250 beale's history of the srEiiM whale. 



up a detailed description of its osteology ; and by freely avail- 

 ing himself of the labours of his predecessors in his account 

 of the soft parts, he has thrown together a good summary of 

 all that is known respecting the anatomical history of this gi- 

 gantic mammal. His remarks upon the habits &c. of the ca- 

 chalot, are clearly the result of careful and well-directed ob- 

 servation ; and though here and there a few passages are 

 penned a little in the * book-making"* style, yet the volume, up- 

 on the whole, is a very creditable production, and in some 

 respects a highly acceptable contribution to the science of 

 Zoology. Mr. Beale is perfectly satisfied that he has never 

 encountered more than one species of sperm whale, and that 

 the Phi/seter macrocephalus of authors, which he tells us has 

 yet " to assume the station to which it is entitled in the his- 

 tory of animated nature." It seems that Cuvier and a host 

 of other distinguished savans who have taken upon them- 

 selves to write about the sperm whale, have made all sorts of 

 misrepresentations in their attempts to describe this cetacean, 

 and the absurdity of the greater part of their lucubrations is 

 shown up by Mr. Beale in the most able and praiseworthy man- 

 ner. Our author indeed plainly shows that in handling the 

 subject he is no respector of persons ; and Sir William Jar- 

 dine, or even the great Linnaeus, come in for a rap, if he thinks 

 they have done ought to merit castigation. 



Mr. Beale's observations agree in their essential points with 

 those of Mr. F. Debell Bennett, published in the ' Proceed- 

 ings of the Zoological Society' for 1837 ; and our author has 

 therefore the merit of priority. On the subject of the ejec- 

 tion of a column of water from the spiracle, which has long 

 been a matter in dispute, we have the following remarks. — 



" Out of the thousands of sperm whales which I have seen during my 

 wanderings in the south and north Pacific Oceans, I have never observed 

 one of them to eject a column of water from the nostril. I have seen them 

 at a distance, and I have been within a few yards of several hundreds of 

 them, and I never saw water pass from the spout-hole. But the column of 

 thick and dense vapour which is certainly ejected, is exceedingly likely to 

 mislead the judgment of the casual observer in these matters ; and this co- 

 lumn does indeed appear very much like a jet of water, when seen at a dis- 

 tance of one or two miles on a clear day, because of the condensation of the 

 vapour, which takes place the moment it escapes from the nostril, and its 

 consequent opacity, which makes it appear of a white colour, and which is 

 not observed when the whale is close to the spectator, and then it appears 

 only like a jet of white steam ; the only water in addition is the small quan- 

 tity that may be lodged in the external fissure of the spout-hole, when the 

 animal raises it above the surface to breathe, and which is blown up into 

 the air with the spout, and may probably assist in condensing the vapour 

 of which it is fonned. 



