204 BRANCH VERTEBRATA. 



The water rushes in, carrying myriads of minute ani- 

 mals. The great tongue being then raised and the lower 

 lip lifted, the water is strained out through the baleen, 

 and discharged at the sides of the mouth in torrents,* 

 while the food remains, to be swallowed at leisure. 



The whale has a reserve system of blood-vessels, en- 

 abling it to remain under water for an hour or more. 

 Being an air-breathing animal, it must come quickly to 

 the surface ; hence its tail f is flattened horizontally in- 



PIG. 353. 



. 



.' - . 

 Baltx'na mystice' tus. Right Whale. (jnbO 



stead of vertically, that a rapid stroke may throw up 

 the head. Its skin consists of interlaced fibers, among 

 which the fat is diffused to the depth, in some instances, 

 of two feet,J forming the "blubber." A wise Creator 

 adapted this thick, non-conducting, India-rubber-like 



* Close observers maintain that the whale in breathing never spouts water 

 from the nostrils as the ordinary pictures represent. When it rises to the sur- 

 face, a foot or more of water over the head is blown away by the breath escaping 

 from the lungs. This is followed by the vast body of air expelled, surcharged 

 with moisture hot from the lungs, which, cooling, changes to vapor, and in its 

 circling descent resembles a shower of spray. 



t The tail has often an area of one hundred square feet, is exceedingly flexi- 

 ble, and so strong that the whale can spring clear out of the water "like little 

 fish leaping into the air after flies," falling again to the sea with a crash that 

 is heard for miles. 



J In other animals, as the hog, the fat lies between the skin and the 

 muscles. 



