CHAPTER IX, 



Genus — Whale; Balwna; L, 



GENERIC CHARACTERS. 



Whales possess no true teeth; the upper jaw 

 resembles the keel of a vessel, or the roof of a house 

 reversed. It is furnished on each side with trans- 

 verse horny layers of a peculiar substance, called 

 Baleen, which at the edges are split into long 

 slender fringes. The spiracles or blowholes are 

 separated, and placed about the middle of the su- 

 perior part of the head. Some species have a dor- 

 sal fin; others merely a prominence. 



Species I. — The Whale. 

 Balsena Mysticetus. L. 



<toctxattvtt Arist. An. 1. c. v. III. c. xvi. Muf<m»Tc<r, ib. HI. c. x. jEl. 

 Hist. an. v. c. iv. 



Hvalfisch; Egede Greenland, 48. 



La Baleine Franche,- Bonnat. Cetol. 1. 



The Common or Greenland Whale; Scoresbt Arct. Regions, i. 449. 



In attempting to describe a creature so gigantic 

 and surpassing in strength as the whale, we deeply 

 feel the want of expressions suitable to our pur- 

 pose, and vainly endeavour to remove this difficulty 



