152 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF 



or in the whale, he always found a considerable number of 

 black sjiots, which, after the most careful examination, ap- 

 peared to be the beaks of the Sepia octopedia* And these, 

 he thinks, might be the substances mistaken for claws and 

 beaks of birds, or pieces of shells. 



According to the best information Dr. Swediaur obtained 

 from several of the most intelligent persons employed in the 

 spermaceti whale fishery, and in procuring and selling amber- 

 grease, it appears that this substance is found in the abdomen 

 of the whale, but only in the species I have been describing. 

 The New-England fishermen, according to their accounts, 

 have long been aware that this substance was found in the 

 spermaceti whale, and were so convinced of this fact, that 

 whenever they hear of a place where ambergrease is to be met 

 with, they directly conclude that the sea, in that part, is 

 frequented by the Physeter Macrocephalus. The sperm 

 whalers, whenever they strike a spermaceti whale, observe 

 that it constantly rejects whatever it has in its stomach, and 

 also discharges its faeces at the same time ; if this latter cir- 

 cumstance occurs, they are generally disappointed in finding 

 ambergrease in its belly. But whenever they discover a sper- 

 maceti whale (either male or female) which seems torpid or 

 sickly, they are always pretty sure of finding ambergrease, as 

 the whale in that state seldom voids per anwn on being struck. 

 They likewise generally meet with it, in the dead spermaceti 

 whales, which are sometimes found floating on the surface 

 of the sea. It is observed, likewise, that the whale in which 

 they find ambergrease often has a morbid protuberance, or, 

 as they express it, a species of gathering, in the lower part of 

 its abdomen, in which, if cut open, the ambergrease is found. 

 It has also been observed, that all those animals possessing 

 this substance seem not only torpid and sick, but are con- 

 stantly leaner than others ; so that, if we may judge from the 

 constant union of these two circumstances, it would seem 



* The cuttle-fish. 



