ZOOLOGY. — BALiENA MYSTICETUS. 457 



as the whalefishers term it, consists of upwards of 

 300 laminae*; the longest are near the middle, 

 jfrom whence they gradually diminish away to no- 

 thing at each extremity. Fifteen feet is the great- 

 est length of the whalebone ; but 10 or 11 feet is 

 the average size, and 13 feet is a magnitude seldom 

 met with. The greatest breadth, which is at the 

 gUTUy is 10 or 12 inches. The laminse, composing 

 the two series of bone, are ranged side by side, two- 

 thirds of an inch apart, (thickness of the blade in- 

 cluded,) and resemble a frame of saws in a saw-mill. 

 The interior edges are covered with a fringe of hair, 

 and the exterior edge of every blade, excepting a few 

 at each extremity of the series, is curved and flat- 

 tened down, so as to present a smooth surface to the 

 lips. In some whales, a curious hollow on one side, 

 and ridge on the other, occurs in many of the cen- 

 tral blades of whalebone, at regular intervals of 6 or 

 7 inches. May not this irregularity, like the rings 

 in the horns of the ox, which they resemble, afford 

 an intimation of the age of the whale ? If so, twice 

 the number of running feet in the longest lamina 

 of whalebone in the head of a whale not full grown, 

 would represent its age in years. In the youngest 

 whales, called Suckers, the whalebone is only a few 

 inches long ; when the length reaches 6 feet or up- 

 wards, the whale is said to be size. The colour of 

 the whalebone is brownish-black, or bluish-black. 



" In a very small whale, the number was 3l6or 320. 



