56 
WHALE ROOM. 
specimens. Nevertheless, the specimens will be safely preserved 
in it, until the erection of the west front shall afford them 
better accommodation: and visitors can, with very little difficulty, 
study most of the important peculiarities of these gigantic and 
interesting^ members of the Animal Kini^dom. 
As it is almost impracticable to preserv^e the skins of the larger 
species of whales, owing to the quantity of oil with which they 
are saturated, the exhibition of the characters of these animals is 
carried out by means of their skeletons and artificial models of 
one side of the external form. Stuffed specimens of many of 
the smaller kinds, are, however, shown. A general account of 
the structure and classification of the Cetacea, with special 
reference to those exhibited in this gallery, will be found in the 
Guide to the Galleries of Mammalia.* 
Fresh-water On the left side of the entrance is a case containing a stuffed 
Dolphins. specimen, skeleton, and several skulls of the curious Fresh- 
water Dolphin of the rivers of India (Platanista gangetica), 
and also of the Dolphins of the Rio de la Plata {Pontoporia 
blainvillei), and of the river Amazon (Inia geojffroyensis). Among 
the specimens fronting the visitor as he enters the room, one of 
the most interesting, on account of its remarkable dentition, 
Narwhal. i'^ the Narwhal, or Sea-Unicorn. It has only two teeth, which 
lie horizontally in the upper jaw. In the female both remain 
permanently concealed within the bone of the jaw, so that 
this sex is practically toothless ; but in the male, while the 
right tooth remains similarly concealed and abortive (as shown 
in the specimen, by removal of part of the bone which covered 
it), the left is immensely developed, attaining a length equal to 
that of half the entire animal, and projecting horizontally from 
the head in the form of a long, straight, tapering and pointed 
tusk, spirally grooved on the surface. In some very rare cases 
both teeth are fully developed, as in the fine skull exhibited near 
the skeleton, and it is noticeable that in such specimens the 
direction of the spiral is the same in both tusks. 
To the right of the entrance is placed a specimen of the 
bony framework of one of the most colossal of animals. 
Sperm-Whaie. ^he Cachalot, or Sperm-Whale {Physeter macrocephalus), pre- 
* "Guide to the Gallenes of Mammalia in the Dejartmcnt (tf Zoology." 
Price Bixpencc. 
