42 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF 



GENERAL REMARKS ON THE ECONOMY OF THE 



WHALE. 



All the species of whales do not content themselves 

 with the species of food which I have already men- 

 tioned,* for some of the balsendptera prey upon fish of 

 a tolerable size, and particularly such as assemble in 

 troops, as mackarel, herrings, &c.f 



Immediately beneath the skin lies the blubber, which 

 encompasses the whole body of not only these, but all 

 cetaceous animals. To speak anatomically, it is the 

 adeps or fat, and lies exterior to the muscular flesh. In 

 the porpoises, seals, trichecus or morse, and the narwhale, 

 it is firm and full of fibres, and about an inch thick 

 more or less. In the whale, its thickness varies, but 

 ordinarily measures from eight to ten or twenty inches. 

 The greatest quantity I ever saw cut from a whale was 

 about forty tons ; but sometimes it is so enormous as 

 to produce fifty, eighty, or even one hundred tons ; be- 

 ing lighter it swims on water. Its principal use appears 

 to be partly to poise the body, and render it equipon- 

 derent to the water, partly to keep off the water at some 

 distance from the blood, also to keep the whole warm 

 by reflecting or reverberating the hot steams of the 



E. — Spinal canal, enclosing a fascia 

 of blood-vessels. 



F. — Cartilaginous substance be- 

 tween the joints of the spine- 



G. H. — Blood-vessels 



I. — A ridge called the rump. 



K. — Synovial glands. 



Transverse Section of the Tail. — Fig. 2. 



D. — Blood-vessels . 



E. — Cartilaginous body. 



A.— Skin. 



B.— Blubber. 



C. — Tendinous envelope. 



Vide pages 23 and 24. t Cuvier, vol. iv. p. 491. 



