PORPOISES AND DOLPHINS. 43 



ill- defined ridge. The flippers are short, wide, and rounded. In colour the narwhal 

 is dark grey or dusky above and white beneath, the back and sides being irregularly 

 mottled with various shades of grey. The entire length may vary from 12 to about 

 16 feet. A tusk measuring 8 feet in length had a basal girth of 7J inches. 



The narwhal resembles the Greenland whale in being an inhabit- 

 Distribution. 



ant of the icy polar seas, and like that species is circumpolar in its 



distribution ; it is, however, apparently local in its range, being, according to 

 Captain Scammon, but rarely found in the seas accessible to the whalers who pass 

 through the Behring Strait. Although seldom occurring to the south of the 65th 

 parallel of north latitude, there are three instances (one in 1648, a second in 1800, 

 and a third eight years later) of narwhals visiting the British coasts. From the 

 extreme rarity of such occurrences, there is, however, no dcubt that the individuals 

 in question had been carried by currents out of their proper habitat. From constant 

 persecution, the numbers of tho narwhal have been greatly reduced in the more 

 accessible portions of its habitat; and according to Baron Noidenskiold, it is now 

 never seen on the coasts of Novaia Zemlia. It is, however, more common at 

 Hope Island, and large herds are reported from the seas between Spitzbergen and 

 Novaia Zemlia. It is noteworthy that fossil remains of the narwhal have been 

 found in the so-called forest-bed of the Norfolk coast, a deposit laid down before 

 the great cold of the glacial period, but when the temperature may have been 

 steadily lowering, whereby Arctic animals were enabled to leave their more 

 northerly haunts. 



Of the habits of narwhals, unfortunately very little is known. 



They are generally found in small schools, comprising from fifteen to 

 twenty individuals ; and were described long ago by Scoresby as being extremely 

 playful in their disposition. Much has been written as to the use of the characteristic 

 tusk, but nothing very definite has yet been ascertained with regard to it. That it 

 is not employed for the purpose of procuring food, is perfectly evident from the 

 fact of its absence in the female. A more probable suggestion is that it is used by 

 the males in combats among themselves for the possession of the females-; in 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 colour ; 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, 

 however, considerable. 



THE WHITE WHALE. 

 Genus Delphinapterus. 



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

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



