128 NEW-YORK FAUNA. 



From more recent information, we are enabled to state, that at the close of the year 1841, 

 our whaling squadron, out of all the States, amounted to 650 sail of all classes, presenting an 

 aggregate tonnage of 190,374, and employing 13,500 men in the actual prosecution of their 

 voyages. 



GENUS PHYSETER. Gmelin. 



Head enormously large, truncated in front. Twenty or more stout, conical, subequal teeth 

 on each side of the lower jaw, rudimentary above. Spiracles united into one, near the end 

 of the jaw. 



This genus is remarkable, not only for its bulk, but for the valuable article of commerce, 

 termed spermaceti, which is found chiefly in large cells in the upper part of the head. Seven 

 species have been enumerated by compilers, but we shall follow Cuvier in considering but 

 one species as yet sufficiently identified. We prefer retaining the original name of Physeter, 

 to the barbarous provincial epithet of Cachalot. 



THE SPERM WHALE. 



Physeter macrocephalus. 



PLATE XXXI. FIG. 2. — (Jaws in the Cabinet of the Lvceum.) 



Cachalot macrccephale. Lacepede, Hist. Nat. Cet. pi. 10, fig. 1. 

 Physeter macrocephalus. Shaw, Gen. Zool. Vol. 2, p. 49. 

 Tlie Spermaceti Whale. Naturalist's Library, Vol. 6, p. 154. 



Characteristics. Black or darkish above ; throat and beneath, silvery grey. A verv small 

 dorsal elevation towards the tail. Length 60 - 80 feet. 



Description. Head forming one-third of its bulk ; its anterior part truncated or obtuse, over- 

 hanging the lower jaw. Eyes small, and said to be unequal. Spiracle shaped like the letter 

 f, on the anterior part of the head, in the centre of an elevated protuberance. Swimming paws 

 short, obtusely pointed. Openings to the ear sufficiently large to admit a small quill. Teeth 

 in the lower jaw conical, pointed, not acute ; in some individuals, amounting to twenty-seven. 

 In the upper jaw there are also teeth, but very small and rudimentary. The lips overhang 

 and conceal the opening of the mouth. 



Color. Generally brownish black or jet black, somewhat lighter on the sides, and beneath 

 a silvery grey. There is often a considerable variety in their markings, but the old males are 

 generally light grey on the anterior part of the head. 



The Sperm Whale is gregarious, and often found in herds of from two to five hundred. 

 They are said to feed on fish, and a species of sepia or cuttle-fish. Although they resort to 

 the same feeding grounds with the Right Whale, it is not probable that, with their large teeth 

 and powerful jaws, they subsist on the same minute food. The sperm oil is found in great 



