MONODON, the narwhal, in natural history, a genus of Mammalia, of the order Cete. Generic character: tooth (sometimes two teeth) in the upper jaw, projecting strait forwards, long and spiral; spiracle on the head. The only species of this genus is M. monoceros, or the unicorn narwhal ; this is found in the northern seas, and generally of the length of twenty feet from the mouth to the tail ; from • socket in the upper jaw on one side, a tooth somewhat resembling a horn grows, in a perfectly straight direction, and a wreathed or screw-like form, to the length of six, and occasionally nine or ten feet, of a light yellow colour, and termi nating in a sharp point, a circumstance by which it is discriminated from every other species of whales. The incipient pro trusion of a second tooth on the other side of the jaw is,generally perceivable, and in some instances, though rarely, both advance to maturity. The narwhals subsist principally upon flat fish.
They are seldom observed in the open sea, and frequent the unfrozen spots near the coast of the arctic regions, where they seldom fail of their favourite food, and resort in considerable numbers, for the advantage both of certain supplies and convenient respiration. They are
taken by the Greenlanders in great abun dance by the harpoon; their flesh is eaten prepared in various ways, and the oil and intestines art also articles in great re quest at the table of these unfastidious people. The tendons are split into thin fibres, serving the purposes of thread, and the teeth are used sometimes for hunting horns, and more frequently as pillars and gate-posts in houses. These horns were formerly considered as indi cative of royal state and magnificence, being employed as the ornaments of palaces, of winch some traces are yet in existence. Medical virtue was likewise at tributed to them of the highest excellence.