— — 
202 Dblphinid^. MAMMALIA. Delphinid^. 
palates, and the nostrils are united into a single, lunate. 
their sockets are placed between the maxillary and 
transversely disposed hlow-liole. In some species 
intennaxillary bones ; yet, from the circumstance of 
the teeth are deciduous; in all they are simple in 
the base of their roots being somewhat in front of the 
structure, and of a more or less conical form ; the head 
inciso-maxillary suture, we incline to the persuasion 
is likewise of moderate size. The intestinal canal is 
that they are incisors. The left nostril is smaller than 
not furnished with a coecum. 
the right. The colour of the adult Narwhal is dark 
THE BOTTLE-HEAD {Hyperoodon Butzkopf) is an 
above, whitish and marbled at the sides, underneath ; 
inhabitant of the north sea, and occasionally makes its 
in young individuals the hide is uniformlv black. The 
appearance on our shores. It is readily distinguished 
Narwhal is a swift swimmer, and gregarious in its 
by the attenuated character of the fore-part of the 
habits; and as it feeds chiefly upon small molluscous 
muzzle, which is prolonged so as to resemble a beak. 
animals, it is difficult to say what is the express pur- 
and was, in consequence, termed the Beaked whale by 
pose of the large tusk. According to Dr. Scoresby, it 
Pennant. The earliest account we have of its occur- 
is employed to destroy large fishes, such as skates and 
rence, is that given by Dale in his “History of Harwich,” 
turbot, specimens of this whale having been found to 
from a specimen taken off the coast, near Maldon, in 
contain the remains of such fishes in their stomachs. 
the year 1717. Its length was fourteen feet, the cir- 
The Greenland missionary, Mr. Egede, a translation 
cumference of the body seven and a half; the flippers 
of whose work was published in Ijondon in 1745, 
being seventeen inches, and the dorsal fin a foot in 
stated that the tusk is used in piercing ice for the 
length. On this subject Dr. Collingwood makes the 
purpose of enabling the creatures to obtain fresh air, 
following remark in his brochure previously cited: — 
without always seeking the open water. Others regard it 
“In the Philosophical Trans, for 1787, in the paper by 
simply as a weapon of offence and defence, and many 
Hunter ‘ On the structure and economy of whales,’ is a 
exaggerated accounts of its powers in this respect have 
meagre account of bottle-nosed whales with two teeth. 
been recorded by Lacepede and others. The ivory 
with a figure of the animal. Hunter adds, that ‘it was 
of the tusk is very white and dense, and capable of 
caught above London bridge in the year 1783, and 
yielding a high polish. Lacepede, in his “Histoire 
became the property of the late Mr. Alderman Pugh, 
Naturelle des Cetacees,” gives a figure of the head 
who very politely allowed me to examine the structure. 
of a Narwhal in which both of the teeth w’ere devel- 
and take away the bones. It was twenty-one feet 
oped to nearly equal length. The quality of the oil 
long.’ Mr. Bell’s figure is a reduced copy of our 
obtained from the blubber is superior, and the flesh is 
whale as given by John Hunter. Hunter was doubtful 
much prized by the Greenlanders. Several instances 
of its species, saying, that it resembled Delphinus Tur- 
have been recorded of this animal’s appearance on our 
sio (the Bottle-nosea dolphin), but was of a different 
shores. The first is that described by Tulpius in 1648, 
genus, having only two teeth in the lower jaw, con- 
the specimen being twenty-two feet long. Another was 
cealed by the gum. The belly was white, shaded off 
thrown on the Lincolnshire coast, near Boston, in 1800, 
to the dark colour of the back. He, however, rightly 
and a third was found close by the shore, at the entrance 
conjectured that it Avas the species described by Dale 
of the sound of Weesdale in Zetland, on the morning 
(“Harwich,” 411, pi. 14), viz. Hyperoodon Butzkopf, 
of the 27th of September, 1808. The last specimen was 
and supposes it to have been a young one, as he men- 
most carefully anatomized by Dr. Fleming of Edinburgh, 
tions a skuU which must have belonged to one thirty or 
who was then minister of Bressay, and rvho afterwards 
forty feet long.” Dr. Collingwood has, we fear, in 
communicated a ihinute description to the Wernerian 
the remaining part of his “note” confounded Dale’s 
Society, which is published in the first volume of the 
and Hunter’s specimens, and has called the editor of 
Transactions, p. 131, with three accompanying figures. 
Pennant to account for a discrepancy in respect of 
The animal measured only twelve feet from the snout 
measurement — himself altogether overlooking the cir- 
to the notch which divides the tall. The flippers were 
curastance, that Dale’s specimen was stranded seventy 
fifteen inches in length ; the tusk measured only 
years before Hunter’s example appeared in the Thames. 
thirty-nine inches; and, as in otliers, was spirally 
In our edition of Pennant (1776) the length of the 
gi'ooved or twisted, and striated externally from riglut 
IMaldon specimen is correctly given as fourteen feet, 
to left, tapering to a blmit and solid point. The oil 
and thus corresponds with the original description ; in 
yielded by this example was of inferior quality. Dr. 
the edition to which Dr. Collingwood refers, it is given 
Fleming expressed an opinion that there might be 
as eleven feet, which is probably a misprint. In con- 
two species of Narwhals, viz., the common and the 
elusion, we may observe, that a series of careful 
small-headed — referring the example in question to the 
dissections of another example of this rare and inter- 
latter. Respecting the Lincolnshire specimen which 
esting cetacean may be seen in the Anatomical Museum 
was taken at the village of Frieston, near Boston, Sir 
of the University of Edinburgh. 
Josej)h Banks, in a letter to Dr. Fleming, observes : 
THE NARWHAL {Monodon monosceros) — Plate 27, 
— “ The animal when found, had buried the whole 
fig. 86 — or Unicorn-Avhale, is readily distinguished by 
of its body in tbe mud of which the beach is there 
its remarkable tusk-like tooth which projects several 
composed, and seemed safely and securely waiting the 
feet in a horizontal direction from the left side of the 
return of the tide. A fisherman going to his boat saw 
upper jaw; the tooth of the opposite side being imper- 
the horn, which was covered up, and trying to pull it 
fectly developed, and remaining permanently concealed 
out of the mud, raised the animal, who stirred himself 
within the alveolus. It is not certain whether these 
hastily to secure his horn from the attack ” Although 
teeth should be regarded as incisors or canines, as 
Sir Joseph Banks commimicated similar particulars to 
