182 



FOURTH GENUS NARWHALUS. 



Distinguishing Characters.- This genus has no teeth, properly 

 so called, but only two tusks, long and pointed, usually 

 called horns, springing from the intermaxillary bones, and 

 directed forwards in the axis of the body ; it has no dorsal 

 fin. 



THE NARWHAL, OR SEA UNICORN. 

 PLATE XI. 



N. Microchephalus, Bon. Laciplde, Desm Monodon Mono- 



oeros, Lm. 9 Fab. ; popularly known as The Sea Unicorn. 



THIS long established genus had been very much the 

 creation of fancy ; and as, from the peculiarity of its 

 singular horn, it excited much interest, so the errors 

 connected with it have been yery widely spread. 

 Both Lacepede and Desmaret have three species ; 

 the first of which, the large headed, was represented 

 as a great oval animal sixty feet long, with a mur- 

 derous horn of sixteen feet in length, with which, in 

 troops, it waged deadly warfare with the mightiest 

 inhabitants of the ocean, and made them an easy 

 prey. This species, however, is a mere figment, 

 the product of ignorance and exaggeration. The 

 third species, Nartvhalus And#rs<mii, does not rest 

 on any more solid foundation, so that the genus 

 really comprehends only one species. 



