of the Skeleton of Balcenoptera Rorqual. 215 



nasal bones, and the power of the organ of smelling, enable 

 these animals to scent odorous bodies at a great distance.* 



Non-existence of Teeth in Whales, — Their being devoid of 

 teeth forms a distinctive characteristic of the whales, from 

 the other Cetacea with which they have been popularly allied ; 

 but instead of teeth we find a series of lamina?, or layers, of 

 a substance resembling horn, denominated baleen, that has 

 erroneously been called whalebone, and which is supposed to 

 serve to retain their food.f 



The Organs of Vision. — The eyes are extremely well 

 adapted for the element which whales inhabit ; and it is not a 

 little remarkable that, notwithstanding the immense size of the 

 animal, the whole diameter of each ocular globe does not exceed 

 3 in. : it is, in fact, about the size of an orange ; and, according 

 to Baron Cuvier, the crystalline lens is not larger than a pea, 

 when it is dried. The eyes are placed in the posterior part 

 of the head, in an orbit formed by cartilage and fat ; the lower 

 boundary of which is formed of a small process of bone, 

 which connects the lateral portion of the cranium to the 

 bones of the face. The situation of the eyes gives them 

 the facility of perceiving objects both before and behind 

 them, as also any that may be above their heads, when they 

 are below the surface of the water. These organs are 

 guarded by eyelids and eyelashes, as in quadrupeds and other 

 MammaHa ; and from what I have myself witnessed, I should 

 conceive these animals to be extremely quick-sighted, inas- 

 much as the seamen employed in the whale fishery suppose 

 them to be able to perceive objects under water at a very 

 considerable distance, and believe that the sight of a boat 



* On perusing an excellent paper by Mr. Gordon, on the " Analogy be- 

 tween Vegetables and Animals," I observe that he doubts (p. 122.) whether 

 this sense exists in the Cetacea. The following experiment will, I believe, 

 remove that idea ; it is recorded by Count Lacepede, in support of the 

 commonly received opinion, that whales dislike bad odours : — " The Vice- 

 Admiral Pleville-le-Peley, being one day at sea, with his fishers, perceived 

 some whales above the horizon. He prepared to give way to them, but in 

 order to stow away the cod-fish which were in the boat, he ordered a great 

 quantity of putrid and pestiferous water, then in the hold, to be thrown 

 overboard, and the hold itself properly cleaned out ; as soon as the stink- 

 ing water began to spread its noxious odour, the whales instantly made off 

 and disappeared. The Admiral tried this experiment several times, and 

 the results were uniformly the same." 



f " The plates of baleen strain the water, which the whale takes into its 

 mouth, and retain the small animals on which it subsists. For this pur- 

 pose the baleen is in subtriangular plates, with the free edge fringed 

 towards the mouth, the fixed edge attached to the palate, the broad end 

 fixed to the gum, and the apex to the inside arch. These plates are 

 placed across each other at regular distances." {Fleming^s FUlosophy of 

 Zoology.) , 



p 4 



