14 



number of teeth in any species of sjjerin tchale is uncertain y" 

 since as the posterior part of the jaw becomes longer with 

 age, the number of teeth in that part increases, and the 

 sockets become shallower and shallower, until, in the end, 

 there is only a slight depression to mark their place. 



Cuvier and others have thought that they could discover in 

 their specimens of the upper jaw, a series of alveoles intended 

 for the reception of the conical teeth of the under jaw. 

 Indeed, Dr. Alderson expressly mentions the existence of 

 such cavities in the upper jaw of Sir C. Constable's whale. 

 Eeale, however, on his examination of the skeleton of this 

 very same whale, came afterwards to the conclusion that 

 there were no indications of sockets in the upper jaw. I 

 imagine, therefore, that as Dr. Alderson was describing from 

 the specimen when it was first cast ashore, the cavities of the 

 upper jaw, into which he says, "the teeth of the lower jaw 

 fitted when the mouth was closed," must have merely been 

 cavities in the fleshy lining of the palate. We shall see that 

 such cavities really exist in a new kind of sperm whale here- 

 after to be described. I have also carefully examined this 

 matter in the skeleton now before us ; and, as irregular and 

 linear cavities may be discovered in the roof of the mouth, 

 impressed along the roof of each maxillary in a line nearly 

 parallel to its junction with the inter-maxillary, I have come 

 to the conclusion that these cavities, although not exactly 

 corresponding in situation or form to the teeth of the under 

 jaw, may yet possibly mark the place of the bottoms of those 

 sockets in the gums, with which all observers of the sperm 

 whale in a fresh state, say the upper jaw is furnished for the 

 purpose of receiving the teeth of the under jaw. 



The accounts given by old writers, of the voracity and 

 fierceness of sperm whales, are completely contradicted by 

 late observers, who have recorded that these vast animals are 

 timid and inoffensive, as, indeed, might have been imagined 

 from their having no teeth in the upper jaw. Beale asserts, 

 and it is a fact in which we may have the greater confidence, 

 from its having been ascertained by personal observation. 



