48 MR. J. W. CLARK ON THE NARWHAL. [Jail. 17, 



tusk on the right side, yet there are passages in Scoresby * which 

 point to other abnormalities in Narwhal skulls. He says, " All the 

 male Narwhals that I have at different times seen killed, excepting 

 one, had a tusk of 3' to 6' in length projecting from the left side of 

 the head." Provokingly enough, he gives no further particulars. 

 I should conjecture, by comparing this passage with what he says 

 elsewhere, that he means that he once saw a male Narwhal with no 

 tusks at all. Such a case would be paralleled by those of female 

 Narwhals with developed tusks, three of which are on record. The 

 first is mentioned by Anderson t, who says that the skull with two 

 tusks brought to Hamburg in 1684 belonged to a female. The 

 second is a very remarkable instance, and rests on the authority of 

 Scoresby J. On his Greenland voyage he captured "a female Nar- 

 whal, with a tusk 4' 3" in length, of which 12" were imbedded in 

 the skull," on the left side, and with a dextrorsal spiral. On the 

 right side was the usual undeveloped tusk, 9" in length. The third 

 is to be found in the Transactions of the Linnean Society for 1821 §. 

 " A Hull whaler took a $ Narwhal with a tooth in the upper jaw, 

 perfect, and in every respect like those of the males, though not so 

 laro-e. The sex of this animal was satisfactorily ascertained in cut- 

 ting up, when two foetuses were taken out of it." 



The undeveloped tusk of the right side is usually about 9" long, 

 smooth, tapering, and found to be solid when a section of it is made. 

 At the extremity there are sometimes a few markings, in a spiral or 

 a circular direction. In adult specimens the pulp-cavity has closed 

 up, and its place is marked by a very shallow depression on the outer 

 edge of the maxillary. At the base there is always a rough, irre- 

 gular growth, almost like the "burr" on a stag's horn. In a spe- 

 cimen in the Cambridge Museum, obtained by exchange from Hull 

 in 1865, and in which the undeveloped tooth has never been removed 

 from its socket, this growth forms a knob turned to the left. 

 Scoresby notices this peculiarity, and observes that it is a distin- 

 guishing mark of female skulls — a statement that would appear to 

 require further investigation. The examination of these abortive 

 tusks, without knowledge of the animal to which they belonged, 

 led naturalists such as Lacepede to believe in the existence of a 

 smaller species, to which he gave the name of Narwhalus ander- 

 sonianus, just as Narwhalus microcephalus was made from the exa- 

 mination of a tooth that was not full-grown. 



When Narwhal tusks first came into the market, they were con- 

 sidered to belong to a marine variety of the Unicorn of Scripture ; 

 and much has been written to show that they fulfil all the required 

 conditions. They were sold for very high prices, deposited in royal 

 and ecclesiastical treasuries, and believed to be a specific against 

 poisons and fevers. Dr. Olaf Worm of Copenhagen (better known 

 by his Latin name Wormius), was the first who had the opportunity 



* Scoresby, 'Arctic Regions,' i. p. 491. 



T Anderson, ' Nachrichten von Gron'and.' 



\ Scoresby, ' Greenland,' p. l;36. 



§ Vol. xiii. p. 620. The statement is given on the authority of W. R. Wliatton. 



