112 ARCTIC ZOOLOGY. 



of quadrupeds, though similarly propagated, and differing 

 essentially from the finny class, in whose peculiar medium 

 they exist, and, if possible, farther removed from the 

 amphibious animals than from the two former, the whales 

 of this specific denomination are in characteristics widely 

 removed from the ordinary classification of animals. The 

 most obvious notice, which a naturalist would take of this 

 enormous animal, would embrace its timidity, and its im- 

 mense volume of body, indicating at the same time resist- 

 less strength. Seldom, when adult, under the dimension of 

 sixty feet in length, sometimes attaining a size half as great 

 again, and moving in a medium peculiarly suited to his form, 

 the whale must be possessed of tremendous power ; and 

 his efforts under the infiuence of fear or anger are truly 

 awful, when man, as observer of those efforts, compares 

 his might and volume with such enlarged examples of 

 muscular power. 



One remarkable distinction in these animals, which, as it 

 marks a good anatomical criterion, and has not hitherto, so 

 far as within my knowledge, been made public, is that whales 

 seem to possess an extraordinary provision of arterial blood. 

 The remark applies also to seals, and almost all the animals, 

 particularly of the cetaceous order, in cold climates. The 

 Uskee-me, even, is oppressed by an overflow of that 

 vital current, when the heat of summer forces a more 

 rapid circulation. All those subsisting on assimilated food. 



