1. CATODON. 199 



This skiill IS also described and figured by Huxley in his ' Elera. 

 Comp. Anat.' 1864, fig. 118, on page 275. 



In the foetal skull the right praemaxiUa is much larger than the 

 left, extending far back upon the right frontal, while the left does 

 not reach the left frontal ; the left nostril, on the other hand, is 

 much more spacious than the right (see Huxley, Elem. Comp. Anat. 

 276. f. 110«). 



" These huge but timid animals on the. approach of a ship or boat 

 dive into the depths of the ocean or skim along its surface with the 

 utmost precipitation, and when harpooned they are paralyzed with 

 aff'right, in which state they will often remain a short period on tlie 

 surface of the sea, lying as if they were fainting. When they 

 recover they show extreme activity in avoiding their foes, and but 

 rarely turn upon their adversaries ; for although men and boats are 

 frequently destroyed in these rencontres, they are more the effect 

 of accident during violent contortions and struggles to escape than 

 any wilful attack. They emit no sound, except a trifling hissing at 

 the time of the expiration of the spout. They only eject a thick 

 and dense vapour, and never water, from the spoutholes." — Beale, 

 3, 5, & 16. 



" The male and female differ greatly in size and form. The adult 

 female is only about one-fifth the size of the adult male ; but this 

 is not altogether to be understood as regards length, but of their 

 general bulk, for the females are longer in proportion to their cir- 

 cumference than the males, and they are altogether more slender, 

 which gives them the appearance of lightness and comparative weak- 

 ness." — Beetle, 15. 



" The herds or schools of the Sperm Whale are of two kinds : 

 1st, of females, which are accompanied by their young and one or 

 two adult males ; and, 2ndly, of the young and half-grown males ; but 

 the large and full-grown males always go singly in search of food." — 

 Beale, 20. 



" There is little external appearance, beyond the size of the indi- 

 vidual or the development of its teeth, to distinguish the male from 

 the female. Whalers are inclined to believe that the convex or 

 ' hatchet- shaped ' snout is characteristic of the male Cachalots, but 

 I do not think that there is sufiicient ground for this conclusion." — 

 Bennett, 167. 



Captain Chase states, " They couple in a horizontal position and 

 not upon the side; nor does the female remain supine, but being 

 close to the surface of the water they occasionally turn, so as alter- 

 nately to bring the top of the head above the water, evidently for 

 the piu'pose of breathing. The Right WTiale (Balcena) breeds at 

 particular seasons, but the Sperm Whale {Catodon) at any season of 

 the year. He has never seen more than a single young one at a 

 time about the old female. Has seen a bucketful of thick rich milk 

 discharged from the mammary gland of a female when cut up, but 

 has never witnessed the young in the act of suckling." — Jackson, 

 Boston Journ. W. H. v. 141. He figures the stomach as having three 

 cavities {I. c. t. 14). 



