206 A BOOK OF WHALES 



this whale into his book of British Mammals, we 

 shall allow it a place in the present book. 



As to this fin, it has been described as presenting 

 the appearance of the mast of a ship, so long 

 and straight is it. In addition to this fin, there are 

 said to be a few low bosses or humps ; this perhaps 

 is the secret of the mystery. In a stranded Cachalot 

 which I saw at Birchington some months since it 

 appeared to me that the commencement of the dorsal 

 fin was rather higher than is generally represented ; 

 a little exaggeration and we have the High-finned 

 Cachalot at once. As to its ferocity, etc., that is 

 just as suitable, according to many, to the ordinary 

 Cachalot. 



Lacepede prefers to call it Pkyseter tmtlar, and 

 says that it grows to a length of 33 metres! He 

 further remarks that it travels in herds with a leader, 

 the largest of the gamme. This beast leads to the 

 attack or retreat, and, " according to a sailor quoted 

 by Anderson, it gives the signal by a terrible cry, 

 of which the echo travels far along the surface of 

 the water, of victory or of a precipitate flight." 



Under the name of Pkyseter microps Lacepede has 

 described a whale no doubt really identical with the 

 Cachalot, but which Dr. Gray regards as a " High- 

 finned Cachalot." "It is," remarks Count Lacepede, 

 "one of the largest, most cruel, and most dangerous 

 inhabitants of the sea." The suggestion is made that 

 the story of Perseus and Andromeda is based upon 

 a ferocious Cachalot, and that the Orca described by 

 Ariosto, which was to devour Angelica chained to a 



