THE CETACEANS 1177 



In regard to the soft parts, it may be mentioned that the stomach is 

 always complex; and that the female has two teats, placed far back on 

 the abdomen. In order to enable these animals to swim with their mouths wide 

 open, the upper part of the windpipe (larynx) is prolonged so as to reach the 

 opening of the nostrils in the hinder portion of the mouth, and thus form a closed 

 tube from the external nostrils to the lungs. 



As there is frequently some misconception as to the so-called 

 Spouting "spouting" or "blowing" of Cetaceans, a few words are advisable 



on this point. When a whale comes to the surface of the water after a longer or 

 shorter period of submergence, its first act is to discharge the air from the lungs 

 previous to taking a fresh inspiration. The air is expelled from the lungs with 

 great force, and thus rises a considerable height above the surface of the water, and 

 as it is saturated with water vapor at a high temperature, the contact with the cold 

 external air at once condenses this vapor, which forms a column of steam or spray. 

 Frequently, however, a whale commences to "blow" before its nostrils are actually 

 above the surface, and then a certain amount of sea water is forced up with the col- 

 umn of air. 



Cetaceans include the largest animals now existing on the globe; and 

 ' they were only approached in point of size by some of the gigantic 



land reptiles which existed during the Secondary period. As a group, 

 they are comparatively modern, being unknown before the upper portion of the 

 Eocene division of the Tertiary period. In the preceding Secondary period their 

 place in the ocean was taken by huge extinct marine reptiles, such as the ichthyo- 

 saurs and plesiosaurs; but as these seem to have died out at the close of that period, 

 while whales are unknown in the early part of the Eocene, it would seem that there 

 was an interregnum, during which our seas were not tenanted by any large animals 

 except fishes. 



From their oceanic habits and huge size, the study of the larger 



Cetaceans is a matter of extreme difficulty; the majority of the 

 Observing J . J 



comparatively-few specimens that are cast ashore not being seen by 

 naturalists, while even in cases where opportunity is afforded for inspection, the 

 bodies are usually more or less distorted from their proper form, while nothing can, 

 of course, be learned as to the habits of the animals. The acquisition of such 

 knowledge as we possess of the habits and form of the larger whales has conse- 

 quently been acquired very slowly; but, thanks to the careful observations of 

 several gentlemen engaged in the whaling trade, we have a considerable amount of 

 information on these subjects, although there is room for much further investigation. 

 Cetaceans are found in all seas, from the Equator to within the Arc- 



tic Circle, and in former years even many of the larger species were 

 extraordinarily abundant in certain regions, although they have been greatly re- 

 duced in numbers, and in some instances almost or completely exterminated. Many 

 of the smaller forms, known as porpoises and dolphins, ascend rivers for longer or 

 shorter distances; while some of these, as well as all the members of one family are 

 exclusively fluviatile; the latter inhabiting the larger rivers of South America and 

 Southeastern Asia." With the single exception of a kind of dolphin recently discov- 



