3 o2 ECONOMIC ZOOLOGY AND ENTOMOLOGY 



do not appear at all externally, while the forelimbs are devel- 

 oped as broad flattened paddles without distinct fingers or nails. 

 The tail ends in a broad horizontal fin or paddle. The Cete 

 are all predaceous, fish, pelagic crustaceans, and especially 

 squids and cuttle-fishes forming their principal food. Most 

 of the species are gregarious, the individuals swimming together 

 in "schools." Some of them can remain under water for a 

 long while but they must all come to the surface to breathe. 

 As the whales come to the surface they blow the air from their 

 lungs out through the blow holes on top of their head. This 

 air is so heavily laden with moisture that it is usually supposed 

 and said that the whale is actually "spouting" water. 



The whales comprise two families, the sperm whales, Physe- 

 teridce, with numerous teeth in their lower jaw, and the whale- 

 bone whales, Balcenidce, which have in the mouth, instead of 

 teeth, many long parallel plates with fringed edges, the valuable 

 "whalebone" of commerce. The great sperm whales reach a 

 length of eighty feet of which the head forms nearly one-third. 

 They feed on various kinds of fish and squid. They are hunted 

 for the sperm oil, which is obtained from the blubber or layer of 

 fat that lies under the skin, and for the spermaceti which is 

 obtained from the head and is used in making candles and 

 ointments. The teeth of these whales are also of considerable 

 value, being used for ivory. Of the whalebone whales, the 

 sulphur-bottom whale of the Pacific Ocean, reaching a length 

 of nearly one hundred feet, is the largest, and hence the largest 

 of all living animals. These great monsters feed on minute 

 shrimp-like crustaceans and other small organisms swimming 

 at or near the surface of the sea. The whale swims along 

 with its mouth wide open, the mass of "whalebone" plates 

 acting as a strainer until a mouthful of dainty food is procured. 

 The sulphur-bottom whale, the right whale, the hump-back 

 whale, the bow-head whale and others are all hunted for the 

 "whalebone," or baleen, and for the oil. The bow-head or 

 polar whale is the most important commercially, a single speci- 

 men sometimes yielding 3500 pounds of whalebone and 275 

 barrels of oil. 



The family Delphinidce includes the dolphins and porpoises 



