10 
JOURNAL OF MAMMALOGY 
the females were as a rule much lighter colored than the males, and 
in them the light color extended from the whole ventral side up over 
the flanks. 
On several females I noticed wounds two to four inches long near 
the genital openings. They were narrow, resembling incisions made 
by a knife, and ran lengthwise of the body. All the wounds that I 
saw were infested with apparently the same parasite that always in- 
fests the fold of the skin about the root of the tusk {Cyamus nodosus 
Liitken). In his monograph of the species of Cyamus (Kgl. Vidensk. 
Selsk. Skr. 5 E. naturv. and math., Afd. 10. Kjobanhavn, 1873) C. F. 
Liitken states that he does not yet know whether this parasite occurs 
only on the male narwhals or not. 
Several, but not all the full-grown females were with young. The 
stage of development of the foetus of the gravid ones varied greatly, 
the foetuses ranging from very small to nearly full-grown. This cor- 
roborates previously expressed opinions that a definite rutting season 
does not exist amongst narwhals. 
As is well known, two tusks grow in the upper jaw of both sexes of 
the narwhals, but as a rule the left one of the male protrudes and de- 
velops into the large tusk. Both tusks of the female, and as a rule the 
right one of the male, remain included in the tissues; but in rare cases 
both tusks are developed in the males, the right one then often some- 
what shorter and weaker than the left one. A specimen with two tusks 
was seen several times during one of the savssats, but unfortunately 
was not secured. 
The undeveloped tusks often show a characteristic appearance, for 
they are in the process of absorption, especially in old individuals. 
The surface is then ‘Touse-eaten,” say the Greenlanders, who also 
pretend to be able to distinguish the incipient tusks of the females from 
the right one of the males, the latter being straight, they say, whereas 
the former are slightly curved. The small tusks soon become solid. 
Those of the young individuals are very strong, and are used by the 
Eskimos as part of their towing implements. 
The root end of the developed tusk in young individuals is very 
thin-walled, but in old specimens this cavity is gradually filled up 
with very fine bone. The bone of the root end of very old tusks is 
technically the best of the whole tusk, being not liable to splitting and 
warping as the other parts often are. However, there is always a thin 
canal left, leading up to the large cavity running through the whole 
length of the tusk. When uninjured this cavity is filled with a spongy 
core, rich in blood. 
