108 THE WHALE. 



tasteless; it cuts like cheese. It has the appearance 

 of the interior or kernel of the cocoa nut. The 

 tongue occupies a large portion of the cavity of the 

 mouth: and the arch formed by the whalebone, is ca- 

 pable of protrusion, being fixed from root to lip, to 

 the fat extending between the jaw bones. 



A slight beard, consisting of a few short scattered 

 white hairs, surmounts the anterior extremity of 

 both jaws. 



The throat is remarkably straight. 



Two paps in the female, afford the means of 

 rearing the young. They are situated on the ab- 

 domen, one on each side of the pudendum, and are 

 two feet apart. They appear not to be capable of 

 protrusion, beyond the length of a few inches. In 

 the dead animal they are always found retracted. 



The milk of a whale, resembles that of a quadru- 

 ped, in its appearance. It is said to be rich and 

 well flavoured. The vent is about six inches be- 

 hind the pudendum of the female; but in the male, 

 it is further back. 



The colour of the mysticetus is velvet black, gray, 

 (composed of dots of blackish brown on a white 

 ground,) and white with a tinge of yellow. The 

 back, most of the upper jaw, and part of the lower 

 jaw, together with the tins and tail, are black. 

 The tongue, the lower part of the under jaw and 

 lips, sometimes a little of the upper jaw, at the ex- 

 tremity, and a portion of the belly are white; and 

 the eye-lids, the junction of the tail with the body, 



