THE NARWHAL. 537 



because that well-known naturalist figured and described the animal in the British 

 Miscellany. His description was founded upon a specimen that was cast ashore upon 

 the estate of Mr. J. Brodie, in Elginshire. The skull of this individual was preserved 

 by Mr. Sowerby in his museum, and after his death it was placed by Dr. Buckland in 

 the Anatomical Museum at Oxford. As it is so valuable a specimen, it has been industri- 

 ously multiplied by means of plaster casts, which have been distributed to various 

 scientific institutions. 



The length of the creature was sixteen feet, and its girth at the largest part of the 

 body was eleven feet. The head is small, narrow, and pointed, and the lower jaw is 

 longer, blunter, and wider than the upper jaw, so that when the mouth is closed, the 

 lower jaw receives the upper. In the upper jaw there are two depressions corresponding 

 with the teeth, and permitting the perfect closing of the mouth. The color of the 

 animal is black on the upper surface and gray below, and is remarkable for the pellucid 

 and satin-like character of the skin, which reflects the rays of the sun to a considerable 

 distance. On reference to the illustration, the reader will notice that the body is 

 marked like watered silk. This effect is produced by a vast number of white 

 streaks immediately below the skin, which are drawn irregularly over the whole 

 body, and at a little distance appear as if they were made by means of some sharp 

 instrument. 



Nothing is known of the habits of this curious animal, which is unknown to science, 

 except by means of the specimen above mentioned. 



The word NARWHAL is derived from the Gothic, signifying " Beaked-whale," and is a 

 very appropriate term for the SEA UNICORN, as the animal is popularly entitled. The 

 head of the Narwhal is round, and convex in front, the lower jaw being without teeth, 

 and not so wide as the upper jaw. From the upper jaw of the Narwhal springs the 

 curious weapon which has gained for the animal a world-wide reputation. 



In the upper jaw of the young or the female Narwhal are found two small hollow 

 tusks, imbed4ed in the bone, which, in the female, are generally undeveloped through- 

 out the whole of the animal's existence, but in the male Narwhal are strangely 

 modified. The right tusk remains in its infantine state, excepting that the hollow 

 becomes filled with bony substance ; but the left tusk rapidly increases in length, and 

 is developed into a long, spiral, tapering rod of ivory, sometimes attaining to the length 

 of eight or ten feet. The tusks are supposed to be formed by an excessive growth of 

 the canine teeth, and not of the incisors, as might be supposed from the position which 

 they occupy in the jaw. 



The use of this singular tusk is very obscure, for if it were intended to serve some 

 very important object, such as the procuring of food, it is evident that the females 

 would need its aid as much as their companions of the opposite sex, for both sexes feed 

 on the same food, and inhabit the same localities, at the same time. A very plausible 

 conjecture has been offered, to the effect, that the " horn" is useful in the light of an 

 auger, with which the animal is enabled to bore breathing-holes through, the ice-fields, 

 whenever it finds itself in want of air beneath those vast frozen plains. But this 

 theory is equally liable to the objection, that the females want to breathe as much as the 

 males, and would stand in equal need of so indispensable an apparatus. 



That the " horn" is employed in some definite task, is evident from the fact, that its 

 tip is always smooth and polished, however rough and encrusted the remainder of its 

 length may be. 



The male Narwhal may perhaps use the tusk as a weapon of war, wherewith to charge 

 his adversaries as a mediaeval knight was wont to charge with shield on breast and lance 

 in rest ; and if that be the case, the weapon is truly a terrible one. This conjecture 

 derives some force from the fact, that a herd of these aquatic spearmen have been seen 

 engaged in sportive pastime, crossing their ivory lances, and seeming to fence with them, 

 as the white weapons clashed against each other. The play of animals, not to mention 

 mankind, is almost invariably founded on the spirit of combativeness, and generally 

 consists in a sham fight ; so that the Narwhal " horn" may probably be analogous to the 

 tusks of boars and the horns of deer, and be given to the animal as an offensive weapon. 



