a8 THE INHABITANTS OF THE SEA. 
of saws in a saw-mill. Their interior edges are covered with 
fringes of hair; externally they are 
curved and flattened down, so as to 
present a smooth surface to the lips. 
The largest lamine, situated on both 
sides of the jaw, attain a length of 
fifteen feet, and measure from twelve 
to fifteen inches at their base; in 
front and towards the back of the 
mouth they are much shorter. 
Besides these, there are suspended from the palate many other 
small laminze of the thickness of a quill, a few inches long, and 
Jikewise terminating in a fringe. Thus the whole roof of the 
mouth resembles a shaggy fur, under which lies the soft and 
spongy tongue, a monstrous mass often ten feet broad and 
eighteen feet long. 
This whole formation is beautifully adapted to the peculiar 
nourishment of the whale, which does not consist, as one might 
suppose, of the larger fishes, but of the minute animals, (Meduse, 
Entomostraca, Clio borealis, and other 
pteropod molluses,) with which its pas- 
ture-grounds in the northern seas abound. 
To gather food, it swims rapidly with open 
mouth over the surface; and on closing 
the wide gates, and expelling the foaming 
streams, the little creatures remain en- 
tangled by thousands in the fringy thicket 
as in anet; there to be crushed and bruised 
by the tongue into a savoury pulp. Fancy the vast numbers 
requisite to keep a monster of seventy tons in good condition. | 
The back of the whale is usually of a fine glossy black, marked 
with whitish rays, which have some resemblance to the veins of 
wood. This mixture of colours presents an agreeable appearance, 
especially when the back of the fish is illuminated with the rays 
of the sun. The under part of the trunk and of the lower jaw 
is of adead white. The skin is about an inch thick, and covers 
a layer of fat of fifteen inches; a most excellent coat for keeping 
the whale warm and increasing its buoyancy, but at the same 
time the chief cause which induces man to pursue it with the 
deadly harpoon. 
Skull of Whale, with the Ealeen. 
Clio borealis. 
