NARWHAL. 



CETACEA. 

 (ODONTOCETI. ) 



435 



DELPIIINIDjE. 



t--^-*.J^rf« 



V^ii^.^.i-r-^l 



Genus Monodon (Linnaeus, 17G5). 



Generic Character. — Head round, no beak ; no dorsal fin. Teeth in adult 

 j':g, in the female they usually both remain rudimentary and concealed, but in 

 the male the left one is developed into a great tusk, projecting; from the snout 

 in the line of the animal's body. Cervical vertebra; usually free. 



NARWHAL. 



Monodon monoceros (Linnaeus). 



Spccifc Character. — IJack grey, mottled with black ; flanks and belly 

 uhite, the latter spotted with gi-ey and black. Length of adidt 14 to I'i 

 feet, of the cxserted tooth, 7 feet or more. 



Monodon monoceros, Linn-eus, Syst. Nat., L, 105 (1766). 



Narwhalim vuhjans, LacepJ;de, His. Nat. des Get., 142 (180-4). 



,, microcephalns, ,, ,, ,, 163. 



,, andersonianus, ,, ,, ,, 163. 



The Narwhal, perhaps the strangest of the many 

 strange animals included in this order, is essentially an 

 Arctic form, frequenting the icy seas of the highest 

 latitudes, and rarely wandering to more temperate 

 regions. It frequents the coasts of Greenland, Spitz- 

 bergen. Nova Zembla, and Siberia, and was seen by 

 Parry as far north as lat. 81° 10', its favourite haunts 

 principally lying between 70° and 80°. South of this 

 zone it has very rarely been observed. Nilsson records 



