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JOURNAL OF MAMMALOGY 
seen, the filling was jammed so solidly that it could be pulled out only 
with a pair of tongs, and under the filling was found a wing-feather of a 
guillemot. I must confess that I am at a loss to understand how that 
curious filling is effected. The fact seems to have been observed at a 
very early date. The learned Danish historian of the seventeenth 
century, Olaus Wormius, wrote several papers about the true nature 
of what was then styled ‘‘Unicornu.” I owe this information to the 
late Prof. PI. Jungersen of Copenhagen, who had promised to renew the 
histological and zoological investigation of the “filling.” Since he 
was prevented in so doing by his premature death, I feel free here to 
quote part of his letter, hoping that some other zoologist will take up 
the question. I do not have access here in Greenland to the works of 
the elder authors mentioned hereafter, and thus can not prosecute the 
investigation of the older literature myself. 
Professor Jungersen writes: 
I have not yet succeeded in finding the ipsissima verba of Wormius; I am 
acquainted only with the resume given by the Dutch author, Claas Mulder, 1835, 
of La Peyrere’s account of 1678. In translation it reads as follows : “La, Peyrere 
narrates that he heard from the Chancellor of the Kingdom of Denmark that 
the king of this country wished to present as a gift to some one a fine specimen 
of a Unicornu, and therefore had an entire horn sawed through at its thickest 
end. It was supposed to be quite solid, but it was found to be hollow. To the 
greatest surprise of all, a small horn of the same shape and quality as the big one 
was seen in the cavity. Further, the sawer cut the big horn through across 
without damaging the small one, and it was noticed that the small one was con- 
cealed in the big one as far as the cavity extended I think it is the 
same case mentioned by Wormius. He mentions the Royal Apothecary, Elias 
Fleischer, who sawed the tusk for him, and who by vigorously shaking and push- 
ing succeeded in getting the small tusk out. Wormius adds that he never before 
observed a case like this, although he had seen many narwhals’ tusks.” 
As far as I can see, Mulder has however never seen the writings of Wormius. 
La Peyrere owes his knowledge to Wormius, either from his writings or his corre- 
spondence, ^ I have hitherto not been able to find the quotation myself; all our 
old literature being at this moment in the hands of Dr. Garboe, who at present 
is studying all the tales of the olden time about the “Unicornu,” 
If La Peyrere relates rightly, that “small horn” is however very enigmatic, 
reaching down to the very base of the large tusk. Old Peter Camper has, on 
1 Or from verbal information. La Peyrere visited Copenhagen, 1644-45, in 
the suite of the French ambassador. He became a friend of Wormius, studied 
in his famous “Museum” and got from him most of the materials for his books: 
Relation de Groenlande and Relation d^Islande. Cfr. C. C. A. Gosch: Udsigt over 
Danmarks zoologiske Literatur, 2. Afd., I, Bd., P. 29. — M. P. P. 
