NARWHAL.—Moénodon Monoceros, 
wherewith he may wage war with those of his own species and sex who arouse his feelings 
of jealousy, or would interfere with his supremacy. 
The food of the Narwhal consists chiefly of marine molluses and of occasional fish, 
but is found to be generally composed of the same kind of squid, or cuttle-fish, which 
supplies the gigantic spermaceti whale with subsistence. As the remains of several flat 
fish have been discovered in the stomach of the Narwhal, it was supposed by some 
authors that the animal made use of its tusk as a fish-spear, transfixing them as they lay 
“sluddering” on the mud or sand, after their usual fashion, thus preventing their escape 
from the toothless mouth into which the wounded fish are then received. However this 
may be, the force of the tusk is terrific when urged with the impetus of the creature 
driving through the water at full speed, for the whole combined power of the weight and 
velocity of the animal is directed along the line of the tusk. A Narwhal has been 
known to encounter a ship, and to drive its tusk through the sheathing, and deeply into 
the timbers. . The shock was probably fatal to the assailant, for the tooth was snapped by 
the sudden blow, remaining in the hole which it had made, and acting as a plug that 
effectually prevented the water from gaining admission into the vessel. 
In some rare instances the right tusk has been developed instead of the left, and it is 
suppos:d that if the developed tooth should be broken, the right tusk becomes vivified, 
and supplies the place of the damaged weapon. One remarkable case is known where both 
tusks were almost equally developed, being rather more than ten inches im length ; and 
another example is recorded of a Narwhal which possesses two long tusks, the one being 
seven feet five inches in length, and the other seven feet. These tusks diverge slightly 
from each other, as their tips are thirteen inches asunder, though there is only an interval 
of two inches between their bases. Both these specimens were females. Sometimes the 
female Narwhal possesses a spear like her mate, but this circumstance is probably the 
effect of age, which in so many creatures, such as the domestic fowl, gives to the aged 
female the characteristics and armature of the male. 
As both these double-tusked Narwhals were females, it may be probable that they owed 
their unusual weapons to some peculiarity in their structure, which prevented them from 
