The Bulletin is published monthly from October to May by the College of Charles- 

 ton and is devoted to descriptions of exhibits, reports of lectures, and notes from the 

 Museum. Entered at the post office at Charleston, S. C, as second class matter. 



BULLETIN 



OF THE 



COLLEGE OF CHARLESTON MUSEUM 



Edited by PAUL M. REA 



CURATOR OF THE MUSEUM AND PROFESSOR OF BIOLOGY 



Vol. 1 Charleston, S. C. December, 1905 No. 5 



EXHIBITS AT THE MUSEUM 



Whales and Dolphins, Order Cetecea 



Special attention was attracted to these aquatic mammals 

 by Professor Rea's lecture of November 27th on " Whales 

 and Whaling" and the following account is intended as a 

 guide to the Cetacea in the Museum. 



In spite of their aquatic habits and fish-like form the 

 Cetacea are mammals. They differ from fishes in breathing 

 by lungs and not by gills, in being viviparous, and not 

 oviparous, i. e., they produce their young alive instead of 

 laying eggs, and in suckling the young with a pair 

 of milk glands or mammae. The fish-Hke form is an 

 adaptation to facilitate progress through a dense 

 ^ju medium like water. It is produced largely by the fat or blub- 

 ber which covers the body in a layer often two feet thick. 

 The ancestors of the whales were probably covered with hair 

 for although few of them now have more than a dozen hairs 



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