THE NARWAL. 89 



sixteen inches in the skull. All the male narwals, 

 killed by Scoresby, excepting one, had tusks of from 

 three to seven feet in length, projecting from the left 

 side of the head. 



In addition to this external tusk, peculiar to the 

 male,* there is another on the right side of the head 

 about nine inches long, imbedded in the skull. In 

 females as well as in young males, in which the 

 tooth does not appear externally, the rudiments of 

 two tusks are generally found in the upper jaw. 

 These are entirely solid, and are placed back in 

 the substance of the skull, about six inches from its 

 most prominent part. These rudiments of tusks 

 are eight or nine inches long, both in the male and 

 female; in the former they are smooth, tapering, and 

 terminate at the root with an oblique truncation; in 

 the latter they have an extremely rough surface, and 

 finish at the base with a large irregular knob plac- 

 ed towards oue side, which gives the tusks some- 

 thing of the form of pocket-pistols. Two or three 

 instances have occurred of male narwals having 



* Scoresby, in his Greenland voyage, killed a female nar» 

 wal, having an external horn, four feet three inches long; 

 twelve inches of which were imbedded in the skull. It had 

 also a milk tusk, as is usual, nine inches long, which was of 

 a conical form and obliquely truncated at the thicker end, 

 and without the knob found in many of the milk tusks. The 

 horn was on the left side of the head, and the spiral was 

 dexirorsaL 



Vol. III.- 13 



