I2i6 THE CETACEANS 



which case it should be regarded as a sexual appendage, analogous to the antlers of 

 the deer. The food of the animal is stated to be mainly composed of cuttles and 

 various crustaceans, together with small fishes. As a rule, but a single young is 

 produced at a birth, but an instance of twins is on record. 



The narwhal is valued both for its ivory and its oil; the latter being 

 of superior quality to ordinary whale oil. The ivory of the tusk is 

 very dense in structure, and of a pure creamy-white color; but since the tusk 

 is hollow throughout the greater part of its length, its value is much less than 

 it would be otherwise. The price of narwhal tusks, although very variable is, how- 

 ever, considerable. 



THE WHITE WHALE 

 Genus Delphinapterus 



Nearly allied to the narwhal is the white whale, or beluga (Delphinapterus 

 leucas], which is likewise an Arctic species. It resembles the narwhal in having 

 the back fin represented merely by a low ridge, and it also agrees with that animal, 

 and thereby differs from the other members of the family, in having all the vertebrae 

 of the neck separate. The flippers are short, very broad across the middle, and 

 bluntly pointed, and the short and rounded head is separated from the body by a 

 slight constriction indicating the neck. The teeth are usually nine or ten in number 

 on each side of the jaws; but vary in size, and are often irregularly and obliquely 

 implanted. The white whale attains a length of sixteen or sixteen and one-half 

 feet. In color the young are light grayish brown, but the skin of the adult is a 

 pure glistening white. Baron Nordenskjold says that the adult animal is singularly 

 beautiful, the glistening white hide scarcely even showing a spot, scratch, or 

 wrinkle. 



The white whale ranges as far northward as latitude 81 35', while 



it occasionally straggles as far southward as Cape Cod, in Massachu- 

 setts, and the Scottish coasts. It occurs in large herds on the coasts of Spitzbergen 

 and Nova Zembla, and especially frequents the neighborhood of the mouths of 

 rivers, up which it will ascend for considerable distances. Five instances of the 

 occurrence of this species on the coasts of Scotland have been recorded; the last of 

 these being in the summer of 1879, when a specimen was found near Dunrobin, 

 Sutherland, at ebb tide, with its flukes caught between two short posts to which 

 a net was fastened. Near by lay a salmon, which the white whale was supposed to 

 have been pursuing, when it was caught in this manner. 



In regard to its habits, Captain Scammon writes that, like most of 



the other members of the family, the white whale " is fond of gather- 

 ing in troops, yet we have observed that it generally advances in lines of seldom 

 more than two or three abreast, or more frequently in single file, spouting irregu- 

 larly, and showing little of its form above water. When undulating along in this 

 manner, it often makes a noise at the moment of coming to the surface to respire, 

 which may be likened to the faint lowing of an ox, but the strain is not so pro- 



