378 CETACEA. 



like satin, and in the male it is marked in numerous irregularly shaped 

 but usually long spots of a dark brown color, the rest of the skin being 

 white or yellowish. These dark spots are densest on the back. Speci- 

 mens, however, have been seen of a uniform white or gray color. The 

 length of the Narwhal is on an average twelve to sixteen feet, but some 

 have been found which measured nearly twenty feet. 



The extraordinary weapon with which the Narwhal is armed, soon 

 attracted attention, and provoked numerous speculations as to its use. 

 The celebrated Albertus Magnus describes this animal as a fish which 

 has a horn on its forehead by which it can pierce fishes, or even ships, 

 but that the mercy of the Creator has made it so sluggish that escape 

 from it is easy. Rochefort relates that the horn is used for attacks on 

 other whales, and for boring through the ice. Fabricius conjectures that 

 the Narwhal spits fish on this weapon, which it then holds up till the prey 

 slips down within reach of its tongue. Scoresby agrees with those who 

 regard the horn as an instrument for making breathing-holes in the ice. 

 It is evident, however, that an apparatus necessary to enable the animal 

 either to procure food or get fresh air would not be restricted to one sex. 

 There can be no doubt that this horn, which is a distinguishing mark of 

 sex, is, like the tusk of the boar, a weapon of offence. 



In some rare instances the right tusk has been developed instead of 

 the left, and it is supposed 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 in length ; and 

 another example is recorded of a Narwhal which possessed 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 is probably 

 the effect of age, which in so many creatures, such as the domestic fowl, 

 gives to the aged female the characteristics 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 becoming mothers, and forced the innate 

 energies to expend themselves in the development of tusks instead of 

 the formation of offspring. The tusks of male swine and other animals. 



