DESCRIPTION OF A NARWAL. I45 



by La Cepede, if adopted, would have a tendency 

 to produce error ; whereas, the generic name Mo- 

 nodon, of the Swedish Naturalist, expresses one 

 of the most striking appearances of the two spe- 

 cies of which the genus consists ; and, what is of 

 equal importance, it has been long received, and 

 generally adopted. It has not only been em- 

 ployed by Linnaeus, but by Artedi, Miiller, Bon- 

 naterre, Fabricius, and other eminent natura- 

 lists. 



The two species of narwals, mentioned above, 

 may perhaps be distinguished from each other,, 

 by the following specific characters : 



1. Monodon vulgaris. Common Narwal. 



Unicorn Narwal. Shaw, Gen. Z00L vol. ii. part 2 3 



tab. 225, p. 473. 

 Le Narwal vulgaire, Narwalus vulgaris. La Cepede, 



Hist. Nat. des Cet. pi. iv. fig. 3. p. 142. 

 Narhval, Unicornu marinum, Unicorn-fish. Pon- 



top. Nat. Hist. Norw. pi. p. 113. part 2. 



Narwhale, or Unicorn. Kgede, Desc. of Greenland 5 

 pi. v. p. 76. 



figure approaching to ovoid : the head equal to 

 one-fourth of the whole length : A ridge ex- 

 tending from the tail to the blowhole : tail di- 

 vided \ lobes rounded. 



