MAMMALS 191 



on poles, and boiled down for oil on the spot, whilst the 

 larger bones are cut up with steam-driven saws and likewise 

 boiled for the oil contained in them. Most of the whale- 

 bone — now a drug on the market — is thrown overboard. 

 When it is realised that female (cow) Whales suffer equally 

 with adult bulls the W r hale's doom seems indeed inevitable. 



The Right or Ballan Whales {Balaena) have dispropor- 

 tionately large heads but seldom exceed 50 feet in length. 

 They hail chiefly from the polar seas and are of all the 

 Whales the most easily approached and killed. Together 

 with other Whales they also suffer much persecution 

 from the Killer Whale or Grampus. 



The Rorquals (Balaenoptera) are not unlike the Right 

 Whales, but have a short back fin and a throat capable 

 of much expansion so that a whole shoal of small fish, 

 etc., can be engulfed at a mouthful. Four species of 

 Rorquals inhabit our seas, the Blue Rorqual, as before 

 mentioned, being the largest living creature living or 

 extinct. It may attain a length of over 80 feet. 



The Hump-back Whale (Megapterd) also recorded from 

 our waters, is at once distinguished by the immense size 

 of its flippers and its sportive habits. At the mating 

 season this 50 ft. monster indulges in uncouth gambols 

 often leaping high out of the water. 



• The great order of Toothed Whales comprises a large 

 number of species, many of small size, and distributed 

 throughout every sea, many even ascending far up rivers 

 and invading inland lochs. 



The giant is the Sperm Whale or Cachalot (Pbyseter 

 macrocephalus), which provides the valuable ambergris and 

 the clear oil known as " spermaceti," a fluid which is 



