118 



VERTEBEATA: MAMMALIA. 



enormous dimensions, even one hundred feet in length 

 (Fig. 127). To the Mysticetes belong also the Eight 

 Whales or BalsenidiBe, which have the skull much arched 



FIG. 127. 



Tlo 



Fore-shortened view of Skeleton of a Whale, Balcennptera boops, showing its relative 



size as compared with Man. 



and provided with long baleen or whale-bone plates finely 

 fringed on their inner edges (Figs. 124:, 126). This ar- 

 rangement is adapted for securing the food of these whales, 

 which consists of small marine zoophytes, mollusks, and 

 crustaceans. Swimming through schools of these little ani- 

 mals the whale engulphs myriads of them at once in its enor- 

 mous mouth ; and the water taken in with them is strained 

 off through the baleen. Eight Whales (Fig. 126) attain 

 the length of seventy feet, and sometimes have blubber 

 two or three feet in thickness ; and the slabs of whale- 

 bone are eight to ten feet long ; and a single individual 

 yields from six hundred to nine hundred slabs on each 

 side of the mouth ! The Eight Whales belong to the cold 



regions. 



SUB-SECTION X. 

 THE ORDER OF CHIROPTEEA OR BATS. 



The mammals of this order have been named Chirop- 

 tera because their anterior locomotive members are spe- 



