THE NARWHAL 



shaped. The eyes are small, the largest diameter being only an inch, and 

 are placed in a line with the opening of the mouth, about 13 inches from 

 the snout. The blowhole, which is directly over the eyes, is a single 

 opening, of a semi-circular form, about 3^ inches in diameter or breadth, 

 and i^ radius or length. 



"The fins, which are 12 or 14 inches long and 6 or 8 broad, are 

 placed one-fifth of the length of the animal from the snout. The tail is 

 from 15 to 20 inches long, and 3 to 4 feet broad. It has no dorsal fin, but 

 in place of it is an irregular sharpish fatty ridge, two inches in height, extend- 

 ing two and a half feet along the back, nearly midway between the snout 

 and the tail. The edge of this ridge is generally rough, and the cuticle and 

 rete mucosum being partly wanting upon it, appear to be worn off by 

 rubbing against the ice. 



*' The prevailing colour of the young Narwhal is blackish-grey on the 

 back, variegated with numerous darker spots running into one another, and 

 forming a dusky black surface, paler and more open spots of grey on a white 

 ground at the sides, disappearing altogether about the middle of the belly. 

 In the elder animals the ground is wholly white or yellowish-white, with 

 dark-grey or blackish spots of different degrees of intensity. These spots are 

 of a roundish or oblong form : on the back, where they seldom exceed two 

 inches in diameter, they are the darkest and most crowded together, yet 

 with intervals of pure white among them. On the sides, the spots are fainter, 

 smaller, and more open. On the belly, they become extremely faint and 

 few, and in considerable surfaces are not to be seen. 



" On the upper part of the neck, just behind the blowhole, is often a 

 close patch of brownish-black without any white. 



" The external part of the fins is also generally black at the edges, but 

 greyish about the middle. The upper side of the tail is also blackish round 

 the edges, but in the middle, grey, with black curvilinear streaks on a white 



II. 81 



