462 CLASS MAMMALIA. 



merely united, and cohere more closely, and form a whole 

 more compact, more heavy, and less liable to injury and 

 discoloration than the tusks of the Elephant. The dia- 

 meter of this tooth measured at its base is frequently one- 

 thirtieth of its total length. The Groenlanders make hunt- 

 ing darts of it, and stakes for their huts. 



The aperture of the mouth in the Narwhal is remarkably 

 small in proportion to the enormous size of the animal. 

 The eye, tolerably remote from the commissure of the lips, 

 forms an equilateral triangle with the end of the muzzle and 

 the orifice of the spiracles. The back is convex and wide ; 

 the pectoral fins very short and very narrow ; the two lobes 

 which form the caudal are rounded at their extremity. 

 Behind the spiracles is a sort of crest forming a longitu- 

 dinal projection which extends from them even over the 

 caudal fin, decreasing insensibly in elevation as it approaches 

 this last extremity. The two spiracles unite so as to form 

 an external orifice which is situated on the hindermost 

 part of the summit of the head. This orifice is capable of 

 being opened or closed at the inclination of the animal, 

 by means of a fringed and moveable cover, as if it adhered 

 by a hinge. The water rejected by this emunctory canal is 

 elevated to a surprising height. 



This elephant of the ocean is to be met with in the Arctic 

 Seas, towards the eightieth degree of latitude. There he 

 seeks his subsistence among the Mollusca, and wages cruel 

 war on the tribe called Planorbes. Among fishes he par- 

 ticularly prefers the Pleuronectes. When the Narwhals 

 assembled in troops meet a whale, they are sure to give 

 him battle, and a bloody contest ensues, of which they are 

 not unfrequently themselves the victims. 



Some naturalists assert that it is not from any natural 

 sentiment of hatred that the Narwhals thus attack the 

 Whale, but merely for the pleasure of devouring his 

 tongue, which these epicures esteem no small delicacy. 



