NARWHAL, Monodon, or nartrhalus, a genus of eetteea, of the family delphinitite, re‘einhlino. beluga (q.v.) in form and in the want of a dorsal fin, but remarkably charac terized by having no teeth at all, except two in the tipper jaw, supposed to be canines, which sometimes remain quite rudimentary, even in the mature animal, as they are in the young, and are sometimes developed into great spirally twisted straight tusks, passing through the upper lip, and projecting like horns in front. Only one species is ascer M. rnonoceros or N. •z/goris; the other species which have been described by naturalists having been founded on exaggerations and untrustworthy observations. ft inhabits the Arctic seas, and is very rarely found so far south as the Shetland isles, although an accidental wanderer has reached the coast of England. Narwhals are often seen in great numbers among the ice-fields, and in the creeks and bays of the most north ern coasts. They commonly associate in small herds. The tusks are much more fre quently developed in the male than in the female, but in the female also they sometimes attain a large size. It is but rarely that both tusks are largely developed, although they sometimes are so, and then diverge a little; one of them generally continues rudimentary, or attains a length only of a few inches, whilst the other becomes a great horn, project ing straight in front, from which the animal has received the name of SEA Uncoltx. A mature narwhal is generally about 15 or 16 ft. in length, without reckoning the tusk, which is from 6 to 10 ft. long. The body is less thick than that of the beluga; the head is small, the forehead rises abruptly, the muzzle is very obtuse, the upper jaw projects a little; the first half of the body is nearly cylindrical, the remainder to the tail tin is coni cal. The tusk is hollow nearly to tl:e point. Its use is rather conjectured than known.
It is probably a weapon of defense, but Scoresby has suggested that it may be also used for breaking thin ice in order to obtain opportunity for respiration; and for killing fish, as he found remains of skates and other flat-fish in the stomach of a narwhal, which it is not easy to imagine how a toothless animal, with rather small mouth and lips, could cap ture and swallow, unless the formidable tusk were first employed. Cephalopodous mol lusks, however, are believed to constitute a principal part of the food of narwhals. The narwhal is a very active animal, swimming with great rapidity, lively, and playful. A group of narwhals together, projecting their great horns from the sea, and cross ing them in their sport, is a very interesting sight. The narwhal is pursued by the Greenlanders and other inhabitants of the north, for the sake of its blabber, with which its whole body is invested to the thickness of about 3 in., amounting to nearly half a ton in weight, and yielding a large proportion of excellent oil. The tusks are also valuable, being of an extremely compact white substance—denser, harder, and whiter than ivory —which is used as a substitute for ivory. The kings of Denmark have long possessed a magnificent throne of this material, which is preserved in the castle of Rosenberg. The flesh of the narwhal is used by the Greenlanders as food. Great medicinal virtues were formerly ascribed to the tusks, but were merely imaginary.