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Show IS MR. J. W. CLARK ON THE NARWHAL. [Jail. 17, tusk on the right side, yet there are passages in Scoresby * which point to other abnormalities in Narwhal skulls. He says, " All the male Narwhals that I have at different times seen killed, excepting one, had a tusk of 3' to 6' in length projecting from the left side of the head." Provokingly enough, he gives no further particulars. I should conjecture, by comparing this passage with what he says elsewhere, that he means that he once saw a male Narwhal with no tusks at all. Such a case would be paralleled by those of female Narwhals with developed tusks, three of which are on record. The first is mentioned by Anderson t, who says that the skull with two tusks brought to Hamburg in 1684 belonged to a female. The second is a very remarkable instance, and rests on the authority of Scoresby J. On his Greenland voyage he captured " a female Narwhal, with a tusk 4' 3" in length, of which 12" were imbedded in the skull," on the left side, and with a dextrorsal spiral. On the right side was the usual undeveloped tusk, 9" in length. The third is to be found in the Transactions of the Linnean Society for 1821 §. " A Hull whaler took a $ Narwhal with a tooth in the upper jaw, perfect, and in every respect like those of the males, though not so large. The sex of this animal was satisfactorily ascertained in cutting up, when two foetuses were taken out of it." The undeveloped tusk of the right side is usually about 9" long, smooth, tapering, and found to be solid when a section of it is made. At the extremity there are sometimes a few markings, in a spiral or a circular direction. In adult specimens the pulp-cavity has closed up, and its place is marked by a very shallow depression on the outer edge of the maxillary. At the base there is always a rough, irregular growth, almost like the "burr" on a stag's horn. In a specimen in the Cambridge Museum, obtained by exchange from Hull in 1865, and in which the undeveloped tooth has never been removed from its socket, this growth forms a knob turned to the left. Scoresby notices this peculiarity, and observes that it is a distinguishing mark of female skulls-a statement that would appear to require further investigation. The examination of these abortive tusks, without knowledge of the animal to which they belonged, led naturalists such as Lacepede to believe in the existence of a smaller species, to which he gave the name of Narwhalus ander-sonianus, just as Narwhalus microcephalus was made from the examination of a tooth that was not full-grown. When Narwhal tusks first came into the market, they were considered to belong to a marine variety of the Unicorn of Scripture ; and much has been written to show that they fulfil all the required conditions. They were sold for very high prices, deposited in royal and ecclesiastical treasuries, and believed to be a specific against poisons and fevers. Dr. Olaf W o r m of Copenhagen (better known by his Latin name Wormius), was the first who had the opportunity * Scoresby, 'Arctic Regions,' i. p. 491. f Anderson, 'Nachrichten von Gron'and.' X Scoresby, ' Greenland,' p. 136. § Vol. xiii. p. 620. The statement is given on the authority of W . R. Whatton. |