PREFACE 



SO far as I am aware there is no recent general 

 work of a comprehensive kind dealing with the 

 Cetacea in the English language. There are, of 

 course, sections devoted to this group in many 

 Natural Histories, such as the Royal Natural History 

 of Mr. Lydekker, Cassell's Natural History, The 

 Standard Natural History, etc., as well as the long 

 section contained in Sir William Flower and Mr. 

 Lydekker's Mammals, Recent and Extinct. I think, 

 therefore, that there is at present a distinct gap 

 to fill on behalf of those who would have in 

 a comparatively small compass a general account 

 of this group of mammals, and a selection of the 

 voluminous literature which relates to that group. 

 I have attempted to perform this task, and to steer 

 a course between too much exposition of technical 

 facts and a too popular account of whales. I have 

 aimed at producing a solid book tempered by anec- 

 dote. It need hardly be pointed out that this book 

 is not a monograph of the Cetacea ; but on the other 

 hand, I hope that at least the main facts of structure 

 and mode of life of these creatures will be found in 

 the following pages. 



Whales are, from many points of view, so inter- 

 esting and remarkable a group of animals, that no 

 apology is, in my opinion, needed for devoting a 

 whole volume to them. It may be suggested, how- 

 ever, that desirable though a book devoted to the 

 whales may be, it has not a place in a series like 



