188 PROCEEDIKGS OF UNITED STATEa NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



that it was protracted "as in tlie skeleton," sliows perfectly where he 

 has got his idea, and I believe, therefore, that Merschenin is right in say- 

 ing that the head could not be seen at all, or only a very small part of 

 it, but both of them describe the jet exactly as that of a wliale, a like- 

 ness they both admitted and suggested. That the sca-co\v, )\owever, 

 did not eject a regular spout in that manner is perfectly evident from 

 Steller's mode of expression : " They lifted the nostrils out of the water, 

 ejecting air and a little water with a noise similar to the snorting of a 

 horse,"* a respiration toto^oelo different from the graceful and charac- 

 teristic spouting of the whales; but the fact that the animal could sub- 

 merge itself totallj^, and that when diving it finally disappeared from 

 the view of the men, is most conclusive. It is sufficiently evident from 

 Steller's description that the Rytina was unable to divet, even when 

 wounded, in which case it only went out to sea, but never down to 

 the bottom. It could keep its head under water for only about four 

 or five miiiutes, when it was compelled to lift it above the surface to 

 breathe. Had it been able to dive, it would have suifered less from the 

 severity of the winter, especially the pressure of the ice, and it would not , 

 have been compelled to pasture in shallow water half walking, but could 

 also have fed further out in the deep sea. That the animal, however, 

 seen by the Bering Island natives dived like a whale, and disappeared 

 in that manner, is beyond even the slightest shade of doubt. On this 

 point their statements are absolutely conformable, unmistakable, and 

 precise. 



Nevertheless it may safely be assumed that thos3 natives really saw 

 an animal unknown to them. That they took it to be a sea-cow is per- 

 haps less strange than that ISfordenskjold did so. It is therefore inter- 

 esting to endeavor to find out what kind of animal it reallj" was, for 

 this purpose considering only those points, wherein both agree. 



I think there can be but little doubt tbat the animal was a denticefe 

 about 14 to 18 feet long, without a fin on the back, and light brownish 

 white, with round or oblong dark s])Ots. Upon looking into the litera- 

 ture, we will find that this description exactly fits the female narwhal 

 {Monodon monoceros). I make the followiug extract from Professor Lill- 

 jeborg's description of this si:)ecies:f "Fin on the back wanting; length 

 of body reaching 15 to 20 feet ; the female has on each side of the upper 

 jaw, in front, a small tooth, usually not visible outside of the alveole; 

 according to Scoresby the color of the adult is white or yellowish white 



* ' ' Nares exserebant atque aerem et paiixillum aqu je (;ura 8trei)itu equorum ruspatioue 

 siniili efflebaut." In " The Descriptiou of Ihe Bering Island," he says: "Je nach 

 einiger Minuten erhel)en sie den Kopf ans deni Wassei', nnd schopfen mit Eiiiisperu 

 rind Snarcheu nach Art der Pferde frische Luft.-' 



t" Half the body is ahvays seen above the water," Steller, Beschr. Ber. Ins. N. 

 Nord. Beitr. II, p. 294. That the lamantin or manatee is able to sink dow n to the bottom 

 and rest there for a few minutes tloes not i)rove that the liyiina could do the same. 

 Besides its movements, when descending, are by no means comparable with those of 

 the diving whale. 



tSveriges och Norges Eyggradsdj, Daggdj,p. 996. 



