THE WHALES AND POKPOISES. 87 



one singular anomaly in the fact that the largest of the 

 order, the right or whalebone whales, are toothless, and 

 „ consequently manage to support their huge 



bulk on a diet consisting exclusively of mi- 

 nute crustaceans, tiny organisms known to the crews of 

 whalers as "whale-feed," and often encountered in mid- 

 ocean covering several acres of the water's surface. I have 

 noticed that it possesses a peculiar aroma, and I recollect 

 our ship passing, off the coast of Sumatra, through a con- 

 siderable tract of it, which gave forth a most unpleasant 

 stench. The method of feeding adopted by these tooth- 

 less whales is well kno\vn. They engulf a mouthful of 

 this feed, then expel the water, and leave the foreign 

 matter stranded on the plates of baleen, or " whalebone," 

 as we call it, which thus forms a convenient sieve. It lies 

 in plates in the upper jaw, and the term " bone," as applied 

 to it, must not be taken too literally, as in jDoint of fact it 

 is not exactly bone. 



The great toothed whales, on the other hand, consume 

 vast quantities of squid and cuttlefish, which they swallow 

 whole, a greedy habit to which we are indebted for that 

 exceedingly valuable product ambergris. 



The external characters of whales do not need to be very 

 closely studied before they show how superficial is the 



supposed resemblance to fishes. The X-rays 



External j i.i t i.- i -r r, i.i, 



, , and the dissectmsr - knite soon show the so- 



characters. • ° 



called "fins" to be more of the nature of 

 gloved hands. The whales — most of them at any rate — 

 have five fingers like ourselves, only, needing their hands 

 for swimming purposes, and having no use for the sejDarate 

 action of the fingers, they have been permitted to grow 

 flesh gloves, thus transforming the useless hand into the 

 useful flipper. The tail, again, though forked somewhat 

 after the manner of that organ in some fishes, is attached 

 horizontally, not vertically, a few strokes of this powerful 

 propeller being sufficient to bring the whale ujj from the 

 great depths at which it passes its life, whenever it wants 



