786 



C E T A C E A. 



tiie neck, rather than on the head, The only teeth 

 which they have are those projecting from the snout, 

 usually one, sometimes on the right side of the snout, 

 sometimes on the left, and very rarely two, or, if two, 

 one of them is usually much less produced than the 

 other. These seem, however, always to be two 

 rudimental ones ; and they are the only teeth which 

 the animals possess. They are not of the smallest 

 use in mastication, or in the capture of the food of 

 the animals, farther than that they may sometimes 

 use them in detaching shell- fish from the rocks, as 

 these form a considerable part of their food. They 

 also use them as weapons , and in this respect they 

 are very formidable ; long, strong, spirally twisted, 

 generally sharp at the point, and formed of very com- 

 pact bone or ivory. Their heads are much smaller 

 in proportion to the size of their bodies than those of 

 the whales properly so called ; their muzzle is round- 

 ed, and they have no whalebone or horny plates 

 in their mouth. The upper part of their body is, in 

 general, spotted, and there is a sort of edge on the 

 posterior part of the back, extending a considerable 

 way from the tail ; but the most typical species are 

 without any fin on the back. 



They are chiefly inhabitants of the northern or 

 polar regions; are fast swimmers, and altogether 

 very active animals, driving about with great velocity, 

 and keeping all other inhabitants of the deep at a dis- 

 tance, by means of the formidable weapon with which 

 their snout is armed. As they have no teeth or other 

 instruments of division or mastication in the mouth, 

 they do not prey upon large animals, not even on 

 large fishes ; but they are voracious in proportion to 

 their activity, and swallow a number of the smaller 

 fishes, as well as of radiated and molluscous animals, 

 and they use the tooth in detaching the shelled ones 

 from the rocks. 



There are, perhaps, two sections of this division, 

 those without a fin on the back, and those with one ; 

 and there are two, or probably more, species of each 

 section, but their history is imperfect and obscure. 

 Those without the fin are systematically termed 

 Monodon, one tooth ; and the others Anarnacus, from 

 a real or supposed purgative quality of their flesh and 

 fat. We snail first notice the species without the 

 dorsal fin ; they are Monodon vulgaris, the common 

 narwhal, and Monodon microcephalus,the small-headed 

 narwhal. 



Monodon vulgaris. The common narwhal grows 

 to the length of from twenty to twenty-two feet, the 

 general form of its body is a sort of oval, and it has 

 a prominent ridge on the back, extending all the 

 way from the tail to the blow-holes at the nape. 

 Specimens of much larger dimensions than those 

 above stated have been mentioned, but it does not 

 appear that the accounts of them are very well 

 authenticated. Indeed, the whole of the accounts of 

 the northern seas require to be read with caution, 

 and received with considerable allowances, as many 

 of the dcscribers of their productions appear to have 

 caught no small portion of the romancing and fabulous 

 spirit, for which the natives of these wild regions 

 have, in all ages, been celebrated. 



The general shape of the body when viewed late- 

 rally is, as has been mentioned, an elongated oval ; 

 the upper part is grey, with deeper spots, which vary 

 considerably in size and number in different indivi- 

 duals, and the under part is of a pure and intense 

 whie, which is indeed the prevailing colour of the 



under part of all the cetacea which are inhabitants oi 

 the cold seas in high latitudes; and there is no doubt 

 that this white colour tends much to protect the vis- 

 cera and other working structures of these animals, 

 from the intense cold to which they are exposed 

 among floating ice and ice-water. 



Greenland whale. 



To appearance, there is hardly any distinction be- 

 tween the body and head of this animal, further than 

 a slight depression immediately in the rear of the 

 blow-hole, which may be considered as the neck 

 The blow-hole is crescent-shaped ; the forehead low 

 and the snout obtuse and rounded. The mouth is 

 very small in comparison with the size of the animal 

 and would not admit a body of more than betweer 

 three and four inches in diameter. 



The swimming paws are about a foot long, and 

 eight inches in breadth ; and, as is the case in all the 

 order, they are much flattened, and their motions are 

 in the cartilage, by which bone is united to bone 

 rather than in the one bone sliding upon the other 

 as in the joints of land animals. The dorsal ridge 

 commences immediately in rear of the blow-hole, anc 

 continues all the way to the tail, only it becomes 

 lower as it approaches that organ. The tail itself is 

 formed into two lobes, which incline away from the 

 body ; and though it is horizontal, and therefore has 

 its most powerful action in striking the water upwards 

 and downwards, yet it has considerable twisting mo- 

 tion, and is a very efficient swimming instrument 

 The skin of the common narwhal is thin, and the 

 blubber, or fat in the cellular tissue, only in smal 

 quantity ; but in quality it is said to be much supe^ 

 rior to that of any of the other whales, yielding, bj 

 simple expression, an oil which is said to be superioi 

 to that obtained from even the hard fat of the sper 

 maceti whales. 



The most singular part of this animal is the tooth 

 or, as it is sometimes called, the horn. It is deeplj 

 inserted in the bones of the skull, generally to the 

 depth of at least a foot in moderately-sized sped 

 mens. This part of it is hollow, and filled with E 

 sentient cone, the hollow terminating about the poim 

 at which it issues from the head. From this point ii 

 tapers gradually, and comes to a fine but in genera! 

 not a very sharp point. In its direction it is noi 

 exactly parallel to the axis or general line of the 

 body, but inclines toward that side in which it has it; 

 origin, which is sometimes the right and sometime! 

 the left. When there are two of these teeth, the) 

 generally spread so much, that their fronts are aboui 

 a foot and a half asunder ; and even when there is 

 only one, which is the general case, that one deviates 

 about nine or ten inches from the mesial plane at it; 

 point. When there are two of these teeth, the 

 distance of their bases at the snout of the animal ii 

 not more than about two inches. 



The substance of these teeth is ivory, and ivory o 



