the tooth. 



The use of the tusk in the narwhale is not yet 

 ascertained. It cannot be of use to them in 

 procuring their food, for were this the case 

 none would be exempt ; neither is it perhaps 

 necessary for their defence, otherwise the fe- 

 males and young would be subjected to the 

 power of enemies without possessing the means 

 of resistance, while the male would be in pos- 

 session of an admirable weapon for its protec- 

 tion. The late lamented Dr. Barclay, Professor 

 of Human and comparative Anatomy at Edin- 

 burgh, believed it to be principally a sexual dis- 

 tinction, similar to what occurs among some 

 other animals. 



Although it cannot be essential to their ex- 

 istence, it may however be occasionally em- 

 ployed. From the extremity being smooth and 

 clean, while the rest is rough and dirty, and 

 especially from the circumstance of a broken tusk being 

 found with the angles of the fractured part rubbed down 

 and rounded ; it is not improbable but it may be used in 

 piercing thin ice for the convenience of respiration, 

 without being under the necessity of retreating into 

 open water.* 



* A splendid specimen of the tusk of the narwhale, measuring about 

 ten feet in length, may be seen at the Widow Calvert's, worker in Ivory, 



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