MAMMALIA. 423 



a certain distance. Immediately a large boat, with six or eight seamen and 

 one harpooner, is despatched as noiselessly as possible. When at a conve- 

 nient distance, the harpooner, seizing a favorable occasion, hurls the har- 

 poon into the side or back of the animal, where it remains fastened by the 

 barb. The whale becomes furious, and takes to flight with rapidity. A 

 long rope, connected with the harpoon, is immediately thrown overboard, 

 in order that the boat may not be drawn under water by the wounded 

 animal. After a certain time (half an hour or an hour generally), the loss« 



■ of blood has reduced the strength of the whale, which comes again to the 

 Surface to breathe, when it receives a new harpoon that makes it disappear 

 again ; and this is repeated until the animal is dead. The lives of the 

 whalers are constantly exposed to dangers, of which we have many 

 accounts. A single stroke with the tail of a whale upsets a boat or throws 

 it high in the air. 



When dead, the whale lies on the surface of the water, where its fat is 

 carved into large strips, which are hoisted aboard the ship. After the fat of 

 one side is removed, the whalebones are taken, and the body is turned on the 

 opposite side, which undergoes the same operation. The carcase and fleshy 

 remains of the giant are left to sharks, skates, birds of prey, and other car- 

 nivorous animals. 



The whaling business w^as formerly more productive than it is now. One 

 hundred and twenty-four individuals are recorded as having been killed by 

 one crew in eight voyages ; but now, five to eight whales are considered a 

 rich prize for one voyage. 



Fam. 2. Physeterid^, or spermaceti whales, is distinguished from the 

 family of whales proper by being provided with teeth on the lower jaw. 

 They are the largest animals among all Cetacea. The size of the head is 

 ' remarkably large, equalling the half or the third of the whole animal. The 

 upper jaw is excessively broad and deep, and has usually a few indistinct 

 teeth, almost covered with the gum ; the lower jaw is long and narrow, and 

 enters into a fissure of the upper jaw, and is furnished on each side with a 



■ row of thick conical teeth, more or less obtuse. The dorsal fin exists in a 

 rudimentary condition, or presents itself as a callous protuberance. There 

 is one external opening to the spiracles near the anterior part of the snout. 

 PhyseteridcB are more or less social in their habits. 



The genus Physeter is the only one of the family, to which it gives its 

 name. The same uncertainty is met with here as in Balasna, with regard 

 to the number of species. As many as seven species, if not more, have 

 been described, and still are not generally adopted, the characters upon 

 which they are founded being too vague and contradictory. The latest 

 writers on the subject admit but one, P. macrocephalus {pi. 106, fig. 2), the 

 great-headed cachalot, or great spermaceti whale ; fi{/. 3 represents another 

 form, that described by Lac^pede under the name of P. cylindricus, and 

 given by others as the true P. macrocephalus. If the differences which the 

 drawings exhibit are copied from nature, and prove not to be sexual, they 

 are obvious enough for specific differences. However, from their gigantic 

 'mass, which is rarely presented at once in all its parts to the eye, unless the 



627 



