CHAPTER VI. 



Family II. — Cetm; Piscivorous Cetaceous 



Animals. 



This family is distinguished from the preceding, 

 by the construction which has procured for all its 

 members the name of blowers, in reference to the 

 manner in which they expel the water taken in 

 along with their food from the nasal openings. The 

 membrane lining the nostrils being thus continually 

 exposed to torrents of salt water, has very little, if 

 any sensibility as an organ of smelling. 



They have a pyramidal larynx, or windpipe, 

 which is extended to the posterior opening of the 

 nostrils, through which the air is admitted to the 

 lungs without requiring the head and mouth to be 

 raised above the water. Their glottis is altogether 

 plain, and their voice is reduced to a simple bellow- 

 ing. The body is destitute of hair, but is covered 

 by a thick, smooth skin, beneath which is a great 

 thickness of strong cellular substance containing a 

 large quantity of oil. 



The teats are situated near the anus; the fins are 

 of no use except in swimming. Two small bones 



