436 THE NARWHAL. 



in the middle of the lower jaw. The pectoral fins are placed rather low, and their shape is 

 oval, tapering towards their extremities. Sowerby' s Ziphius is so called, because that well- 

 known naturalist figured and described the animal. His description was founded upon a 

 specimen that was cast ashore. The skull of this individual was preserved by Mr. Sowerby 

 in his museum, and is so valuable a specimen that it has been industriously 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 permit- 

 ting 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. 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 Dolphins are represented in our Atlantic waters by the Common Dolphin. Historical 

 and classical, this creature has in all ages claimed a good degree of interest and attention from 

 the general reader, as well as the poet, the painter, and the savant. Its graceful form has 

 long been the ideal of beauty in certain artistic groupings and designs. The characteristic 

 prominence on its head, with its prolonged snout, is exaggerated somewhat to produce the 

 conventional art-form. This is the true Dolphin of the poet and the painter, although the 

 sailor may claim that the fish so called which exhibits most brilliant colors, made changeable 

 while dying by certain aspects of the circulation of the blood, is also the true one. The latter 

 has somewhat the same outline of head and shoulders, but the former, also, has the elongated 

 flexible body, with the elegant forked tail, whose flukes add such grace to the drawings of 

 ancient works. Though familiar to the reader by description and illustration, yet the Dolphin 

 is seldom seen alive. An excellent opportunity was offered during the winter of 1878 in the 

 New York Aquarium. A specimen measuring about seven feet in length was captured in the 

 Long Island Sound, and was successfully exhibited alive during several months. 



The Porpoise is the most familiar Cetacean to people living near the sea. It is especially 

 a harbor species. Herds of them are often seen rolling, rolling, as they come to the surface to 

 breathe. The name is curiously corrupted from the French, porc-poisson, hog-fish literally. 

 This species reaches the length of seven feet, though usually it is about four or five. 



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, 

 imbedded in the bone, which, in the female, are generally undeveloped throughout 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 sup- 

 posed 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, 



