134 ARCTIC ZOOLOGY. 



much as a similar instrument does the physeter turfio 

 among the cachalots. 



Delphinus Leucas (white whale or beluga). — Snout conic, 

 obtuse, inclined upwards ; dorsal fin wanting. This beauti- 

 ful animal diversifies many a dreary scene in the arctic 

 seas, where all animated existence would seem shut out by 

 the eternal presence of ice, and its accompanying cold. 

 When every wind is hushed, and the surface of the sea 

 becomes of glassy smoothness, a lively herd of these gre- 

 garious animals, by their merry gambols, and the exhibi- 

 tion of their smooth, slippery white bodies, afibrds a 

 pleasing and entertaining view. As in other cetaceous 

 animals, their pectoral fins partake more of the character 

 of the fore feet in quadrupeds than the pectoral fins of 

 fishes, being constructed of fine bones, of a very porous 

 kind, covered with a little fat, much cartilage, and a thick, 

 tough skin, with an epidermis. The young are dusky, or 

 mottled obscurely ; but that distinction, I apprehend, is 

 not decidedly accurate, as many of that dusky colour, 

 which I have seen, were equal in size to their white com- 

 panions, and some even surpassed them in magnitude. 

 The teeth in the jaws of the white whale are short and 

 bluntish, in number amounting to thirty-six. The usual 

 size of the white whale, when full grown, is from twelve to 

 fifteen feet, and not very bulky for that length. There 



