THE SPERMACETI WHALE. 151 



are nine in number on each side, above and below. 

 Mr. Bell states that, in a cranium in his possession, there 

 are eight teeth in the upper and six in the lower jaw, 

 on each side ; but that, as two have evidently fallen from 

 the former, there must have been ten originally. Aged 

 individuals are often found without any teeth in the upper 

 jaw. The beluga measures, when adult, seventeen- or 

 eighteen feet in length. That caught in the Frith of 

 Forth measured thirteen feet four inches, and nearly 

 nine feet in circumference at the thickest part, viz. the 

 centre of the body, whence it tapers both to the head and 

 to the tail. 



Family— CATODONTID^ iPhyseteridce, Bell). 



This family, which includes the Cachalots, is charac- 

 terized by the immoderate size of the head, which equals 

 one-third the length of the body, and terminates in a 

 deep, abrupt, truncate snout, advancing beyond the lower 

 jaw, which is narrow, the two rami being in contact for 

 the greater ])art of their length, and armed each with a 

 row of compressed, solid, conical teeth, at equal distances 

 fitting into cavities in the upper jaw, which is either 

 destitute of teeth, or merely furnished with a few in 

 a rudimentary state and almost covered by the gum. 

 The blow-holes open externally by a single orifice. The 

 tongue is small and pointed. 



The Common Cachalot, or Spermaceti Whale 



{Physeter macrocephalus, Linn. ; Physeter Catodon, Linu. ; 

 Catodon trnmpo, Lacepede ; Blunt-headed Cachalot, 

 Pennant). 



The cachalot is one of the mightiest of the Cetacea, 

 the adult male measuring upwards of seventy feet in 

 length ; and from its powers, and not unfrequent pa- 

 roxysms of fury, is one of the most dangerous of the 

 monsters of the deep which the daring sailor is called 

 upon to combat. (Fig. 98.) 



The cachalot roams the ocean at pleasure, and is seen 



h2 



