35- CETACEA. 



The whales descend to depths so profound, that if a piece of dry 

 wood be sunk to an equal depth, it will become saturated, and cease to 

 tioat ; their ears and nostrils require special adaptations to prevent the 

 water from penetrating into these cavities ; they are consequently pro- 

 vided with an ingenious valvular structure which closes the external 

 orifices in proportion to the depth to which the animal dives. 



The substance called " whalebone " is a very remarkable feature in 

 the jaws of the Right Whales. This whalebone, or baleen, is found 

 in a series of plates, thick and solid at the insertion into the jaw, and 

 splitting at the extremity into a multitude of hair-Hke fringes. On each 

 side of the jaw there are more than three hundred of these plates. The 

 weight of baleen which is furnished by a large whale is about one ton. 

 This substance does not take its origin directly from the gum, but from 

 a peculiar vascular formation which rests upon it. These masses of 

 baleen are placed along the sides of the mouth for the purpose of aiding 

 the whale in procuring its food and separating it from the water. 



The mode of feeding which is adopted by the whale is as follows: 

 The animal frequents those parts of the ocean which are the best sup- 

 plied with the various creatures on which it feeds, and which are all of 

 very small size, as is needful from the size of its gullet, which is not 

 quite two inches in diameter. Small shrimps, crabs, and lobsters, 

 together with various molluscs and medusee, form the diet on which the 

 vast bulk of the Greenland Whale is sustained. Driving with open 

 mouth through the congregated shoals of these little creatures, the 

 whale engulphs them by millions in its enormous jaws, and continues its 

 destructive course until it has sufficiently charged its mouth with prey. 

 Closing its jaws and driving out through the interstices of the whale- 

 bone the water which it has taken together with its prey, it retains the 

 captured animals which are entangled in the whalebone, and swallows 

 them at its ease. The multitude of these little creatures that must 

 hourly perish is so enormous, that the prolific powers of nature would 

 seem inadequate to keep up a supply of food for the herds of whales that 

 inhabit the Northern seas. Yet the supply is more tiian equal to the 

 demand, for the sea is absolutely reddened for miles by the countless 

 millions of medusas that swarm in its w.iters. 



The enormous mouth contains an immense tongue, which sometimes 

 measures as much as twenty-five feet in length and twelve feet in 

 breadth. This organ is very soft, and produces five to six barrels of oil. 



