MYSTACOCETI. 65 
handicapped. The prevalent idea that Whales spout ‘ water ” 
from the blowhole is erroneous, the so-called ‘‘spouting” or ‘blow- 
ing” being caused merely by the forcible expulsion of the air taken 
at the last inspiration, and which, charged by the action of the 
lungs with humid vapor, changes, upon contact with the colder air, 
into a jet of combined steam and spray. All the Cetaceans are 
predacious, living entirely on animal food of one form or another, 
this consisting of fishes, small swimming and floating crustaceans, 
pteropods, jelly fish (Jfeduse), and cephalopods, the latter form- 
ing almost the sole food of the Sperm Whales, without doubt the 
largest of living animals, and from the non-assimilization of cer- 
tain portions of these Cephalopods the valuable substance known 
as “ambergris” is derived; one genus (Orca), however, habitu- 
ally feeds also on the larger mammals, such as Seals, Porpoises, 
Dolphins, and even attacks the larger Whales. With few excep- 
tions they are timid and inoffensive, active in their movements, 
and markedly affectionate towards one another, especially in the 
case of the mother to her young, which, if harpooned, she will 
never desert, even when she herself receives the fatal stroke. The 
young number generally one, never more than two, at a birth, 
and the mother at the time of gestation seeks the protection of 
shallow sheltered bays and inlets, and is therefore all the more 
liable to these murderous attacks at the very time that the law 
should most stringently and sternly protect her. Most of the 
species of Cetaceans are gregarious, in the case of some of the 
Delphinide as many as thousands hunting in a single pack. 
The earliest fossil Cetacea, of whose organization anything like 
a complete knowledge is evident, are the Zeuglodons of the Eocene 
period. 
Suborder I.—Mystacoceti. 
Whale-bone Whales. 
Teeth never functionally developed, disappearing before the 
birth of the fcetus. Palate provided with plates of baleen, 
(whalebone). Skull symmetrical. Nasal bones forming a roof to 
the anterior nasal passages, which are directed upwards and for- 
wards. External openings of nossrils distinct from each other, 
longitudinal. Olfactory organ distinctly developed. Maxilla 
produced in front of, but not over, orbital process of frontal. 
Lachrymal bones small, distinct from the jugal. Tympanic bone 
anchylosed to the periotic, which is attached to the base of the 
cranium by two strong diverging processes. Rami of mandible 
arched outwards, their anterior ends meeting at an angle, and 
without true symphysis. Ribs articulating only with the trans- 
verse processes of the vertebre. Sternum composed of a single 
piece, and articulating with a single pair of ribsonly. No ossified 
sternal ribs. A short conical ccecum. 
E 
