THE NARWHAL. 



PLATE XVI. 



Class Mammalia. Order X. Cetacege : the Whaie 



kind. Geuns Monodon. 



AMONG the Cetaceae inhabiting the dreary realms of the 

 Polar Ocean, the Narwhal, if not the largest, or among 

 the largest, is, nevertheless, one of the most remarkable : 

 its general form resembles that of the porpoises ; it has, 

 however, no teeth, properly so called, but two ivory 

 tusks, or spears, implanted in the intermaxillary bone, but 

 of which the right remains usually rudimentary and con- 

 cealed during life. The left tusk, on the contrary, attains 

 to the length of from five to seven and eight, and some- 

 times ten feet in length, and projects from the snout in a 

 right line with the body, tapering gradually to a point, 

 with a spiral twist (rope-like) throughout its whole extent. 

 In its structure and growth, this tusk resembles that of the 

 elephant, being hollow at its base, or root, and solid at its 

 extremity. It is in the male only that this spear-like 

 weapon, under ordinary circumstances, becomes duly de- 

 veloped, the females (and, indeed, the young males,) 

 having the left, as well as the right tusk, concealed within 

 its bony socket. This rule, however, is not invariable, for 

 females have not only been seen with the left tusk project- 

 ing, but the right also ; and we may credit the account of 

 Lacepede, who states that Capt. Dirck Peterson, com- 

 mander of a vessel called the Golden Lion, brought to 

 Hamburgh, in 1689, the skull of a female narwhal, having 

 two tusks implanted in it, of which the left measured 

 seven feet five inches, and the right seven feet. It may 

 be added, that Capt. Scoresby brought home the skull of 

 a female narwhal, in which both tusks projected, though 

 only to the distance of two and a quarter inches, and 



