128 THE WHALE. 



helices, or, at least, some of these genera are al- 

 ways to be seen, wherever any tribe of whales is 

 found stationary and feeding. In the dead animals, 

 however, in the very few instances, in which I have 

 been enabled to open their stomachs, squillse or 

 shrimps, were the only substances discovered. In 

 the mouth of a whale just killed, I once found a 

 quantity of the same kind of insect. 



When the whale feeds, it swims with considera- 

 ble velocity below the surface of the sea, with its 

 jaws widely extended. A stream of water conse- 

 quently enters its capacious mouth, and along with 

 it large quantities of water insects: the water escapes 

 again at the sides; but the food is entangled and 

 sifted, as it were, by the whalebone, which, from 

 its compact arrangement, and the thick internal 

 covering of hair, does not allow a particle the size 

 of the smallest grain to escape. 



There does not seem to be sufficient dissimilarity 

 in the form and appearance of the mysticete found 

 in the polar seas, to entitle them to a division into 

 other species; yet such is the difference observed in 

 the proportions of these animals, that they may be 

 well considered as sub-species or varieties. In 

 some of the mysticete, the head measures four tenths 

 of the whole length of the animal; in others, scarce- 

 ly three tenths; in some the circumference is up- 

 wards of seven tenths of the length, in others less 

 than six tenths, or little more than one half. 



